He Opened A Matchmaking Agency In 18Th Century London [EN]: Chapter 76

76. The Appearance of a Coffee Expert

After bringing the Black enslaved woman ‘Juba’ from Kingston Harbor, Tae-oh spent the next day visiting other plantations to look at enslaved people.

His plan was to select experienced enslaved people from those being sold at various plantations.

He believed that forming a workforce of enslaved people who could communicate in English and were familiar with plantation work was the fastest way to expedite the settlement of the coffee farm.

Juba, selected from the slave trading ship, was to stay at Palmer’s farm for the time being to receive basic education. He planned to take her to the coffee farm along with the rest of the enslaved people as soon as he acquired them.

“That young fellow stacking luggage over there is a Black man our farm is putting up for sale. As you can see, he is very strong and full of energy. If you take him, he will be worth two or three men.”

Tae-oh asked, responding to the farm owner’s boast.

“But why are there so many whip marks on his body? It seems several times worse than the average enslaved person.”

“Oh, well… young Black men are all like that. They are strong and full of vigor, so they inevitably need more whipping.

All farms are like that. Black men are no different from beasts. They are so lazy and simple-minded that they cannot be controlled without a whip.

But after a few lashes, they become docile as if nothing happened. Don’t worry. Haha.”

“······.”

While ordinary farm owners would select enslaved people based solely on their appearance, Tae-oh prioritized their inner emotional state over their physical appearance.

Physical health could improve over time unless there was a major illness, but mental illness, instead of getting better, could become more dangerous over time.

Moreover, the eerie eyes and murderous emotions of the Black enslaved people he felt at the slave auction were enough to trouble Tae-oh.

Operating a farm with Black people with such emotions would not be good for the future of the coffee farm.

‘That Black man won’t do. His emotional state is a complete mess due to repressed anger and hurt in his heart.’

* * *

That evening.

At the residence of Sir Kenneth Gray, where Tae-oh was staying.

Knock, knock.

Someone knocked on Tae-oh’s door.

“Yes, come in.”

The door opened, and Martin, the general manager of Palmer’s farm, entered.

“Ah, it’s you, Mr. Martin?”

After a brief greeting, Martin quickly explained the reason for his visit.

“Sir Sanderson, I mentioned last time that I knew someone suitable as a coffee farm manager, right?”

“Yes. I was thinking that we needed to hire a manager quickly. Did you ask him?”

“Yes. I asked, and he said he wanted to do it, so I brought him right away. He’s outside now.”

“Oh, really? Then tell him to come in.”

Martin went out into the hallway and called someone.

“Come in.”

Soon, a young man entered the room.

But the moment he took off his hat and their eyes met,

“Uh…?”

Tae-oh looked at him with a surprised expression, and the young man tilted his head for a moment before greeting him.

“Ah, you’re the one I gave a ride to back then… How have you been?”

“Yes, that’s right. Haha, it’s a coincidence to meet again like this. Nice to see you.”

Martin asked with a puzzled look.

“Oh? Sir Sanderson, you knew him?”

“I arrived in Jamaica and came here by his carriage. Thanks to him, I was able to come comfortably.”

“Haha, I see. That’s good. Then I’ll be on my way. I have some things to do at home.”

“Ah, yes. Thank you so much for your help.”

“Oh, it’s nothing. Haha.”

With that, Mr. Martin left the room, and Tae-oh and Noah sat down on chairs to chat comfortably.

Noah Nelson.

That was the official name of the young man who would be working as Tae-oh’s coffee farm manager.

He was a mulatto [person of mixed white and Black ancestry] born to a white father and a Black mother. He had received some education and could read and write, and he seemed to be good at arithmetic.

As he had felt back then, after talking to him up close, he was a young man with an honest and sincere aura in his expressions and emotions.

Above all, he was born and raised in Jamaica and was more familiar with the local situation than anyone else, so Tae-oh couldn’t think of a better manager.

“I heard you’ve worked on a coffee farm before?”

“Yes. I mainly worked on a sugarcane farm, but I worked as a manager at the Tepford Coffee Farm for about two years.”

The Tepford Coffee Farm was located near 500m above sea level.

It was located in a lower mountain range than the Clyden Coffee Farm, which he had visited last time, and was the second place he had toured.

“That’s a relief. When we start the coffee farm, I’m sure I’ll get a lot of help from Noah.”

Noah waved his hand as if embarrassed.

“No, no. I just manage the harvesting and processing of coffee beans. I don’t know much about coffee. There’s not much to expect.”

“Still, that’s something. It can’t help but be a great help to someone like me who doesn’t know anything.”

Noah seemed to be lost in thought for a moment, then cautiously asked Tae-oh.

“But why are you trying to run an unprofitable coffee farm? I heard from Mr. Martin that you’re going to hire a manager and return to England?”

Tae-oh smiled and replied.

“That’s right. I’m planning to create the foundation for a coffee farm here and then return to London. I’ve come here to see if this coffee industry has potential.”

“So… judging from the fact that you’re gathering enslaved people and hiring a manager, Sir Sanderson, you think coffee farming has potential?”

“Yes, I do. Everyone is strongly advising against coffee farming, but I actually see great potential in Jamaican coffee. Especially when I compare the growth and fruit of our coffee trees with those of other farms, I think they are very good and competitive.”

“Didn’t you say a little while ago that you didn’t know anything about coffee farming?”

“Haha, yes. I don’t know much about coffee, but when I was young, my grandfather had an orchard, so I know a little bit about land and trees.”

Of course, his greatest conviction was in the future of Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee, which would gain worldwide fame.

“Ah… I see.”

After a moment of silence, Noah hesitated to say something.

“Noah? You can say anything to me if you have something to say. You’re going to be in charge of managing our farm, right?”

At Tae-oh’s encouragement, Noah opened his mouth with difficulty.

“Um, I don’t know if I should presumptuously offer this opinion…”

“If it’s about the farm, there’s no such thing as being presumptuous. Rather, I’m the one who needs to learn. It’s okay, try anything.”

“At the coffee farm where I used to work… I once saw a really amazing person.”

“An amazing person?”

“Yes. I don’t have enough expression to explain it well, but it’s someone I met while working on a coffee farm. As far as coffee is concerned, I thought this person was so talented that he might have been chosen by the heavens.”

“…!”

This was information that Tae-oh, who was desperately looking for a coffee expert, perked up his ears at.

“Really? Then, was he one of the coffee farm workers?”

As Tae-oh showed great interest, Noah plucked up his courage and continued to explain.

“No. He’s not a worker. He was a friend of the owner of the coffee farm where I was, a man named David Spencer.

He used to grow coffee in Saint-Domingue [former French colony, now Haiti and the Dominican Republic], a French colony, for a long time, but something happened and he came to Jamaica about 10 years ago.

I heard that he is a real coffee expert who has been in the coffee trade for a long time in addition to coffee farming.”

“A coffee expert who worked in a French colony?”

“Yes. In fact, even managers who have worked on coffee farms for a long time and know coffee trees well cannot easily know how long the trees will live, how many coffee beans will be produced, or whether the quality will be good just by looking at the trees. They just look at the open fruit or remember that good coffee beans are produced in that location because they have been looking at it for a long time.”

“······.”

“Of course, the variety of coffee trees is important, but the lifespan of the tree is more important. But it’s actually very difficult to know how many years the tree is, what kind of variety it is, and which area the coffee tree will produce good quality beans just by looking at the tree on the farm.”

“Of course, that’s right.”

Tae-oh understood Noah’s explanation well, perhaps because he had visited several coffee farms.

“But when Mr. Spencer was invited to the coffee farm where I first worked, he put his hands behind his back and looked around once, and then immediately grasped almost everything accurately.”

It was an amazing sound.

Just by looking at it, he could predict the growth of the coffee tree and the quality of the coffee beans in the future.

“Oh, really?”

As Tae-oh’s active interest continued, Noah’s tone of voice also rose.

“There was another thing too.”

“?”

“It was well-dried coffee beans. The shape wasn’t bad either. But when the green beans were roasted, ground, and made into coffee, a strange, unpleasant earthy smell and a woody smell, etc., filled the air. The taste was too heavy.

Even the year before, even if there was a woody scent, it didn’t irritate the nose with its unique sweetness, but that year, the smell was so strange. Even if I dried and roasted new coffee beans, that strange smell continued to come out. So everyone said that the coffee crop had completely failed that year, and the farm owner and everyone else were upset.”

“Oh dear.”

“But a few days later, Mr. Spencer came and took some of our coffee beans and said he would process them at home. About a month later? He brought it back in the form of green beans, and the taste was completely different.”

“What did you do?”

“That’s what I’m saying. I thought it was almost going to be thrown away, but the strange, miscellaneous smell was completely gone, and the woody smell had turned into a pleasant, fragrant smell. The taste was also very smooth. It felt completely clear overall. It was so different that you could say it was a completely different coffee.

I heard later that Mr. Spencer had a special coffee processing method that only he knew, and he applied it. But he said he wouldn’t tell anyone that method.”

“Ah···.”

He was an expert who knew not only the coffee tree itself but also the coffee processing method.

No matter how good the coffee tree is and how good the beans are, the best coffee cannot be produced if you do not know the proper processing method.

“But when Mr. Spencer left, he said something strange to the owner. He said he had expected it from the shape of the coffee beans, but it wasn’t the coffee he was looking for. He just criticized it as garbage.”

“······.”

“In fact, the owner was so excited about the greatly improved taste compared to the previous coffee. He said that if this taste came from the worst beans, how much better would the taste be if Mr. Spencer’s special processing method was applied to the previously good beans?

But at that time, Mr. Spencer said that it would only be a slightly better coffee. He grumbled that such coffee beans would only work in Jamaica, but if they went out, they would lose their marketability and no one would buy them.”

“…!”

A person who is sincere about coffee,

A person who values the value of coffee beans themselves.

And he was a person who could even grasp the actual marketability.

Moreover, he had been in charge of the coffee trade for decades in Saint-Domingue, the best coffee-producing region in Europe…

He seemed to be the coffee expert Tae-oh had been looking for, and more.

Tae-oh’s eyes sparkled.

“Where does that person live in Jamaica? Does Noah know?”

“Yes, I know. He lives in a mansion not far from the farm where I worked. I went to help him move his luggage a few times.”

He felt like this was what it meant to be helped by the heavens.

“That’s great! Can you tell me exactly where he lives? I should go see him right away, even tomorrow. Ah… no. Would you like to go with me?”

“But… that’s…”

Noah’s expression darkened.

“Actually, after helping with that work, I heard the owner of the farm at the time tell another manager that he hasn’t even looked at coffee since then.

He’s a person who has made a lot of money, so he wasn’t interested even if the owner offered him a lot of weekly pay.

I don’t know what the situation is, but he said that he only helped temporarily at the earnest request of the farm owner, and that he hasn’t done any coffee work since then. It’s already been several years.”

After hearing the story, it seemed that it would not be easy to get help.

However, Tae-oh had been touring the surrounding coffee farms and desperately felt that he could not guarantee a successful result without a coffee expert.

Moreover, if he was someone who even knew the coffee trade market in other countries, there would be no better helper than him.

‘I have to bring him in unconditionally. And I have to get a proper evaluation of our coffee trees to find out the possibility of operating a coffee farm. And if my hunch is right and there is a high possibility, I have to grow the coffee farm properly with a bold investment.’

He didn’t know if the person named Spencer would meet him yet.

But just the fact that the coffee expert he was looking for was in Jamaica gave him a great sense of hope.