Oceanic Coffee

The accepted wisdom about coffee farming conditions is changing. Rory Kleu, an agronomist, investigates the possibilities of low altitude grown coffee and smashing the myths of the coffee belt.

- Rory Kleu

Most coffee drinkers have heard from their local coffee professional that coffee is grown between the tropics, known as the Coffee Belt. This is largely due to a combination of altitude and temperature conditions, but in an ever-changing world at the mercy of climate change and disease, alternatives to the norms are being explored and this has exciting implications for the Southern tip of Africa. Rory Kleu has been an agronomist for 15 years, driven by finding solutions to agricultural challenges, he has covered over 20 different crops across all 6 continents upon which farming is practiced. And recently his focus has shifted to coffee...

Coffee is a crop unique in many ways. The allure of plantations in deep jungles and cloudy equatorial mountains forms a significant part of what fascinates us about this particular agricultural product. Yet somewhere in these tropical mists lies hidden a line between fact and fiction regarding coffee's agronomic requirements. In deciphering the science from the romance, a story emerges no less enchanting than the one we've always imagined.

In our pursuit of quality coffee, of prime importance is altitude. High altitude equals high quality. This is gospel. But why? What measurable environmental conditions do coffee trees enjoy further up a mountain, that they lack growing closer to the sea?