The welcoming aroma of roasting coffee beans lingers in the air at the Beaver Creek coffee farm 
Located at the seaside town of Port Edward, Beaver Creek is the most southern coffee estate in the world. Beaver Creek is a family-owned business, with three generations personally involved in growing, harvesting and roasting coffee.

Participating in the guided tour of the coffee farm enhanced our appreciation for the full flavoured cups of coffee we later enjoyed tasting. Producing a good cup of coffee is clearly a labour intensive process!

The farm started with four coffee trees in 1984 and has now grown to contain more than 60,000 trees, including Robusta and Arabica varietals. From seedling stage, the trees can take up to five years to mature to fully produce fruit. The coffee cherries are handpicked from the trees over several months as the fruit does not all ripen at one time. The bright red cherries are crushed to obtain the beans; each berry produces two beans. The green beans are then fermented and washed with water to remove the fruit pulp. Following this stage, the beans are either sun-dried for two weeks or dried indoors under lights. Once dried, the beans are hulled and graded for size prior to roasting. The time spent in the roasting process is pivotal to developing the various flavours available. Some of the ground produce is then expertly blended with imported and local coffee beans to create Beaver Creek’s signature coffees.

The tour concluded with an indulgent tasting of a variety of coffee drinks from single espressos to cappuccinos, caffè cremas, flat whites, doppios, to café Americanos, amongst others. These were produced through a demonstration of variety of percolation methods from machine to the moka pot. The enthusiastic Beaver Creeks baristas also entertained us by transforming our cappuccinos into delightful works of art, worthy of a quick photograph. An excellent coffee fix was had by all!

The cost for the tour includes bottomless coffee afterwards, which we enjoyed along with a delicious meal from the Beaver Creek café. The specialty of the day â€" a coffee rubbed beef burger â€" was very tasty and
rounded off the day’s extreme coffee fix. We could not depart without first purchasing some of the Estate’s Reserve 100% Pure Arabica Coffee L28 for our continued enjoyment. The packaged beans or ground
coffee estate reserve or blends are also available for purchase online.

The tour is held every day of the week at 12pm and booking is essential in holiday season.

Please call 039 3112 347 or email info@beavercreek.co.za to book your spot.

www.beavercreek.co.za