Nurturing Excellence

During a journey through Colombia with Nespresso, chef Vicky Cheng discovered multiple parallels between the art of coffee production and the discipline of the culinary realm

Nearly 17,000 kilometres and a vastly different culture separate Hong Kong and Colombia, but Vicky Cheng found himself right at home during a coffee-focused tour of the country. Despite the dramatic contrast between the Asian city and the Latin American nation, the cofounder of Michelin-starred VEA and chef ambassador of Nespresso Hong Kong felt much was familiar among the unfamiliar during his four days travelling around Colombia, a trip that gave him a new appreciation for a good cup of coffee. Cheng was able to immerse himself in the process, from picking coffee cherries to visiting the co-operative to taste green coffees and partake in professional cupping sessions. His meetings with the growers of Jardín, an Andean town in the country’s northwest that is a five hours’ drive from Medellín, gave him a unique insight into the dedicated efforts of Nespresso to support the farmers in producing high-quality coffee in a sustainable way.

The average coffee farm in Jardín is a tiny two hectares, and many farmers used to do the milling and drying of their own coffee cherries. This crucial step before the beans are roasted is labour intensive and challenging, and not every farm was able to maintain the consistency and efficiency required to produce quality beans—which affects the environment as well as the farmers’ livelihoods.