gem forest coffee

Here is what we will need in the following years to complete this project.

If you would like to help, please send a quick email to me: khaleeb(at)gmail dot com

Operating Cost:

You may wish to help by partnering with us long term and help cover the day to day expenses of running the project. Monthly or quarterly project support covers things like like fuel, wages for farm hands, miscellaneous equipment, and supplies. Of the funds donated to the coffee project, 100% are used exclusively for the coffee project expenses.

Coffee Huller:

The final step of processing coffee before it is sent off to the roaster, is hulling. After the coffee Cherry has been pulped (fruit skin removed) and sun dried for 7-10 days, the thin papery skin covering the bean, parchment, is removed. This is not done right away, but just before the coffee is shipped out. Coffee hullers are not readily manufactured in Thailand, but are generally imported from India, Indonesia, or china. Rice hullers can sometimes be modified to hull coffee although this tends to cause damage to the coffee bean and make it less suitable for export.

Paid – Muncie Alliance Church

Drying Racks:

One of the most critical procedures of coffee processing is timely drying. If coffee does not begin drying immediately, and finish drying quickly enough, the flavor is ruined. Sadly, much excellent coffee goes to waste in our world today because the drying process was too slow, to hot, too long, or too late. One of the best ways to dry coffee is simple sun drying on suspended mesh racks. This keeps the coffee from absorbing weird odors on the ground, and gives air access to both sides of the coffee at once, giving a more even dry with less labor of turning and raking as is required on a cement floor.

A 2 square meter drying rack made of steel and woven mesh costs about 500 baht, ($15 US) It takes roughly 500m² of space for 2 weeks to dry one ton of coffee. Given a two month harvest season, that’s 65 racks, or $1,000. Of course this seems like a high, number, but it’s a one-time investment that will go towards making gem forest coffee the best it can be.

Engine Frame and wagon trailer:

Imagine carrying hundreds of 112lb bags of rock phosphate, dolomite, and coffee cherries; 120lb basket loads of mulch, manure, even coffee seedlings on your back over slippery trails up and down hills. That’s what every coffee farmer faces without access to some kind of tractor wagon.

Sample Roaster:

The sample roaster is to the coffee farmer as eyes to an artist and ears to a musician. The farmer has no idea how good of coffee he is growing unless he has some way to accurately evaluate it. Ideally every Prai farmer growing coffee should learn how to roast coffee well enough to know for himself how good it is, and how to improve it. So many farmers around the world grow excellent coffee and let it sell for pennies to a middle man who lied and told them it was no good. We must be able to know how we are doing so we can experiment, improve and learn how to produce the best coffee possible. Due to the ridiculous cost of proper sample roasters, and the relative simplicity of their function, I am designing and building our own. This will give us and other farmers around Thailand access to a good sample roaster at a fraction of what an import would cost.

Processing Station:

The equipment to process the coffee will initially be stationed close by in the village where there is already access to water and electricity. Aside from the cost of the actual equipment: Pulper, demucelager, huller ect., is a place to keep them. 200 sqft of cement floor and a simple steel and tile roof is all that is needed for an operational coffee processing station.

Moisture Meter:

The smallest, yet quite critical tool for ensuring the quality of our coffee. It’s imperative to be able to know the moisture of coffee. Coffee that is stored too moist will mold and be ruined, and coffee that is over dried will quickly fade, become dull and taste bad. These typically run from $300 – $1,200.

Land:

In the future we will inevitably need to have a piece of land down in the valley for offices warehouse, reception, and even emergency coffee drying when it is too cloudy up the mountains. Having a piece of registered land is also a requirement for starting a foundation. As land prices are increasing rapidly, I would like to square some away as soon as possible. There is a nice stretch of blacktop between the main highway and the mountains that land is fairly affordable. I’m hoping to find at least two acres right on the road for under 200,000 ($6,061 US)

Status Chart: