A Lach girl 'brings' coffee from Langbiang to Europe

Krajan Lim is a 25-year-old girl from the Lach ethnic group. She married Marian Takac, 35, a Slovak. Currently, the couple is living in Lac Duong town (Lac Duong district, Lam Dong province).

Takac has a bar in their small house, where he often makes himself a cup of coffee. Using a spoon to scoop coffee powder and pour it into a filter paper funnel and take boiling water to prepare. The black coffee slowly flows down with the smell of coffee overwhelming the small house turning it in to a peaceful and warm space.

Inviting guests to try coffee, Krajan Lim confided that she had planted coffee with her parents right after finishing high school. As he wanted to communicate with foreign tourists, in her free time, Lim used to join some English study groups on social networks to learn.

During a lesson, Lim interacted directly with Marian. They talk together about everything in life. Lim recalled: "At that time, Marian was an information technology engineer and traveling in Nha Trang (Khanh Hoa). Marian went online to teach English to improve his income and then… the two met each other."

"At first, Marian didn't know how to drink coffee, but since their daily conversation often mentioned this drink. When they met in Nha Trang, he decided to try it and grind it," Lim revealed. Along with coffee taste of coffee, their love continued to deepen over time. In 2018, Marian decided to settle down in 

Marian said coffee is one of the typical products of Vietnam, but each coffee shop or each producer has different processing and extraction recipes. The taste of this drink therefore also has its own style. Therefore, he learned and tried to produce rustic coffee in his own style for use and then popularized it in the market.

On the days when they started, Marian and his wife had to meet many people and refer to many documents to grasp the processes. After many failures, the couple finally succeeded with pure Arabica coffee.

To have a good quality product, they harvest 100% ripe fruits, then wash, peel and dry them in a greenhouse with temperatures ranging from 30-50 degrees Celsius. During the drying process, coffee beans are preserved with temperature, and humidity regularly measured by electronic devices. When the quality reaches the standard, the beans are ready for processing and packaging.

Their Arabica coffee is now well-consumed in the market. In particular, the product has been contracted by many partners in Marian's hometown. Every year since 2020, the couple has exported about 8 tons of coffee to European countries, especially Germany.

Currently, to meet the market demand, the couple has linked production with 20 households who are Lach, K'Ho, and Cil ethnic minorities to plant coffee on a total area of over 20ha in Lac Duong. They also introduced an organic production process, limiting the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides to ensure quality materials.

To attract local households to grow coffee, Lim and Marian bought coffee from them at a price higher than the market price. "Along with processing Arabica coffee for export to Europe, we are producing tea from coffee husks to meet market demand," said Lim.

For sustainable development, the couple have registered a trademark for their high-quality coffee with the name Zanya Coffee. According to Marian, Zanya means a gentle, beautiful and strong woman who loves her family.