Large trucks laden with imported goods rumble up Madagascar’s Route Nationale 2 from the coastal city of Toamasina to the highland capital of Antananarivo. They skirt along the densely forested, tropical coast before zig zagging their way up the island’s eastern mountains onto the dry central plateau. Along the way, the drivers stop at a hotely, a sort of restaurant-truck-stop, to rest, eat, and drink. Alongside pork stewed in crushed cassava leaves, native red rice, and freshly made donuts, coffee is a staple at the Malagasy hotely.
Coffee has been a commercial commodity and a daily drink on the island of Madagascar since the 1800s, but the last several decades have seen domestic production of coffee disintegrate with exports out of the port of Toamasina drying up. Nowadays, though, new private commercial endeavors like the Madagascar Coffee Company and government research led by FOFIFA (Madagascar’s National Center for Applied Research in Rural Development) are pushing the coffee industry towards a timely revival, buoyed by the island’s unique geography and unparalleled biodiversity. Madagascar, in fact, is home to more distinct species of coffee than anywhere else on the planet—and the secrets they hold may be crucial for the future of coffee’s worldwide survival.
In a new feature for Sprudge Special Projects Desk, N.C. Stevens reports on the revival moment for coffee production in Indonesia, where coffee varieties such as Coffea humblotiana and Coffeea ratelo hold promising possibilities for coffee’s genetic diversity.
Read “Madagascar Has The World’s Most Diverse Coffee Genetic Population—Now It’s Ready To Bloom” on Sprudge Special Projects
Special Projects Desk is a hub for long-form original journalism and select archival features on Sprudge. Since 2009, Sprudge has been the world’s premier home for thought-provoking coffee journalism, evocative photo essays, design deep-dives, and cultural narratives. Special Projects Desk continues this tradition in 2023 and beyond, platforming exceptional works from the field of coffee journalism.
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