He Opened A Matchmaking Agency In 18Th Century London [EN]: Chapter 79

79. Mr. Spencer’s Dream

Two days later, St. Andrew, Jamaica.

Early in the morning, Tae-oh led Mr. Spencer toward the coffee farm.

After a long carriage ride, they arrived at the last inn, left the horse and carriage there, and continued on foot.

Several hours of climbing the mountain followed.

Mr. Spencer was quickly growing tired.

Despite being of a healthy constitution, it wasn’t easy for a man in his sixties to climb a rough mountain path for hours.

“Huff, huff. Hey! Isn’t this too high? Farming coffee at this altitude? When are we supposed to arrive? Honestly! Shouldn’t we be there already, according to you?”

Tae-oh replied with an apologetic expression to Mr. Spencer’s grumbling.

“We’re almost there now. Just a little further and we’ll arrive.”

“You’ve been saying ‘almost there’ for a while now… Honestly.”

Tae-oh’s coffee farm was located on a steep slope at an altitude of about 2,100 meters in the St. Andrew region, which is crossed by the eastern mountain range of Jamaica.

In fact, it was a difficult mountain path even for young people to climb, so Mr. Spencer’s complaints were understandable.

“Huff- huff-”

Tae-oh said it was just a little further, but they had to keep climbing the hillside.

Mr. Spencer was annoyed at the thought of taking on this task, but he didn’t even have the energy to get angry.

Then, he saw Tae-oh, who had been walking far ahead, stopping on the mountain ridge and looking ahead.

Seeing that even the young and sturdy fellow was tired and resting, Mr. Spencer shouted with a frustrated voice.

“Huff, huff. You should have told me from the start that it was on a slope this high! What kind of coffee farm is on top of such a high mountain…”

But at that moment,

The sight of coffee trees densely spread out below the hillside came into Mr. Spencer’s view.

‘…!’

Even though the sunlight was intense, the thick fog at the top of the mountain blocked the hot sun, giving it a cool feeling.

The fog, which looked like diluted light blue paint, surrounded the mountain and created a mysterious spectacle.

It was a wonderful landscape worthy of being called Blue Mountain [a mountain range in Jamaica known for its coffee production].

But what captivated Spencer more than Blue Mountain were the coffee trees spread out before him.

“I… is this it? Your coffee farm…?”

His voice was subtly trembling.

Tae-oh reached out and pointed down the slope.

“Yes, that’s right. From here to the end down there is all my coffee farm. These coffee trees are from 4 years ago…”

Thump, thump-

Before Tae-oh could finish speaking, Mr. Spencer, like a man possessed, hurriedly slid down the hillside.

It was hard to believe that he was the old man who had been struggling to death just a moment ago.

“Mr. Spencer! Be careful! You’ll get seriously hurt if you slip!”

Despite Tae-oh’s shouts, Mr. Spencer didn’t care and ran down the hillside.

He was busy touching and examining the coffee trees that grew here and there.

After looking at the coffee trees for a while, he stopped in front of a tall tree on the inside of the slope.

Then, he picked a dark green coffee cherry and turned it around and pressed it with his hands.

After examining the fruit for a while, he put it in his mouth and closed his eyes. He seemed to be savoring the taste of the coffee cherry.

It was a very tense moment for Tae-oh.

It is said that farmers who have cultivated coffee trees for a long time can identify the variety of coffee by the taste of the coffee cherry.

Furthermore, they can fully predict the value of the beans to be roasted by the taste of the fruit, so a specialist like Mr. Spencer, who has handled coffee cherries since childhood, probably already knew the answer.

“Ptoo-”

Mr. Spencer, who had been savoring the taste with his eyes closed, opened his eyes and spat out the pulp of the coffee cherry.

Then, he took out only the green coffee bean seed, placed it on his hand, scraped off the sticky mucus, and examined it again in detail.

Tae-oh watched his every move with bated breath.

Mr. Spencer seemed to have no joy in life, as if he had seen everything in the world.

He was annoyed by everything when they first met.

He had made a lot of money with coffee, but now he even said that coffee was the most boring thing in the world.

But now, his eyes were full of life, and a hot passion that he had never seen before was erupting like a fountain.

Tae-oh approached with a nervous heart and asked.

“Mr. Spencer, how is it? Does it seem to have commercial value?”

Mr. Spencer let out a smile that was hard to read in response to Tae-oh’s question.

“Ehehehe…”

“?”

Instead of answering, he turned his gaze to the blue fog surrounding the mountain peak.

And he opened his mouth to Tae-oh in a low voice.

“Mr. Sanderson… Do you know what I’ve realized after working in the coffee trade for over 40 years?”

“?”

“It’s that if you’re greedy for more than you want in business, something is bound to go wrong.”

“……..”

“That’s what happened with coffee. While making a lot of money with coffee, I felt like I could earn so much money that I could buy everything in the world. So much so that even those congressional members with those damn sugarcane plantations couldn’t brag about money in front of me.”

He took out a handkerchief and wiped the sweat from his neck and forehead as he continued.

“When people are greedy for more than what they wanted and aimed for, they tend to lose their self-control because their eyes are blinded by that desire.

The power of the cards you have is actually fixed on those cards, but once you lose your self-control and lose sight of the whole, you end up making ridiculous moves.

And before you know it, you’re doing something you’ll soon regret.”

Mr. Spencer, who had uttered incomprehensible words, turned his head to the surrounding coffee trees.

“I was confident that if I grew coffee in Jamaica and applied my own processing methods to high-quality coffee beans, I could quickly dominate England. I had no doubt that I could succeed and show those French partners who betrayed me what’s what.

And I was convinced that the Netherlands and France would become slaves to my coffee taste, and I would have a strong hand in my hand, so I poured all my life’s know-how into Jamaica, hehe.”

“……..”

“But when I opened the cards, it wasn’t. England overturned my cards with Chinese or Indian tea, and the Netherlands and France blocked my cards with huge quantities.

My coffee was definitely excellent, but it wasn’t a great bean that could overturn the current coffee market. It was just a slightly better taste, but if something cheaper or more palatable appeared, it would be discarded without regret.”

“……..”

“Realizing that late, I lost all motivation. I lost confidence in coffee. In the end, regretting my foolishness, I quit the coffee business after that. I didn’t want to do it again.”

“……..”

“But you know…”

Mr. Spencer slowly turned his body towards Tae-oh.

“There’s one imagination that gamblers who have ruined themselves by gambling and say they will never gamble again always have. What if my hand at that time was so strong that it wouldn’t be pushed back by any other hand… such a vain imagination.”

Spencer showed Tae-oh the coffee bean seed with a meaningful face.

“But, Mr. Sanderson! Right now, it seems like I have… such a hand in my hand.”

Tae-oh was delighted at the unexpected words.

“Then, does that mean the coffee beans from our farm are that good?”

Tae-oh had expected it to some extent, but hearing the praise from a real coffee expert made him feel like the confusion in his mind had cleared up all at once.

Tae-oh asked again as if to confirm.

“Are you saying that the coffee trees here definitely have commercial value?”

“Does it have commercial value? Ehehehe…”

He let out a mocking laugh and pointed to the fog surrounding the top of the mountain.

“Mr. Sanderson. Look at the thick, blue fog of that mountain range. Even though the sunlight is strong like today, that fog is preventing the coffee trees here from being directly exposed to the hot sun like a huge screen, right?

Then the growth of the coffee trees will naturally slow down. As a result, the density of the coffee trees’ fruits will be significantly increased.”

That’s right. Direct sunlight on coffee trees was fatal to coffee trees.

So, usually, coffee farms tried to temporarily block the sunlight with screens when the sunlight was strong, but it was impossible to cover the widely spread coffee trees all at once and then remove them when needed again.

However, Tae-oh’s farm, located on the slopes of the Blue Mountain range, was often covered in thick fog, which appropriately blocked direct sunlight, which slowed down the growth of the coffee trees.

That was why the quality was much better compared to coffee from other farms.

Whirr-

This time, Mr. Spencer stretched out his left arm and raised it to the sky.

“Mr. Sanderson, feel this sea breeze blowing from the sea.”

Tae-oh also stretched out his arm and followed him.

Indeed, he could feel a gentle breeze blowing from the sea towards the land.

“The wind blowing now is the trade wind of the Caribbean Sea. During the day, the sea breeze blows from the sea to the land, and at night, it blows in the opposite direction.

As the temperature difference widens in the morning and evening, the flavor of the coffee cherries will inevitably increase even more.”

Mr. Spencer, who lowered his hand, turned to Tae-oh and said.

“There is a saying that coffee, as a crop, cannot be grown well unless nature allows it. It is a sensitive plant, so the environment must be supportive to bring out the proper taste. Especially if you want to make a unique coffee in the world. But I really never knew there was a place like this in Jamaica.”

He raised both hands and pointed as if to embrace the coffee trees.

“Did you ask if it has commercial value earlier? Hehe… The coffee trees here are not just commercially valuable. It’s amazing, amazing! So much so that it can be harvested this year and made into a special product.”

“What? This farm has been neglected for 4 years, but it can be harvested this year?”

Mr. Spencer nodded his head.

“Yes, seeing that the coffee trees have grown to 20 feet (about 6 meters) each, it seems certain that they have been neglected. Usually, farms continue to prune them to about 7-9 feet (about 2-3 meters) to make harvesting easier.

On top of that, it’s well past the harvest season, and there are rotten fruits everywhere. But look at the fruits that are still hanging on this coffee tree that has grown without any care.”

He picked a coffee cherry from the tree trunk.

“Originally, it should have been picked at least 5 months ago for the best product. But there are still so many clean and soft coffee cherries left. I have never seen such good coffee cherries in over 40 years.”

“…Then?”

“That’s right. The fruits that grow on these coffee trees are bound to be the best coffee without even looking. This place is like a paradise for coffee trees. And these fruits are a very special gift that the sky has created with the help of natural forces, hehe.”

Mr. Spencer, who put the green coffee cherry on his palm and brought it to his eyes, said as if whispering.

“And I… will turn these fruits into golden eggs. Hehehe.”

“Golden… eggs?”

“That’s right. I guarantee it. With the amount of coffee in this farm size, it will be more than enough to fill Mr. Sanderson’s entire coffee farm with silver coins! Just watch! Hahaha-”

“……..”

Tae-oh was just staring blankly at Mr. Spencer laughing.