Popular coffee joint Himalayan Java has opened Himalayan Java Coffee School at Civil Mall, Sundhara. The company has claimed that the coffee school is the first of its kind in South Asia.

To celebrate the opening of the school, Himalayan Java together with Helvetas, Beautiful Store of Korea, Alpine Coffee and Ministry of Agricultural Development on Friday organized a free training on ´Coffee Quality Management & Cupping Training´. Twenty farmers from Gulmi, Palpa, Syangja, Kaski, Parbat, Lalitpur, Sindhuli, Kavre and Nuwakot districts participated in the training.

“The main objective of the training was to teach the farmers about various steps of processing from ´crop to cup´ i.e. from production till serving of the coffee,” said Prachanda Man Shrestha, policy advisor of Beautiful Store, Korea.

According to Ram Sharan Phuyal, school in-charge, the coffee school will be providing training on production, use of machineries, coffee cupping, brewing and serving the coffee as well as dealing with the customers.

“The market of coffee is increasing and the demand for this drink is growing. Still, many people, who are involved in the coffee industry, do not know about the quality of the coffee that is served to the customers,” Gagan Pradhan, founder and owner of Himalayan Java, said, adding, “We have opened the coffee school to bridge the gap between the farmers and the customers and to teach those involved in the sector about various aspects of coffee.”

The school also plans to collaborate with the American Barista and Coffee School (ABCS), Portland, Oregon in the near future.

“As the demand for baristas are very high in the international market, those who are planning to go abroad will be highly benefited from the training,” said Pradhan.

The training will be provided on six different models that include meeting customer´s satisfaction, increasing coffee´s grade, increasing taste and quality of coffee, coffee brewing, use of machineries and coffee production.

“We will provide 3- to 15-day training that will cost about Rs 25,000. The training given by resource persons from ABCS will cost around Rs 45,000 to Rs 50,000,” said Phuyal.

The coffee school also plans to open a coffee lab wherein farmers can carry out coffee cupping and get the report about the quality of their coffee. “The lab will be opened within three months,” said Pradhan.

source: repubica,2 Nov 2012