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Coffee cherries drying on raised beds that run towards the trees

Follow the Adventure

A farmer asked us a question. We are still finding the answer.

In Vietnam's Central Highlands, a farmer asked whether we knew the hands that picked our coffee. We did not. So we went to find out, and we keep going: Vietnam, then Kaffa in Ethiopia, and wherever the hands lead next.

Nothing here is finished. We go back.

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What you will get

Stories from the field, when there is one to tell.

The story

Where we went, who we met and what we found, written by Alice and Nick as it happened. One email for each story, not a schedule we have to fill.

The depth behind it

Some phrases in a story open a door. A colonial coffee policy that nearly ended Vietnamese polyculture. A ceremony. A market. The depth was always there, and you find it by following the thread.

Nothing to buy

Following is free and asks nothing of you. If the coffee ever interests you, it is there. You do not have to.

Where it started

Do you know the hands that picked your coffee?
The question that started Band of Beans, asked on a farm in Vietnam, 2022

We did not know. We have been looking ever since, and the people we find are the reason everything else on this site exists.

Come with us

The next story is already being written.

We have just come back from Ethiopia, and there is a great deal to tell. Leave your email and you will hear it first, in our own words.

One email per story. Unsubscribe any time. By following you agree to hear from us by email; our privacy policy says how we look after your address.

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