Coffee cherry tea hits the spot, brewed from a need for sustainable farming

Espresso farmer Tibor Pinci’s hate for waste led him to create a uncommon espresso cherry tea produced nowhere else in New South Wales.

His boutique farm on the outskirts of Coffs Harbour has greater than 3,000 arabica espresso bushes which produce greater than three tonnes of espresso cherries, typically additionally referred to as espresso berries, which might be usually thrown away.

However Mr Pinci was decided to keep away from the fruit being wasted when he began the espresso farm about 15 years in the past.

“I am European and I hate losing issues,” Mr Pinci mentioned.

“They [the cherries] style lovely when they’re recent. I began drying them, I made a tea out of them and stored experimenting to even make a brew with the extract.”

The Korora espresso farm is amongst solely a handful of farms that produce espresso tea within the nation.

Most espresso tea is imported from abroad.

TV present evokes distinctive farm

Mr Pinci was working as a baker in Sydney greater than a decade in the past when he noticed a espresso farm featured on a TV present and was impressed to start out his personal.

Sydney proved too chilly to develop his espresso bushes, so Mr Pinci bought a property in Korora the place he planted about 1,000 seedlings, hoping they might thrive in Coffs Harbour’s sub-tropical local weather.

Now, Mr Pinci juggles his booming espresso farming passion and his full-time job as a baker.

Espresso berry tea has turn into certainly one of his hottest merchandise due to its style and well being advantages, which embody aiding digestion.

“It is wonderful how the espresso berry is so useful for our our bodies, for cleaning and issues like that, that may assist folks,” he mentioned.

“That is why I began, and I simply adore it.”

Espresso tree cherries a lesser-known superfood

Lecturer in diet and dietetics at Latrobe College, Susan McLeod, mentioned the espresso tree cherry had a spread of well being advantages.

“The espresso berry is de facto, actually excessive in antioxidants, actually a lot larger than issues that we’d typically affiliate as being excessive in antioxidants equivalent to blueberries,” she mentioned.

“Antioxidants are wonderful for serving to clear up free radicals in our physique and stopping harm.”

Just like the espresso bean, the espresso cherry additionally accommodates caffeine.

“However most issues are okay sparsely and that is no totally different.

“Like espresso, we’d have it sparsely, so having a few cups a day [of coffee berry tea] could be okay.”

Ms McLeod says it’s a win-win state of affairs for growers, shoppers, and the planet.

“From a sustainability perspective, if a farmer can take the espresso cherry and use it in one other means, not solely is that nice for the surroundings however it’s additionally one other means for them to earn cash or a revenue out of one thing that’s sometimes simply handled as waste,” she mentioned.

“That has one other flow-on advantage of being nice for the patron as a result of it’s a implausible meals that gives well being properties.”