WHO WE ARE
Gaia (Γαῖα), an ancient Goddess in Greek mythology, is Mother Earth and the creator of all things appear on this planet. The all-powerful Mother Earth Gaia gave birth to ocean and sky, as well as all living creatures roaming the world. And this is our inspiration in choosing Gaia Café as our brand name. Our organic Gaia coffee also originates from the earth, being nurtured by the favorable environment of Central Highlands in Vietnam, and full of strength-generating energy just like mother Gaia.
We hand select the ripe cherry beans, process them right at the source, and finally roast the coffee beans using modern, digitally-monitored equipment. Gaia coffee complies with safety standards and measurements enforced by both HACCP and Vietnamese food safety agencies. All of Gaia products are supplied within a short lead time and follow a Make-to-Order manufacturing process in order to ensure the highest level of coffee tastes and freshness to our end customers and business partners.
Gaia is proud to be a high-quality supplier of organic coffee solutions to end users and business owners. The Robusta and Arabica beans we source here at Gaia are shade-grown and semi-shade grown at the high altitude of Vietnam Central Highlands, then carefully handpicked and processed under strict quality management procedure, ensuring a high level of bean consistency. Gaia also provides consultations to our partners, advising the appropriate types of coffee for their business, and customizes our blends to suit the taste and financial requirements of the customers. Each of our business partner will carry a unique coffee blend and therefore taste that is unforgettable to all coffee lovers around.
AWAKE THE SENSES
WHY CHOOSE US
1. We have direct control over a majority of the supply chain: from processing all the way to roasting, with experience of operating F&B serving coffee beverages to end consumers 2. Gaia Café’s Vietnamese coffees have all the elements needed for uniquely great-tasting products, from natural/environmental factors to quality certifications, to business knowledge and technical know-hows 3. Simply exicting, great-tasting Vietnamese coffee
FARM-TO-CUP COFFEE JOURNEY
The journey of a humble coffee bean from Vietnam Central Highlands to the cup of coffee you have on hand right now
By the hardworking people of Gaia Café
1
The coffee trees are shade-grown or semi-shade grown in Cau Dat region of Vietnam Central Highlands, at the altitude of +1,500 meters above sea level.
Coffee trees in nature for centuries have grown under the forest canopy; so we want to replicate as much as possible the natural growing environment of coffee under shades. This way, we not only preserve the biodiversity of the ecosystem, but also minimize the risk of deforestation and soil degradation. Why mess with the natural order of Mother Earth?
2
Hand picking the coffee cherries. Your coffee comes from crop 2021-2022, harvested between October and December 2021.
This is an extremely arduous, strenuous manual labor process. And coffee harvesters only have work for a maximum of 6 months a year – 3 months for harvesting Robusta in the lower regions and 3 months for Arabica in the higher altitude. Therefore, we make sure that our coffee harvesters are fairly compensated at $12-$20 per day (well above the international poverty line of $1.90/day), so that they can have sufficient living incomes. At Gaia, we strongly commit to providing upward mobility to our workers while elevating the regions’ micro/macro-economy.
Monitoring coffee cherries’ sugar content during entire harvest season to ensure the consistency of the crop
To achieve the quality we need for specialty coffee, only ripe cherries with the right amount of sugar content are chosen. Unripe cherries have sub-standard sucrose level and will not develop properly during the drying nor roasting processes. And the harvested coffee cherries must go directly into processing within 24 hours of picking; otherwise they will enter a over-fermenting phase which will negatively impact the taste of the cup.
3
Post-Harvest Production Process
Honey process is a more modern, hybrid method between fully-washed (wet) and natural (dry) methods. In general, the honey process allows for the intrinsic flavors of the coffee to shine through, while maintaining the sweet aftertaste, full-body mouthfeel in the final brew.
4
Small batch roasting offers the advantages of better temperature control and higher bean quality consistency
We always perform stringent quality control including moisture % check and visual inspection before roasting. The entire roast process is digitally monitored on a computer so we can control exactly the roast curve and the bean temperature for each batch. All roast profiles are saved for quality assurance and traceability.
“That’s something that annoys the hell out of me- I mean if somebody says the coffee’s all ready and it isn’t.”
― J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye
