We are pleased to inform you about the start of our project aimed at the promotion of Nepali coffee in the United States.
Nepali coffee is a unique product, organic highland Arabica, offering an exceptional level of palatability. It is a fair-trade product, cultivated by small family-owned estates, whose prevailing source of income is coffee farming.
What makes Nepali coffee so special? It is truly a unique combination of climatic, geographical and natural factors in the highlands of Nepal. These factors, including an altitude range of 2600 – 5300 ft. create an ideal environment for the cultivation of the Arabica coffee variety. The Himalayan soil is so rich in minerals and nutrients that it requires no chemical fertilizer. Nepali Organic Coffee is grown in a traditional manner by small family estates, mainly using manual labor, thus, eliminating the application of pesticides or GMO. The Executive Director of the National Tea and Coffee Development Board, Raman Prasad Pathak stated that, “All Nepali Coffee is of Arabica variety, organically and eco-friendly practiced by small farmers. Selective hand picking of fully ripen cherries is done and pulped right after harvesting with necessary additional procedures. Nepali Coffee is Organic & Fair-trade, and it is considered a specialty Coffee for its distinct flavor and body as it is grown in higher altitude, away from the main Coffee growing in the Capricorn and Cancer belt (beyond 230 latitude)”
We’ve named our brand after a Burmese hermit, travelling monk Shri Baba Hira Giri, who went all the way walking from the Sindu Province of Myanmar (Burma) to Aapchaur village in the Gulmi district of Nepal, near the birthplace of Gautama Buddha, carrying a little pouch of seeds yet unknown in this country, birthing the Nepali Coffee in 1938.
For generations, Nepal was a tea drinking country, while coffee was almost unknown among the locals. The coffee industry is very young in Nepal. At the moment, total production of Nepali coffee doesn’t exceed 500 tons of green beans annually, although there is a potential in this land and human resources, allowing for a feasibility of achieving much larger volumes. Fair wage, decent crops and technologies of modern organic farming will enable larger production and boost the profits essential for this beautiful land in distress.
Our project is an outstanding opportunity to help long-suffering Nepali farmers and bring their great product to the largest coffee market in the world. The US coffee market itself (18 billion USD) is comparable to the total GDP of Nepal. We aim to create a value chain where every link is 100% organic and fair-trade and support the developing coffee industry of Nepal.
We would like to ask you to take a closer look in our project and spread the word about it
Hira Giri website: www.nepali.coffee
Kickstarter project: http://kck.st/1JzMhsv
WATCH VIDEO: https://vimeo.com/130426723