As the world’s love of coffee continues to rise, the global coffee market is now estimated to be worth US$132.1 billion. This growth reflects high, global demand for coffee, stemming from both established production and consumption markets across Latin America, Africa, Middle Eastern, North America, and Europe and local emerging markets which are growing rapidly.
Enter Hannah E. Tarawally, a 21-year-old entrepreneur and founder of Coffee Couriers, Freetown, Sierra Leone who is putting speciality, Sierra Leonean coffee beans on the worldwide map.
Hannah’s coffee business journey began after she completed her Senior Secondary School exams and found herself short of funds to continue any further education. She credits Nick Piggot, a UN worker in Sierra Leone, who encouraged her to look at supplying coffee to local offices as a way of raising funds. With the success of this venture she went on to gain an Economics degree and is proceeding to a degree in Accounting and Applied Accounting.
Hannah initially started out by supplying another local coffee but soon realised she could roast and supply her own, finer brand of coffee. She research the local market and found a blacksmith who created her a basic roasting pot.
“We started operations in 2014 serving hot coffee to offices here in Freetown,” Hannah recalls. “Over the years the actual activities we do has improved into a whole reshaping of the coffee culture in Freetown and beyond.”
“We work to create memorable experiences from the onset of coffee planting, through to harvesting, processing and then serving in the various taste desires of the everyday coffee consumer. I am currently working together with over 1000 farmers in the Kuido Hills, in the country’s Eastern Province and in South East regions to selectively handpick the best coffee beans that Sierra Leone has to offer. The beans are further roasted and packaged here in Freetown into various sizes.
The Coffee Couriers Cafe opened in Freetown in 2020 and Hannah continues to sell packaged whole-bean and ground coffee – all harvested, selected and roasted in Sierra Leone. Also, she now supplies to Liberia and plans to enter the European market.
Since that time, she has attracted many converts to the taste of whole-bean coffee. “Before, my friends didn’t drink coffee, but because I introduced it to them, they can see and taste the difference,” she says.
So far, her biggest challenges include, “Sourcing the beans, which has been difficult. I deal with agents in the provinces and sometimes the prices can just increase”. So she’s looking to source from an alternative location where she can buy direct. “I would also like to improve on the packaging, and financing the operations when I started was tough.”
But Hannah remains optimistic about the part she and Sierra Leone’s speciality coffee industry can play in the global market, saying, “Discerning drinkers are always looking for more authentic experiences and a rare bean from Sierra Leone with speciality flavour notes is sure to be in high demand.”
coffeecouriesfreetown.com
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