INDO to Raglan: Morning Glory Direct Coffee Trade

A MORNING GLORY STORY

On a mission to discover the most delicious

and healthy beans on behalf of our

beloved Raglan coffee drinkers, Paul

Peterson - Founder of Morning Glory Organic

Coffee set off to Indonesia in search of its finest

tasting treats.

Not only did the coffee need to be mind

blowingly delicious, it was more important to

verify the plantations growing conditions and

the social aspect of these plantations on behalf of Morning Glory.

Immediately after arriving in Java, charged

on 3 cups of coffee and a vision, Paul and

Indonesian resident, Lukas Ondrisak from Divine

Spices, hit the road and drove 6 hrs into the

mountains of the Padhang Mbulan to an organic coffee

plantation operated under the guardianship of

3rd generation coffee farmer and now friend

Mas Dedik.

Heading up the steep trail on motorbike it

didn’t look like a typical plantation monoculture,

they were surrounded by mango, lychee, avocado, bana, mahogany,

cacao and most importantly, glowing in it’s

beautiful glory COFFEE.. and not an ounce of

chemicals to be found!

The clarity and quality of air was sweet and

the peaceful harmonies of birdsong and

animal sounds were soothing and reassuring.

Paul knew he had found something special.

After a few days on the Padhang Mbulan

plantation cupping its tasty coffee with Mas

Dedik and his family they set off to the Argopuro

Mountains in east Java. Another marathon drive

through small village roads brought them to the

warm greeting from Mas Muhlis, head of Argopura

Coffee and Co-op. A much larger operation

the Argopua Social Enterprise employs nearly

half of their villagers. They built a school to

educate the 800 local youth while the parents

work for double the average wage planting, picking,

processing and marketing the coffee grown on their

biodynamic, mixed species plantation.

Amazed to find not a single nutrient leaves the cycle, Paul

learned about their advanced organic biological

processing techniques, such as carbonic

Maceration and anaerobic lactic fermentation.

Graced with speciality coffee strains like orange bourbon

and cupping scores pushing into the 90’s! He knew

he had found a true coffee guru but the cherry

on the top (no pun intended) was hearing about

all the social projects they do, donating in excess of 40% profits to their school and village development. Their students go on to study education or

agronomy at university and then return to apply their

new knowledge and skills in their own community

enterprise. Definitely a kaupapa Morning Glory felt like

supporting.

Looking for fair trade and organic - Paul found

something beyond sustainability he found regeneration,

on both ecological and social levels.

Excited to announce this direct trade, single source organic coffee is

arriving in Raglan next week. Soon to be locally roasted and ready for summer!