A relatively new concept to Nepal, coffee estates are not plenty but are slowly emerging and coffee shops are now to be found in Kathmandu, Pokhara and the smaller towns. Enjoy the opportunity to spend time on a coffee plantation alongside the farmer.
Coffee was introduced into Nepal just a few years ago when a returning traveller brought some plants from abroad to the remote Argakhanchi district in mid-western Nepal and planted them in his garden. The plants did well, and the neighbours also planted a few but did not know what to do with the beans when they were ready to be harvested. It is only in the last 15 - 20 years that coffee has become the craze as a cash crop, at altitudes between 900 m to 1800 m altitude; the plants are intercropped with cardamom and fruit trees. Today coffee is a newfound craze and coffee shops abound in Kathmandu, Pokhara and even in the small towns.
The half-day tour takes you to Begnas village for coffee. You will enjoy your education on coffee with the bonus of some spectacular panoramas of the Himalayan range. You will get to interact with the coffee planters and depending on the time of the visit even help around the plantation, be it in the harvesting, tending of the coffee plants or sorting the beans; you will also get to visit the production chain processes; at the end of its all, you’ll get to drink a cup of coffee with beans roasted right in from of your eyes.
Coffee estates are few to come by in Nepal, though it is slowly starting. Individual farmers with small land holdings plant a few seedlings and bring in the produce in small quantities to local collectors who also double up as processors, who will use the wet method to produce the parchment or green beans.
Wholesalers then will pick this up, either directly or from the cooperatives, sort them and bag them and send them either for export, or to the retail industry, or to the coffee shops that keep popping up. This trip is a wonderful way to discover local life in the villages, see how the agricultural mechanism functions, participate in harvesting and processing and also understand how the export and retail industries function.
The trip is flexible, and one can choose between going to easy-access locations like Begnas near Pokhara for the farm component, or remote locations in Gorkha or Ilam, and stay options can be adjusted between farm stays or hotel stays - totally customisable.
Join this journey of discovery. At your time, available all year round.