We are currently visiting the Coffee Works at Mareeba, Qld. While I am writing this Andrew is finishing off the fascinating self-tour of this interesting and informative spot. For $19 (seniors discount $17) one can sample approx 21 different coffees, 12 chocolates and 3 liqueurs. Andrew was in seventh heaven eating all the chocolate. There is a display of all sorts of coffee makers and memorabilia all collected by one man with a free audio explanation of many marked machines. One can stay as long as one wants and eat and drink to one's heart's content AND can come back the next day.
This is a coffee plant. They can grow to 30 feet but are kept 12 feet by growers for mechanical harvesting which is much more economical than hand harvesting. It takes a coffe plant 5 years to bear its first crop and from one mature plant the yield is 1-2 kgs roasted coffee. It is an annual crop.
200 tonnes of coffee are grown in OZ per annum and 90% in the Mareeba area. NWS has 10 tonnes of annual crop and they hand harvest it all.
The coffee bean. Looks like a small cherry and it has two beans each cherry.
Coffee was first grown in North Qld 1880. The industry 1880-1926 grew 500 tone per annum. the industry declined for a number of reasons. Kanaka labour ceased with a change of government policy and also the coastal areas first planted with coffee were more suitable for sugar cane. Market competition from Brazil and Colombia also made the industry less viable.
A photo of just a small fraction of the many many coffee machines from all over the world displayed at the Coffee Works. The man obviously spent his whole life building this vast collection. His voice is the one on the audio explainign his beloved machines, one by one.
It is an amazing collection and a very worthwhile tour which we enjoyed - Andrew still enjoying. His capacity for consuming chocolate is vastly greater than mine.
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