It surprised me to see three brands of Vanuatu grown coffee for sale in Luganville. Alongside the well-known Tanna coffee there was a selection from Aore Island and a haphazard collection of different bags branded as Cafe de Vanuatu. I found the origins of this coffee at VARTC ( Vanuatu Agricultural Research Technical Centre ),10km north of Luganville. The VARTC farm is quite compact and it did not take long to find children on school holidays picking the arabica beans (30 Vatu for 1kg or about 40c NZ ). From picking to roasting, the whole operation is done by hand.

With a new wharf being built in Luganville and more cruise ships visiting it would be an ideal time to package the operation for tourists in a similar way to Tanna Coffee in Efate.

In the meantime you will have to buy the very good quality arabica beans at LCM ( the best supermarket in Luganville ), I just hope the branding gets some love.

Four tonnes an hour seems like good returns from 50-60 pickers but when compared to a mechanical picker this is small return. Hand picking is at least twice as expensive and twice as slow when compared to a machine so why do it?

Te Mata Estate in Hawkes Bay hand picks grapes for all of their premium wines and further. The hand picking is also appreciated by the community which gathers for each vintage. Loyal pickers return year after year, while an international flavour is often provided by Italians, Germans and once even a crowd from Mauritius.

The machines are not as fussy when it comes to unwanted material on bunches of grapes so the resulting fruit from hand picking is cleaner. The cabernet franc grapes seen picked in these photos are a result of a very long hot summer.

John Buck, of Te Mata, said it almost seemed there was no vintage taking place in 2013 because of the lack of stress (due to the high quality of the grapes).

While not made directly into wine on its own by Te Mata the cabernet franc juice will be blended to make either Awatea or Coleraine, New Zealand’s top rated Bordeaux style red wine.

Vanuatu coffee

Hand Picking at Te Mata Estate | Murray Lloyd Photography