To integrate technology, innovation, and experience into green production process for the eco-frinedly coffee products and climate issue solution.  

Van Thi Loan_Real Bean Coffee

To integrate technology, innovation, and experience into green production process for the eco-frinedly coffee products and climate issue solution. 

"Real Bean Coffee’ accompanies with coffee farmers to create the sustainable specialty coffee in order to promote living standards of farmers in Central Highlands in Vietnam."

Have you heard of Sustainable Coffee? "Sustainable coffee" means protecting the water quality, soil, and biodiversity necessary to grow coffee through eco-friendly coffee farming, considering the social and environmental sustainability of the coffee-producing area to improve the quality of life by guaranteeing an appropriate level of profit for coffee farmers! The last 2nd Asia Beautiful Fellow, Van Thi Loan is leading the environmental and social changes of coffee farmers by eco-friendly growing and selling coffee beans for sustainable coffee in Vietnam, the world's second-largest coffee producer! Let me tell you the story of Van Thi Loan, who is creating a new coffee-cultivating environment in Vietnam!

What is Real Bean Coffee?

Real Bean Coffee is an organization that pursues sustainable coffee by roasting and selling coffee grown in an organic way to respond to climate change. Loan works with farmers in Daklak and Lamdong which are Vietnam's main coffee producing regions. Coffee made by educating farmers on organic cultivation methods is sold at a higher price than ordinary commercial coffee, which can guarantee stable profits for coffee farmers.

Born and raised on a coffee farm, Loan was able to witness the difficulties of the coffee farms from an early age. When Loan was a high school student, the price of coffee beans plunged, which hit neighboring farmers hard, cutting all the coffee trees and planting other crops. At the time, Loan thought that the way farmers continued to change crops depending on market price fluctuations was unsustainable, which led her interested in what sustainable agriculture would be.

Loan had worked in the education field before starting Real Bean Coffee and she thinks it is important to support the stable incomes of coffee farmers so that the children of the farmers can live in a better home environment. Therefore, she started Real Bean Coffee, creating a better growth environment for children by ensuring stable incomes for the farmers. Loan convinced farmers who were growing coffee in the traditional way to produce coffee in an organic way. Why does she want to help local farmers and respond to the climate crisis through organic farming?

wants to tackle these issues

Over 167.72 million bags of coffee were consumed worldwide in 2021 (ICO, 2023), and more than 90% of its production is made in what is called the "Coffee Belt." Vietnam, which belongs to the coffee belt, is the world's second-largest coffee producer and produces about 1.5 million tons of coffee every year. Most of the countries included in the coffee belt are developing countries such as Brazil, Colombia, and Vietnam. However, it is not easy for coffee farmers from these countries to escape poverty regardless of the amount of coffee sales. The reason is that coffee is a crop which is vulnerable to temperature, precipitation, and pests so the amount of production cannot maintain consistency every year, so the price fluctuates very much.

Vietnam is one of the five most vulnerable countries to climate change announced by the World Bank (2022), and is vulnerable to abnormal climate and natural disasters, which means it is directly exposed to the risk of climate change. According to the Vietnam Coffee Association (VICOFA), abnormal weather such as unseasonable rain, drought, and frost has adversely affected coffee production, causing severe fluctuations in coffee prices in the market, which negatively affects farm income. 

In addition, if you look at Vietnam's greenhouse gas emission ratio, about 15% is generated in the agricultural sector (Climate Watch, 2020). Although coffee is one of the agricultural products that generates about 29kg of greenhouse gases per kilogram, Vietnam is not aware of the concept of sustainable coffee compared to other Latin American coffee producers. Also, the use of fertilizers and pesticides is not appropriate and efforts to cope with the climate crisis in the agricultural sector are insufficient. As around 40% of Vietnam's total labor force works in agriculture, efforts are urgently needed to solve this problem. 

Therefore, Loan is trying to make a stable income through sustainable coffee by educating coffee farmers on eco-friendly coffee cultivation methods to solve the problems of the Vietnamese coffee industry in Lamdong and Daklak, Central Highland, Vietnam's main coffee-producing areas.

What does Real Bean Coffee do?

Loan teaches farmers by studying how to grow, harvest, and process of specialty coffee herself, as her family and neighbors are farming coffee. She does not just convey the theoretical part, but provides practical solutions that can be applied to specific processes such as cleaning, drying, and storage during the harvest period.

✓ Sustainable Coffee Cultivation through Organic Agriculture

Most coffee farmers have traditionally cultivated coffee in a Sun-Grown way, where coffee is cultivated in the unshaded sun so that coffee trees can grow quickly. However, this method destroys large areas of rainforest to make it unshaded and uses large amounts of agricultural water to maintain moisture in the land, which is adversely affecting the environment.

Loan is growing coffee in the shade through a 3-layer method to solve this problem. The 3-layer method is to grow coffee under a natural shade made by existing wild trees and trees that can harvest profitable crops. In other words, it is a way to grow coffee without destroying forests with less agricultural water! In addition, Loan is trying to use organic fertilizers made from the bark, leaves, and stems of coffee beans generated after harvesting coffee, instead of chemical fertilizers. Farmers who used only 100% chemical fertilizers have now switched to organic fertilizers after working with Loan, or are increasing the conversion rate to 70-80%, gradually expanding the use of organic fertilizers.

✓ Supporting Farmers Generate Stable Profit 

After harvesting organic coffee beans, Loan dries them eco-friendly using only sunlight and wind without thermal energy. Since then, dried coffee beans have been roasted, processed into various coffee products such as hand drip bags, and sold in online and offline stores! Packaging paper is also in the process of converting to recycled paper. In this way, Loan wants to pursue a sustainable environment throughout the entire process from coffee cultivation to sales. 

Also, Robusta coffee, which is mainly produced in Vietnam, is treated as commercial coffee rather than specialty coffee. Loan not only applied eco-friendly cultivation processes to make Robusta coffee into specialty coffee but also received ISO9001 through the International Organization for Standardization. Also, she is trying to get organic certification from USDA. 

As such, Loan not only pursues sustainable agriculture in Vietnam through eco-friendly coffee cultivation but also contributes to improving the quality of life of coffee farmers. Please listen to the stories of various people who are making and experiencing changes!

People working with Real Bean Coffee?

✓ Office Worker, Mi

I worked with Loan at an English education institution for two years. I sympathized with Loan's passion for supporting the community through sustainable coffee, and we started Real Bean Coffee together because I believe that she is a person who can actually realize her goals. 

I am currently in charge of sales and revenue of B2B at Real Bean Coffee's showroom in Ho Chi Minh City. I am also communicating with local farmers because I need to know details about coffee when selling products. In the process, I learned a lot about the farmers' efforts to grow coffee. That's why we're trying harder to make sure that farmers can earn stable profits through coffee. 

I think Loan is a leader with a clear vision. She plans step by step to achieve what she wants to do, and even if there is a failure in the process, she tries to make good results again rather than being disappointed. Thanks to this, the taste of coffee is improving, and the number of farmers trading is increasing, so we are looking forward to future growth. 

✓ Farmer at Lamdong, Hung

I started coffee farming in 2000, and I've been working with Loan for about three to four years. Before I started coffee farming, I was farming rice, but it became difficult to grow rice, so I started coffee farming. Before I met Loan, I was farming in the traditional way, but after I met her, I switched to organic farming. I've tried organic farming alone before, but it wasn't easy because organic fertilizers were not only expensive but also sometimes they weren't of good quality. I learned about organic farming through Loan, and my interest in the sustainable environment has increased. Also, I'm trading at 30-40% higher prices than commercial coffee, so I'm getting better economically. Also, the moisture/nutritive state of the land has improved much better after switching to organic farming. I'm introducing Real Bean Coffee around me, hoping that more farmers can work with Real Bean Coffee like me. 

✓ Female Farmer at Daklak, Phuong 

I've been farming since 1992, and I've started working with Loan since 2019. Loan is a neighbor who lives in Daklak, and I was able to feel passionate when I saw Loan introduce specialty coffee to my neighbors, so I joined Real Bean Coffee.

I used to grow coffee only with chemical fertilizers, but after working with her, I reduced the use of chemical fertilizers to about 30% and increased the use of organic fertilizers. As a result, I feel that the condition of the land has become softer and more fertile now, so I will try to use only organic fertilizer from now on. In addition, I learned about the kinds of specialty coffee that I didn't know before, so I started growing specialty coffee through her education. Unlike regular coffee, specialty coffee is harvested when coffee beans ripen and turn red. I think this coffee is definitely of good quality. Thanks to the sale of high-quality specialty coffee, the profit has increased 1.5 to 2 times compared to the previous sales of regular coffee.

 How was the story of Loan, the last fellow of the 2nd Asia Beautiful Fellow? Loan will continue to work with more farmers to ensure their stable growth and sustainable coffee in the community! Now that climate change is emerging as a serious problem around the world, Please support Loan and Real Bean Coffee, making the green future of Vietnam's coffee industry. The Beautiful Store Foundation is walking with Loan and other Asian social entrepreneurs who are trying to solve environmental problems.