Did you know one of the most expensive coffees in the world is grown on British Soil?
When people think of coffee growing destinations, central America and African nations such as Ethiopia and Kenya spring to mind. What few people know is that one of the rarest and most expensive coffees in the world is produced on British soil, on the British Overseas Territory of St Helena.
The beans have been produced on St Helena since the rare ‘Green Tipped Bourbon Arabica’ coffee plant was introduced to the island from Yemen in the 1730s by the East India Company, and limited amounts of this decadent coffee are found overseas in Harrods and the Sea Island coffee merchants in London. The island’s temperate climate ensures the coffee beans produced in St Helena and today the few thousand pounds of coffee harvested are regarded by connoisseurs as some of the finest in the world.
The coffee cultivated on the Rosemary Gate Plantation, is sold at Harrods, where Bill and Jill Bolton have been supplying St Helena coffee overseas since 1994. It takes nine months to develop the coffee from flower to cherry, with picking season starting the end of September. Cherries are hand-picked and dried in the sun to give a distinct flavour and the final drink is characterised by floral scents and a pronounced acidic fruitiness.
There are 4 coffee producers on St Helena and coffee tours to discover the island’s coffee growing plantations can be arranged for those visiting the unique island (for when its safe to do so).
Located in the middle of the south Atlantic, St Helena is the second most remote inhabited island in the world and was first colonised by British settlers in the Seventeenth Century. Today the small island is home to around 4,000 inhabitants known locally as Saints.
For information on the St Helena coffee shop please visit:
http://www.sthelenatourism.com…
For more information about St Helena visit www.sthelenatourism.com
