Delta coffee on Monday launched the first Portuguese coffee produced entirely in the Azores, an archipelago that has “very favourable conditions” for “extremely high quality” production, according to the group’s CEO.
“The most special thing of all is making the impossible possible. Europe doesn’t have the climate and terrain to produce coffee. What we called it was ‘Impossible Coffee’,” said Rui Miguel Nabeiro in statements to the Lusa news agency.
He added: “Europe, being one of the biggest consumers, didn’t produce coffee and now it has become possible to produce coffee in Europe, particularly in Portugal and the Azores.”
Delta Cafés announced today in Lisbon the launch of a new coffee from the Azores, the result of a partnership between the regional government of the Azores and the association of Azorean coffee producers, which will be available in “Delta The Coffee House Experience” shops.
The group’s CEO recalled that the “dream” of producing coffee in Portugal began in 2018, when the company joined International Coffee Partners.
That year, Delta learnt of the existence of small coffee producers in the Azores and the following year conducted a study to “understand which species of coffee” are most suited to the Azorean climate, an investigation that resulted in a report delivered to the regional executive.
“Over the last four years, we’ve been supporting all the small coffee producers in the Azores. At this point, as there is already some coffee, we ended up commercially launching a coffee product with 100% Portuguese coffee, 100% coffee from the Azores,” he emphasised.
The coffee now available is Arabica, but Rui Miguel Nabeiro emphasises that the Azorean islands have the conditions to produce other types of coffee.
“The Azores have a very favourable climate. It’s a very humid climate, with constant rainfall and mild temperatures. The volcanic soil itself, which we would have thought would make planting difficult, turns out, after these last four years of studies, to have optimum conditions for the production of at least six species of coffee,” he said.
Delta’s CEO emphasised, however, that there is still “a long way to go” to “stimulate coffee production” in the archipelago.
“The coffee that will be produced in the Azores is a speciality coffee, with a very distinctive flavour and extremely high quality. There won’t be huge volumes, but above all it will be very, very good coffee,” he emphasised.
At the presentation ceremony, the leader of the regional government of the Azores considered Delta to be the “ideal partner” to increase coffee production in the region.
“We’re making history (…). We’re going to make Portugal a country of coffee production excellence,” said José Manuel Bolieiro.
The regional leader argued that the Azores should focus on “excellence” and the “dimension of added value”, to the detriment of “quantity” production.
“The launch of Azorean coffee honours the region, but it is not the end, but the beginning of a new stage. As leader of the Azores regional government and as an Azorean, I value the work carried out in partnership with Delta,” said Bolieiro.
Source: macaubusiness
