Robusta Coffee

[stupidfarang]

Hi, is anyone farming robusta coffee in the south? My partner has a share in the family coffee farm in the Chumphon Province, located up in the hills. This year they have been effected by the lack of rain (El Nino). need to put in irrigation, anyone no about coffee irrigation?

Also I went to Watsudu and looked at the price of Blue two & half inch pipe for water but they were asking 200thb per 4 meters. Not much when you are looking at one pipe but when you are looking at 250 pipes then it adds up. Any better place to buy pipe at a cheaper price?

Anyone from the North who has Arabica coffee, your input would be good.

Edited January 19, 2016 by stupidfarang

[rice555]

Why not use HDPE, black poly? Can just roll out

and either use fittings or 1-2 way saddles to run

laterals off the main?

To get an Idea of parts, check out Super Products

O/L catalog.

rice555

[JungleBiker]

+1

http://www.superproducts.co.th/English/about26.html

[avocadowangnamkeouw]

Before you invest your money and effort i think you can consider some other options.

First of all, El Nino is an event happening maybe every 10 years, so a lower yield because of little rain every 10 years or so, is just part of the game.

There are many other things affecting the yield, in my experience,(I grow arabica and have a nursery for growers in Wang Nam Keouw area) healthy planting material with a good tap root and pruning are the most important ones beside the obvious ones like fertilizer and water.

If you send me some pictures of the trees and give me a percentage of how many trees died during the drought and maybe the difference in yield, I probably can give you an advice.

If you decide to put in irrigation, I would go for the black poly,

Andy

[Nomyai]

leave coffee growing to folgers n starbucks.

ask yourself is the person pitching you the idea a wealthy businessman or a poor neighbor.?

[honu]

just out of curiosity, why do they grow robusta and not arabica?

[moto77]

just out of curiosity, why do they grow robusta and not arabica?

Robusta is easier to grow, has a higher yield and is less sensitive to insects.

I guess that's why anyone grows it, because it is not as valuable as arabica.

Edited January 20, 2016 by moto77

[KonaRain]

Arabica is being attacked in Hawaii by borer beetle!

El Niño may go 2 years..

Thai Mountain Coffee.. Yum!

Aloha

[stupidfarang]

Why not use HDPE, black poly? Can just roll out

and either use fittings or 1-2 way saddles to run

laterals off the main?

To get an Idea of parts, check out Super Products

O/L catalog.

rice555

Thank you for this info, looks great, I will check it out, trying to keep the cost down as I need to run a pipe for one kilometer,

[stupidfarang]

+1

http://www.superproducts.co.th/English/about26.html

thank you for the link

[stupidfarang]

Arabica is being attacked in Hawaii by borer beetle!

El Niño may go 2 years..

Thai Mountain Coffee.. Yum!

Aloha

Yes El Nino is having and effect on the water supply and coffee needs water

[stupidfarang]

Before you invest your money and effort i think you can consider some other options.

First of all, El Nino is an event happening maybe every 10 years, so a lower yield because of little rain every 10 years or so, is just part of the game.

There are many other things affecting the yield, in my experience,(I grow arabica and have a nursery for growers in Wang Nam Keouw area) healthy planting material with a good tap root and pruning are the most important ones beside the obvious ones like fertilizer and water.

If you send me some pictures of the trees and give me a percentage of how many trees died during the drought and maybe the difference in yield, I probably can give you an advice.

If you decide to put in irrigation, I would go for the black poly,

Andy

Hi Andy

Thank you for the info and the offer. My partners family have Robusta down south in Chumphon in the hills. Not sure how many trees they have as it covers a large area of the hillside and it is steep, they haven't lost any trees this year but due to the low rain fall this year (2015) the yield was down. They have a creek that runs past and also have a very large reservoir about one kilometer away (blue pipe would cost around 60,000 Bhat for 1Klm). The creek water drys up to a trickle in very hot weather so the reservoir may be the option to go for. They need water so looking at getting a pump and piping to get the water to the trees. I see other coffee growers tend to use the blue pipe around 2 inch diameter to get the water up to the trees and from there smaller pipes with sprinklers. I am not a farmer and have no plans on becoming one, but would like to see a system in place maybe using drip or D-Tape Rain Spray. I am not back until June (live half the year out of Thailand) but when back would like to get more advice. The black poly is it long lasting and do you just lay it on top of the ground?

Is Wang Nam Keouw in Nakhon Ratchasima Province?

Regards

John

[Brewster67]

just out of curiosity, why do they grow robusta and not arabica?

Robusta is (as the name suggests) more robust, gives higher yields and flowers more regularly and so give more regular yields, and so is of a much lower quality (very important) and much lower value than arabica.

Most domestic mainstream table coffee is a mixture of arabica and robusta, the robusta is more like a padding out, while the arabica supplies that nice nutty flavour and aroma.

100% arabica with zero robusta is your premium and more expensive coffees and commands a much higher price.

100% robusta coffee is your budget, economy rancid crap.

8 years in coffee production for Kraft Foods.

[Brewster67]

Before you invest your money and effort i think you can consider some other options.

First of all, El Nino is an event happening maybe every 10 years, so a lower yield because of little rain every 10 years or so, is just part of the game.

There are many other things affecting the yield, in my experience,(I grow arabica and have a nursery for growers in Wang Nam Keouw area) healthy planting material with a good tap root and pruning are the most important ones beside the obvious ones like fertilizer and water.

If you send me some pictures of the trees and give me a percentage of how many trees died during the drought and maybe the difference in yield, I probably can give you an advice.

If you decide to put in irrigation, I would go for the black poly,

Andy

Hi Andy

Thank you for the info and the offer. My partners family have Robusta down south in Chumphon in the hills. Not sure how many trees they have as it covers a large area of the hillside and it is steep, they haven't lost any trees this year but due to the low rain fall this year (2015) the yield was down. They have a creek that runs past and also have a very large reservoir about one kilometer away (blue pipe would cost around 60,000 Bhat for 1Klm). The creek water drys up to a trickle in very hot weather so the reservoir may be the option to go for. They need water so looking at getting a pump and piping to get the water to the trees. I see other coffee growers tend to use the blue pipe around 2 inch diameter to get the water up to the trees and from there smaller pipes with sprinklers. I am not a farmer and have no plans on becoming one, but would like to see a system in place maybe using drip or D-Tape Rain Spray. I am not back until June (live half the year out of Thailand) but when back would like to get more advice. The black poly is it long lasting and do you just lay it on top of the ground?

Is Wang Nam Keouw in Nakhon Ratchasima Province?

Regards

John

Just wanted to say, have you considered the task of pumping water uphill?

Obviously you need to pump the water up to the top of the hill and let gravity do the rest.

I don't know how much of the KM is uphill, but once you are talking about pumping water upwards it is a total game changer.

That sounds to be like a lot of weight the pump is going to be pushing and that is going to need one mighty pump.

I could be wrong here, but there I think calculators are available for you to work out the HP needed behind the water to get it to where you want it.

Might be worth thinking about it before you sink cash into the materials.

[Nomyai]

just out of curiosity, why do they grow robusta and not arabica?

Robusta is (as the name suggests) more robust, gives higher yields and flowers more regularly and so give more regular yields, and so is of a much lower quality (very important) and much lower value than arabica.

Most domestic mainstream table coffee is a mixture of arabica and robusta, the robusta is more like a padding out, while the arabica supplies that nice nutty flavour and aroma.

100% arabica with zero robusta is your premium and more expensive coffees and commands a much higher price.

100% robusta coffee is your budget, economy rancid crap.

8 years in coffee production for Kraft Foods.

You have 8 yrs experience. You should be saying dont do it!

[stupidfarang]

Before you invest your money and effort i think you can consider some other options.

First of all, El Nino is an event happening maybe every 10 years, so a lower yield because of little rain every 10 years or so, is just part of the game.

There are many other things affecting the yield, in my experience,(I grow arabica and have a nursery for growers in Wang Nam Keouw area) healthy planting material with a good tap root and pruning are the most important ones beside the obvious ones like fertilizer and water.

If you send me some pictures of the trees and give me a percentage of how many trees died during the drought and maybe the difference in yield, I probably can give you an advice.

If you decide to put in irrigation, I would go for the black poly,

Andy

Hi Andy

Thank you for the info and the offer. My partners family have Robusta down south in Chumphon in the hills. Not sure how many trees they have as it covers a large area of the hillside and it is steep, they haven't lost any trees this year but due to the low rain fall this year (2015) the yield was down. They have a creek that runs past and also have a very large reservoir about one kilometer away (blue pipe would cost around 60,000 Bhat for 1Klm). The creek water drys up to a trickle in very hot weather so the reservoir may be the option to go for. They need water so looking at getting a pump and piping to get the water to the trees. I see other coffee growers tend to use the blue pipe around 2 inch diameter to get the water up to the trees and from there smaller pipes with sprinklers. I am not a farmer and have no plans on becoming one, but would like to see a system in place maybe using drip or D-Tape Rain Spray. I am not back until June (live half the year out of Thailand) but when back would like to get more advice. The black poly is it long lasting and do you just lay it on top of the ground?

Is Wang Nam Keouw in Nakhon Ratchasima Province?

Regards

John

Just wanted to say, have you considered the task of pumping water uphill?

Obviously you need to pump the water up to the top of the hill and let gravity do the rest.

I don't know how much of the KM is uphill, but once you are talking about pumping water upwards it is a total game changer.

That sounds to be like a lot of weight the pump is going to be pushing and that is going to need one mighty pump.

I could be wrong here, but there I think calculators are available for you to work out the HP needed behind the water to get it to where you want it.

Might be worth thinking about it before you sink cash into the materials.

Yes I know what you mean about the pump, they have had a pump in the past but when the sister and her husband divorced he took the pump. There are a lot of coffee farmers in the area who have pumps and they are all farming in the hills so I will take a closer look when i am back in April. I assure you I am not sinking much money into this, just help with a pump and they can buy the pipe. The little financial out lay on my part and the increased yield (hopefully on the coffee) will make a good change for them. The family has not asked for me to do this, they have never asked for money so am lucky. Am happy to help in a small way.

[Brewster67]

just out of curiosity, why do they grow robusta and not arabica?

Robusta is (as the name suggests) more robust, gives higher yields and flowers more regularly and so give more regular yields, and so is of a much lower quality (very important) and much lower value than arabica.

Most domestic mainstream table coffee is a mixture of arabica and robusta, the robusta is more like a padding out, while the arabica supplies that nice nutty flavour and aroma.

100% arabica with zero robusta is your premium and more expensive coffees and commands a much higher price.

100% robusta coffee is your budget, economy rancid crap.

8 years in coffee production for Kraft Foods.

You have 8 yrs experience. You should be saying dont do it!

I hear what you are saying.

I was in R&D and more involved with freeze drying processes and blending.

I have no physical experience in farming, but I do know one thing, Like many types of crop, you can go good quality and make more per KG or low quality and get bigger yields but for less money.

At the end of the day, the huge market exists for Robusta, the big coffee companies still want it a lot more than they want lots of robusta because the vast majority of the market is for mainstream table coffees which are mostly blends of the two types. for example 60% rob with 40% arabica this gives an acceptable product at an affordable price and is probably 70% of the global market.

It makes more sense if you only had a small planting space, to go with arabica if conditions suit, and you will only have a small yield, yet quality tolerances are very tight on that bean, so there is a risk if you get a bad crop for whatever reason, it could be rejected or worth a lot less. However, if you have a large planting space and you want less risk and a much bigger yield, then robusta is equally suited for the farmer.

Not having his partner's family's exact dynamics of their farm, it would be hard to advise them with what they should be planting, we just don't have enough information. All we know is they already have 'established' robusta trees in place and would be a bit of an ask to expect them to uproot them and start again with arabica, waiting around 7 years to get beans.

Edited January 30, 2016 by Brewster67

[CLW]

Hello, as we have a coffee expert here. What is the "secret" of Vietnamese coffee? It tastes sweet with some caramel flavour. They use special roasting method?

[honu]

while we're doing tangents, is it also possible to grow tea plants in that environment, and do they? of course the plants seem to prefer cool but not cold weather, for some reason higher elevations in cooler tropical climates works out, but they grow it in the Bolaven plateau in Southern Laos, and it can't be that cool there, or have that much steady rainfall to work with.

[honu]

I asked an online friend that runs a coffee shop in Ho Chi Minh City about Vietnamese coffee (that sells great teas, by the way; forget about the coffee and upgrade your beverage choice), and he gave a detailed answer:

I guess when most people talk about Vietnamese coffee they usually mean the whole style of making and serving (either with or without condensed milk).

Traditionally, because most of the coffee grown in Vietnam is Robusta (it is far hardier than Arabica and can be grown successfully at lower altitudes) roasting techniques were adopted to enhance the flavour - robusta has a great deal of strength (and caffeine) but lacks the subtleties and range of flavours that arabica does. Thus most coffee roasters add oil of some sort to the roast and maybe some sugar. The oil may be vegetable oil or it may be clarified butter - it is often described as roasted with butter but from what I have seen it looks more like fat.

Further many producers add flavourings to the coffee once it is roasted and ground and this may include caramel. Anecdotally, you often hear that some roasters also replace coffee bean with soya bean or corn to reduce costs. Adding flavourings can disguise this as well as allowing them to be not so picky about harvesting only the ripened cherries (beans).

We still sell a fair amount of coffee locally (both arabica and robusta) by buying green beans and then roasting ourselves in small batches to ensure freshness. We don't add anything to the roast ourselves.

At the moment we don't actually try to sell the coffee overseas even though it is pretty good and always fresh. The reason being is that the offering is very different from the teas. Whereas the teas are all single origin from small specialist farmers/ producers the green coffee beans that we buy is more of a commodity from a large broker based in Vietnam. It is a bit of a mismatch.

Here is his website link: http://hatvala.com/hatvalacoffe/

They could ship coffee here, it's not far over from Vietnam, and I've ordered tea from them (much better to go with that), I think they just can't ship green (unprocessed) coffee beans because that's a raw agricultural product.

I tried very fresh coffee in Laos, sold by a farmer there, and it was interesting noticing differences in robusta and arabica coffees since he sold both. He nearly poisoned me with caffeine trying the coffees, which I attributed to the freshness and drinking them a bit strong with him, but it may also have related to the robusta having more caffeine. It may sound nice, getting an energy boost, but it felt like a panic attack.

The coffees had an unusual sweetness, a mild berry-like flavor, which I guessed came from picking them ripe, but I never really knew. I did like the arabica a lot better; the robusta had an odd earthy flavor to it, without some of the refined and favorable taste elements, as has been described here already.

[Nomyai]

Hello, as we have a coffee expert here. What is the "secret" of Vietnamese coffee? It tastes sweet with some caramel flavour. They use special roasting method?

They add lots of Sugar!

[CLW]

Hello, as we have a coffee expert here. What is the "secret" of Vietnamese coffee? It tastes sweet with some caramel flavour. They use special roasting method?

They add lots of Sugar!

I mean the simple black coffee. Without anything. Or you mean during the roasting process?

[honu]

In that other post my friend that owns a coffee shop in Ho Chi Minh City said:

Further many producers add flavourings to the coffee once it is roasted and ground and this may include caramel.

Caramel is browned sugar, so he's saying some producers add sugar to processed coffee. The rest of what he wrote claimed some typical taste related to adding oil or butter during the roasting process, which seems to be a more likely cause of a typical distinctive flavor.

But if you really like versions that taste like caramel there's some chance that's because you are tasting caramel.

[Jdietz]

As stated above, during the roasting (suger, caramel added); which explains the caramel flavor I guess..

Went to two cups of coffee catching up on this thread, keep it going!

[CLW]

I just hope it's not any artificial flavour they add.

Now being in VN I bought a pack whole beans at a coffee company called Minh Quan.

Let's see how it tastes at home.

[KonaRain]

Liking all Your posts..

1" pipe might be easier to pump uphill..

Maybe, don't listen to me on this.

No experts here, yet.

You might plant Arabica as ur the same latitude as us in Hi.

Watch this video.. the first one, 'dirty jobs, Organic Kona Coffee' after seeing it twenty times at the farm featured, I am sure nothing is added until after it's roasted and cooled.. Alohz

https://youtu.be/hZC_IzOH9M8

[KonaRain]

Nothing added to pure Kona/Arabica..

Only the blends..10% Kona blends are common.. Arabica blends.

If you search Organic Kona Coffee on YouTube, there's an 11 video tutorial called our coffee production process.

https://youtu.be/8M8zNeWmOto

[CLW]

I just hope it's not any artificial flavour they add.

Now being in VN I bought a pack whole beans at a coffee company called Minh Quan.

Let's see how it tastes at home.

What I could figure out with a closer look at the packaging, it is 97% Arabica coffee and 3% Butter.

I tried this morning, I like the taste.

Though I think I will try to mix it 50/50 with regular Arabica.

[CLW]

I just hope it's not any artificial flavour they add.

Now being in VN I bought a pack whole beans at a coffee company called Minh Quan.

Let's see how it tastes at home.

What I could figure out with a closer look at the packaging, it is 97% Arabica coffee and 3% Butter.

I tried this morning, I like the taste.

Though I think I will try to mix it 50/50 with regular Arabica.

[CLW]

I just hope it's not any artificial flavour they add.

Now being in VN I bought a pack whole beans at a coffee company called Minh Quan.

Let's see how it tastes at home.

What I could figure out with a closer look at the packaging, it is 97% Arabica coffee and 3% Butter.

I tried this morning, I like the taste.

Though I think I will try to mix it 50/50 with regular Arabica.