Will coffee farming in Jeju succeed?

/ Courtesy of Jeju Coffee Farm

Jeju's coffee farmer looks three decades ahead for optimum condition

By Yun Suh-young

It is difficult to imagine what locally grown coffee would taste like since only a handful of farmers in Korea are attempting to cultivate coffee beans and none of them for commercial purposes.

Growing them here may seem crazy as there have been no success stories yet. And to claim that the local environment is suitable for growing coffee beans, decades of experimentation will be required.

However, there are still courageous farmers such as Rho Jin-yi, owner of Jeju Coffee Farm in Jeju city, making an attempt to cultivate the beans locally.

Coffee cherries ripening at the Jeju Coffee Farm

Marking 10 years next year of growing coffee beans, Rho said she'd have to wait another 10 years to actually give a confident answer of what Jeju coffee really tastes like.

"It's difficult to say Jeju coffee's characteristics are this or that. It will take time to find out the characteristic of Jeju-grown coffee. It differs drastically on the year's amount of sunshine or rainfall and the process of drying and roasting," said Rho.

"I haven't found a particular taste yet, but I can only say that it's not bad. I'd say, I'll need another 10 years to be able to answer what Jeju coffee is like on average."

Coffee farmer Rho Jin-yi holds up a dried coffee bean that is displayed for educational purposes at her Jeju Coffee Farm.
/ Korea Times photos by Yun Suh-young

Coffee farming in Jeju

Her farm, located 20 minutes east of Jeju International Airport, is one of the very few farms in Korea that specialize in growing coffee beans. The farm is situated on land stretching 6,600 square meters, although not all of the land is used for farming. Next to the greenhouses, there's a building for conducting coffee classes and consulting.

The day this reporter visited was the day that the coffee education class was being held.

Rho was explaining how to grind beans during a two-hour class to a group of 10 people who had signed up for a 12-week course.

"If you grind them too thickly, the coffee and water don't harmonize well. It tastes flat. If you grind them too thin, then the coffee tastes bitter," she explained.

She also runs an English class for foreigners.

Above are the stages of a coffee cherry's transformation to a green bean. First, the outer skin is peeled off and the two beige-colored beans are collected. Then the separated beans are dried with the mucilage still
intact. Finally, the mucilage is peeled off from the dried beans. At this stage called "green beans," they are ready for roasting.

During the two-hour class, she demonstrated how to extract coffee from a Mocha Pot, a type of pot invented by Afonso Bialetti in Italy in 1933.

When the class was over, she guided the students to the greenhouse where she showed them the coffee trees laden with coffee cherries. Coffee cherries are the fruits which contain the coffee beans. Inside a coffee cherry, there are two beige-colored beans that are used for grinding to make coffee.

"This is a green bean. We dry the beans at this state with the mucilage still intact. We wash this at this stage then dry it, then peel off the mucilage. Then the beans are used for roasting," said Rho.

Rho has 1,400 coffee bean plants in her greenhouse and the varieties range from Ethiopian to Brazilian and Hawaiian.

As importing the trees is banned, Rho requested small portions of green beans from her acquaintances who traveled to the coffee belt regions.

Coffee farmer Rho Jin-yi looks at the coffee trees planted inside the greenhouse at her farm in Jeju Island.
/ Korea Times photos by Yun Suh-young

"For the first three years, I grew the beans in a pot. At the time I started, no one was farming coffee beans. I followed what plant farmers did," she said.

"From the fourth year, I started farming on land because people told me it was necessary for the long run."

Ten years into farming, Rho realized that she still had a long way to go.

"When I first began, I was full of pride and confidence. I thought I could hit the jackpot with farming since I believed that I was the only one to start this on Jeju," said Rho.

"Ten years into it, I realized I was too naive. There are so many difficulties as well as requirements that I had overlooked. Farming is a comprehensive activity that requires a lot of attention, procedures, equipment and mother-nature's blessing. When one of these factors is missing, it can't work."

The reason she thought coffee bean farming could work on Jeju was because she found similarities in its environment with some of the coffee belt regions in the world.

"Famous coffees such as Jamaica's Blue Mountain or Hawaii's Kona were grown in coastal regions abundant in trass (volcanic earth). Since Jeju has similar conditions, I thought I'd try," she said.

"But I overlooked the fact that Jeju is vulnerable to typhoons. There are so many things to prepare for the typhoons and it costs a lot to keep the plants safe and sound. Three years ago, I went through an ordeal when typhoons Tembin and Bolaven hit the nation. All of them fell and I had to replant them three times. That was when I first felt fearful of farming. Environmental circumstances were out of my control."

The capricious temperature of Jeju was also an obstacle.

But farming was much like a drug. Once into it, it was difficult to get out of.

"Plants are mysterious. When they sense danger, they bloom flowers in an effort to reproduce. I think such a mystery of nature is what makes farmers continue farming despite the difficulties. When the plants reproduce, it gives humans satisfaction."

To reach the optimum stage of cultivating coffee beans in Korea, Rho says we'd have to wait three more decades.

"Researchers say when we reach the year 2050, conditions will be optimum in Korea for farming coffee beans. That's because of global warming," she said.

"So I gave up the hope for achieving monetary success from farming. With the amount I produce yearly, it's not even close to the amount needed for commercial sales. Instead, I'm going to continue doing this for my love for coffee and hope that my experience can serve as a reference for future farmers."

Rho gives out her produce in small portions to visitors during the Coffee Festival period held in June.

"I wondered what could propel me to keep farming and discovered that sharing was the answer. So I share my seeds with people who come to the farm, in the hope that they'd sow them and grow coffee plants in their homes. I imagine Jeju flourishing with coffee plants in every home and it's really rewarding."

Passion as a driving force

Rho loved coffee even before she dipped her feet in the industry.

Influenced by a close colleague, she started drinking coffee and learning about the different varieties. It was a trip to Japan that became a turning point.

"I visited a roastery in Japan and there an elderly roaster personally making coffee for us. That was so impressive," said Rho.

Since then she had engaged herself in almost all coffee-related jobs before plunging into the arduous task of farming.

"Of the jobs related to coffee, I have done everything except hunting. I have been a barista, an aroma evaluator and a roaster for a total of 15 years. The more I learned about coffee, the more curious I got," she said.

She has prepared herself for a lifelong career in the field because she simply loves the job.

"I think I'll do this until the moment I die. I know farming is difficult but it's really fun. I love my job. I'm doing this not to leave a mark in history, but for myself. I think the difficulties are the cost for doing what I love. If that's what I have to pay for, I'd gladly pay for it."