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Atono Tsükrü
Kohima, July 2 (EMN): Été Coffee, the Nagas’ own first coffee roasting company in Nagaland established in 2016, was started by a group of first generation coffee-roasters who chose to move out of the mainstream and conventional professions into the coffee industry.
One may wonder what makes Été Coffee different, as their brand slogan ‘Justice a cup’ says, Été Coffee is no doubt a for profit organisation like any other serious business. However, the interesting thing about it is in the fact that for the most part it sticks to finding ‘justice’ in every sector of the process chain. For instance, growers are not exploited, employees are sustainably employed, and that it puts ethical values over all other aspects of the business.
Most importantly, the people involved with Été Coffee know exactly what they are doing and mean business as they do business with responsibility in imparting the right knowledge and endeavouring to share it religiously with all and grow as a community.
Été Coffee is set to celebrate its second anniversary on July 2. Interacting with Eastern Mirror was 32-year old Lichan Humtsoe from Humtso village in Wokha village, the man and proprietor behind the beautiful concept. He said that the name of the firm was carefully chosen going beyond clans or tribes. He is also a professional photographer.
The proprietor explained that the word “Ete” comes from an ethnic Naga word meaning “us” or “ours.” “Naga being a multi-tribal community we want to advocate unity,” he said.
Besides the drive in terms of passion and love for coffee, Humtsoe recalled how unemployment among the youth had driven them to conceptualise the idea to start the company though it was not a smooth ride initially.
In a state where 90-95% of the population depends on the government economy- directly or indirectly, he remarked “if you are not part of the government system you are nowhere and the number of graduates we are churning out each year is staggering.”
Humtsoe who left his government job to start this company observed that because of the unemployment problem, every year thousands of graduates become liability to the society.
A man, who is passionate to bring change in little ways he can, said “therefore, we moved out of our mainstream profession to start something on our own. So, our first goal is to provide sustainable employment opportunities to as many as we can through our business. And secondly, employability as our mainstream conventional education system doesn’t make us employable, especially in a state like Nagaland where industries, corporate and private sectors hasn’t taken off.”
Another interesting thing, he shared is that his company save up 10% of company’s proceeds called EYF (Employability of Youth Fund) to sponsor local youths who are willing to undergo skills training in order to become employable at all sectors.
“The entire philosophy of the company is based on one simple truth, that is, every single person should stand on their own and to develop a self-sufficient, self-reliant and self-sustained community and to do away with the nature of dependency on the government economy” said Humtsoe.
Determined to expand the company, promote local coffee farmers and give employment to local youth, Humtsoe maintained that Été Coffee is an emerging network of community engaging every sector of the process chain from growers to the retailers.
One of the main motivations behind Été Coffee, he said is that Northeast people in general and Nagas in particular have been consumers all throughout and therefore, it aims to produce and manufacture thereby making optimum use of the state’s potential in Agro based farming.
When asked where the production is unit based and where are the coffee beans sourced from, Humtsoe said the production unit is based in Kohima and it sourced its coffee from 4 districts of Nagaland namely; Mon, Wokha, Mokokchung and Kohima.
In its two years of existence, he said has sold over 12,000 coffee packets all across India and few abroad through direct sale, retailers, cafes and via official online shopping site www.etecoffee.com.
Today, it has expanded with a team of 17 members who are involved in various capacities with working as full time while most are part-time and few volunteers (excluding the growers). Today, the company has its own farm, “Roastery and Coffee bar”, the first to introduce the concept “Roastery & Coffee bar” in the whole of Northeast India.
On being enquired how much does the coffee cost and its availability, Humtsoe the coffee comes in five different packs with price ranging from INR 120 to INR 2400 and is available at Ete Coffee Roastery and official shopping site, which he said, is mostly on order basis in order to deliver freshly roasted beans.
The coffee from the company is also available in various outlets in Kohima, including The Local Store and few others, he informed.
For those interested to taste fresh and professionally local made coffee and experience live demonstration on the preparation of coffee, Été Coffee is located near Kohima College. The ambience of the bar is that of a serene and homely with soft lights where one can relax and enjoy coffee in pure delight. As one nears the roastery, you will be greeted with the bitter sweet aroma of freshly roasted coffee wakening your senses of pure joy.