St Helena Coffee

St Helena produce coffee. Who knew? Well it seems Harrods do and charge a good price for it (£60 for 100g).

The coffee of St Helena has a unique heritage: the plants here are directly descended from beans brought over by the East India Company in 1732 from Yemen. For those that understand these things, 'it is not just a pure Arabica coffee, but a single type of Arabica bean known as Green Tipped Bourbon Arabica'. In the last ten years it seems to have had a revival after some nineteenth century fame, despite there being only two tiny commercial plantations. I had been asked before arriving if I might consider helping at the one nearby for a couple of days. What better way of learning about something of which I know very little and of getting a little involved in island life.

Romantic notions of picking coffee beans, straw hatted under a warming sun, were soon dashed when I was asked to weed between the trees in the drizzle (the beans were harvested last month). But the sun came out on the second day and in between the backbreaking toil I got to hear from Jill, the owner, (over coffee of course) about the difficulties of exporting from a remote island - ambient temperatures, absorption of taints, certificates of quality - and learned that the process of preparing the bean is far more complex than I had ever imagined. 

Everything in this place is small, from the plantation to the small one kilogram roaster and the machine for removing bean husks, looking like a domestic mincer. Anywhere else this would be an enthusiast's farm doing international trade but not here. And the setting is idyllic. The plantation is surrounded by hills, the rows of coffee plants guide your eye to unspoilt views and to the sky and sea beyond. 

It was a rewarding two days. And in between we spent Wednesday night at the yacht club, that day's 'go to' establishment in Jamestown in a country that still applies Wednesday half day closing, enjoying the buzz of company, beer and fried conger eel. And today I walked my weary body home through the shade of pine and eucalyptus woods, Worsley alongside, before enjoying a quiet dinner at home to allow my body to recover from my tiredness, a consequence of brain and body having different views about how age has impacted me over the years.