To all of my clients, readers and well wishers...may 2023 bring all that you need!
Rain like peas!
From June to November 2022 we have had far more rain here in Trinidad and Tobago, than I could remember over the past 40 years! Flooding in many parts of the country were considered excessive and repeated. Even places not accustomed to floods got their dose of silt-laden water.
So, how did that situation affect the 2023 coffee crop? From my observations over several decades, I believe that our Robusta coffee is a climate resilient crop...it can tolerate short periods of drought and even longer periods of repeated flooding...as long as the flood water goes away within 2-3 days.
Repeated heavy rains and excessive water in the soil will tend to cause yellowing of leaves, leaf loss and maybe some loss of fruit. A major problem is the reduction in soil nutrition, particularly nitrogen, and excessive growth of weeds (which out compete the coffee plants for nutrition)...in some cases, these weeds can reach up to your ears in two-three months if not controlled.
Harvesting started earlier
Despite the ‘dread’ rainy weather last year, the 2023 coffee crop seems reasonable and ripening of the berries started a few weeks earlier than in previous years. We began picking during the first week of December 2022 and will likely continue until March of this year...early and late ripening varieties.
We usually get at least two pickings per tree...each tree yielding from about 1.5 kg to 5 kg of ripe berries. The estate currently has 8 varieties of the superior flavour Robusta coffee.
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| Ripe Robusta coffee berries. |
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| First picking of the season...Cydney in action. |
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| Aarya and Evvy's first coffee picking experience. The future of the coffee empire is safe! |
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| First batch of coffee berries in the drying chamber. |
Marketing boost
Recently, a short documentary on local coffee was produced by one of Trinidad and Tobago’s famous and talented Chef, Wendy Rahamut. The link to that video is provided below and will give you some insight into our local coffee.
This video soon led to a swift and high demand for Cafe Vega coffee from among the uninitiated and continues to receive favourable comments. Thank you Wendy!
