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A cup of joe: The origins of the saying are unclear, yet we do love the stuff, even though not all coffee taste the same. In Nepal coffee is grown in the mid-hills between 1,000m-1,800m. The higher the altitude, the better the coffee (as long as there is no frost). According to the Nepal Coffee Producers Association, coffee was first introduced in Nepal from Myanmar by one Hira Giri, in 1938.

But it remained an attrac­tive tree in the courtyard or a hobby until the 1970s when King Birendra declared Gulmi a coffee region, marking the beginning of professional coffee production. Yet even today few people really know that Nepal grows wonder­ful coffee. Or that in Europe Nepali coffee is considered a specialty.

I recently talked to Birgit Lienhart-Gyawali, of Kar.ma Coffee, to find out more about these magic beans. “Although in Nepal farmers receive more money per kilo for the coffee cherries than in other coun­tries, the production is very low. The reason for this is mainly migration.”

“With only the old and very young left in commu­nities, it is hard to inspire them to increase productiv­ity because for them the little income is enough,” explains Lienhart-Gyawali. With coffee trees in other countries yield­ing, on average, 10kg a season (up to 20kg in some cases), the average tree in Nepal produces a mere 300gm. Hard to believe, right? But let’s start at the beginning with the seedling.

Coffee seedlings take about a year before they are big enough to plant out. Another three to five years before you get a harvest. Meantime, the trees have to be trimmed. As a rule of thumb, a cof­fee tree should be no higher than a person and no wider than arms reach. Harvesting season is between Novem­ber and end of March, when only the red berries should be collected. There is an element of trust here as the farmers are paid instantly, by weight. It is only later that bad or under-ripe cherries are found and removed.

When the berries are later placed in a tub of water, the under-ripe, over-ripe, or bad cherries float to the top. After this the fruit flesh is removed from the good berries in the pulping machine. After pulping the beans look some­what like peanuts; that sort of color. Washed several times, it takes them three weeks to dry. Then they are packed and stored till they reach the cor­rect level of moisture.

Meantime experienced farmers can tell by biting the parchment beans whether they are ready to go to the next stage. “We work with farmers in Ilam, Kaski, Sindh­upalchowk, Gorkha and Lam­jung. When the beans reach the parchment stage we buy them from the farmers, and take off the skins, revealing the green beans. A lot of beans are lost in the process in Nepal. For example, six kilograms of cherries gives one kilogram of parchment. This makes it an expensive process. Of course, in other countries it is more mechanized”, explains Lien­hart-Gyawali.

“What is also interesting is that the coffee growers do not drink the coffee, or if they do, they drink that which is not good quality. We spend time educating them in how to prepare a good cup of cof­fee. Once they know what the different beans taste like, it’s easier to convince them not to add in green or bad cherries at the harvesting stage.”

Lienhart-Gyawali demon­strated the next stage. A normal pot, like the one used to make popcorn in households, is heated. The green beans are added and stirred with a kaptero (type of whisk made from sticks) for around eight minutes. The length of roasting affects the taste. In this process the skins come off. Now the beans are ready to be ground for use! Smells good!

I asked whether Nepali cof­fee is actually organic. Yes. Not originally a cash crop, the concept of adding chemicals is not there. And, according to Lienhart-Gyawali, farm­ers in the high hills tend not to use chemicals. There are mainly two types of coffee in Nepal: Arabica (from Ethi­opia) and Typica (originat­ing in Yemen). Arabica, hav­ing the better flavor, is more expensive. Nepal exports very little coffee, with Kar.ma Coffee exporting to Taiwan and Europe.

In Germany it is sold as a charity coffee, with profits going to fund school proj­ects in Nepal. Interestingly nothing is wasted in the Nepal coffee industry—the water from the washing stage goes into the village biogas system, the parchment skins go to feed buffalos, and the green bean skins are cleverly made into conscious living paper products by Kar.ma Coffee. Another cup?

 Finding the Belle Ville Café and Pub at Baluwatar is as easy as locating the Chinese Embassy there. You just have to stand in front of the embassy and look across the street. There’s a small parking space for bikes and cars right behind the building. You can also park on the wide road outside, but then you’ll be at the mercy of the nearby traffic cops. (Our APEX food sleuth was not lucky enough with roadside parking.)

 Inside, the simple yet elegant interior will make you want to grab one of those comfy couches and indulge yourself in a variety of multi-cuisine delicacies that Belle Ville serves. The inviting smell of freshly roasted coffee beans will add to your hunger while you wait for the friendly service staff to bring your order. The restaurant opens its doors from breakfast till dinner, also serving a variety of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, includ­ing draft beer.

 THE MENU

Chef’s Special:

- Smoked Chicken Saandeko

- Shawarma

- Grilled Fish

Opening hours: 8:00 am to 10 pm

Location: Baluwatar

Cards: Accepted

Meal for 2: Rs 2,000

Reservations: 014411266

The 25-year-old Utsaha Joshi, better known as Uniq Poet, is a rising star of Nepali hip hop. As it is for his ilk everywhere, his music is inspired from the African-American struggle in Bronx, New York in late 20th century, rap in particular.

The extraordinary rise of YouTube has taken the art­ist to national and interna­tional fame. His latest song, “Straight Outta Kathmandu”, has garnered nearly a million views in just about two weeks and saw the first of his many collaborations with interna­tional artists.

Even the reaction videos to his music has generated hundreds of thousands of hits. YouTube is the new Gold Rush, and this artist doesn’t want to watch from the sidelines.

I meet Uniq Poet in front of Maitighar Cafe and we sit down for a conversation with a cup of masala tea.

We start with the obsta­cles of the hip hop indus­try in Nepal. Uniq starts by emphasizing the importance of record labels and lack thereof. “We know rap, we can spit verses, make cyphers, but we don’t know how to make music. I’m still learn­ing the last part,” he says. He says without music labels, artists cannot get proper guidance and management and that is part of the prob­lem. “Artists make a hit, and they don’t know what to do after that. Without guidance, they become one-hit won­ders,” he explains.

He also emphasizes the importance of right brand­ing of the culture, “It’s not Nephop. We can’t claim a cul­ture and try to make it our own; it’s still hip hop in its true form. I don’t understand why people keep saying Nephop,” he adds.

We then delve into the pro­cess of making a song. The rapper explains that he just starts with listening to a beat and then fills in lyrics off the top of his head.

He says Raw Barz opened the door for every Nepali hip hop artist. Unique first came to attention with his Rap Battle against another rapper Laure. He explains, “I had an anger, a grudge that I’m gonna do great in the scene. I felt like I didn’t do enough. That was my side of the story. A different story unfolded in my family. Some­how my mother also hap­pened to watch the video and started crying. It was rough as my father also didn’t approve. It became so difficult that I stopped visiting my in-laws. I was a sham.”

The rapper explains that he starts with listening to a beat and then fills in lyrics off the top of his head

When talking about his new song ‘1994’, he says he wrote the lyrics for it in 25 minutes and everything from making beats, shooting and editing the video was done in a day. He explained that 1994 is his birth year and the year when his favorite rap album, Ilmatic by Nas, hit the shelves. “So, it’s a representation of my rebirth into the hip hop industry,” he adds, with a hint of laughter.

Talking about the future, the rapper says he is confident about the prospect of hip hop in Nepal.

“Our work is starting to get attention and we’re col­laborating with people from overseas. It is true, hip hop has found a fan base in the hearts of millions of Nepalis,” he says. The industry, once limited to passion projects, now is slowly developing into a profession with a hefty pay and huge name and fame. “It’s a wonderful time.”

The rapper explains how Nepali hip hop has even reached the books of pub­lished research. For instance, a British scholar doing research on post-earthquake poetry approached him to learn more about his song ‘Kina?’ “We have even entered academia,” he says.

With excitement oozing from every inch of his body, Uniq adds, “You can expect a fusion between rock and hip hop in Nepal. A big local collaboration is coming out.” Collaborations with other international artists are in the works as well.

After a 45 minute conversa­tion and a flavorsome masala tea, I leave the tea shop with a newfound excitement for hip hop and enormous prospects for Uniq.

Even after 11 years of mar­riage and trying to conceive, Shakuntala Devi Kandel (36) and Basu Dev Kandel (44) from Dang district were childless. They visited Om Hospital in Kath­mandu and Lucknow Hospital in India for treatment but still couldn’t conceive. “I cried myself to sleep every night. The people in our com­munity gossiped about us as we were a childless couple, which was horrible. I was ready to die because I felt incomplete without a child,” says Shakuntala. Basu felt helpless too and was worried who would take care of them when the couple was old. It was then that they decid­ed to adopt a child.

“First, we considered Om Hospital but if we adopted from there, the mother would know who took her child and might later come looking for the child. So we went to Bal Mandir [Nepal Children’s Organiza­tion]. We had to wait for three years before we got the call,” reveals Basu. In those three years, he traveled from Dang to Kathmandu six times to ask if a child was available for adoption in Bal Mandir.

There, they met Subika for the first time on 13 Sept, 2015, when she was just 11 months. “As our daughter has tanned skin, I think she relates to me more as my skin tone matches hers. Her mother is fair-skinned,” jokes Basu. They are yet to tell their daughter she is adopted. But, adds Shakuntala, “we are not worried even if she comes to know from someone. Much like we accept her, we know our daughter will accept us too.”

"Most parents who adopt children from Bal Mandir cannot accept the truth that their children are adopted"

Bal Krishna Dangol, Director of Bal mandir

Not every story ends as happily, and adopting a child in Nepal is still tricky. The current adoption law only allows infertile couples who have been married for at least 10 years to adopt. “Before September 2018, couples who had been mar­ried for four years and were infertile could adopt. But advancement in technology forced a change. There are surrogates or test-tube babies now,” says Bal Krishna Dangol, director at Bal Mandir.

So, what if a couple adopts think­ing they cannot conceive but have their own children after using new technology, he asks? “Moreover, there are many parents wanting to adopt but only a small number of children available.”

Single Nepali infertile women can adopt but single men are not allowed to under any condition

Singular problem

Single Nepali infertile women can adopt but single men are not allowed to under any condition. When asked why, Dangol replies, “Women can’t bear children after a certain age. But men don’t face that kind of age barrier. There are single men who come looking to adopt but we have to turn them away.” But sin­gle women who are trying to adopt told APEX that due to changing adoption laws and unclear policies, they face great difficulty in different stages of adoption.

One such case is of a development officer from Kathmandu who fos­tered four brothers since their child­hood. “In 1999, there was a landslide in Dhading, which orphaned 12 kids. So with the intention of adopting one of them, I went to Bal Mandir,” she says.

“Then, I met these four children. The youngest was 14 months and the eldest was 9 years old then. If I had adopted just one child, there was no telling where the other three brothers would end up and I did not want to separate them”. So she decided to adopt all of them by going against the Bal Mandir policy at the time which allowed for the adop­tion of only two children, and of different sexes. “Also, one could not choose whom to adopt. I’d already decided I wanted to adopt them particularly because they belonged to my ethnic group.”

The foster mother was 37 at the time and had to prove she was infer­tile, which she was not. Additionally, she was told that her husband’s agreement was mandatory but then she was unmarried. “I still am. It’s a choice I have made. It took months of convincing to finally let me bring the boys home. I was not allowed to adopt them, only to be their foster parent. I wanted to give the boys a good environment so I was okay with it.”

When she went to finish paper­work, she was asked who she had come with. “My father of 78 had accompanied me. So I was not allowed to sign the paper.” When asked why, she replies, “Because I am a woman. As a male figure was present, my father was asked to sign even though he had no means of a regular income. I was tired by that time, so I allowed it.” Curi­ously, while her father became the children’s foster parent she became their sister.

Even though she is providing for them, she cannot claim anything legally such as medical insurance that her job would provide her chil­dren. The boys have already got­ten citizenship under their parents’ name as she had preserved their parents’ citizenship certificates.

Chosen by heart

She says even the people who are infertile should be allowed to adopt. “In our society once you get married, you are expected to procreate. So there is the belief that you adopt only when you cannot procreate. And adoption is usually done secretly”. She says allowing people to adopt even if they are fer­tile would reduce the stigma. “Those who adopt should be proud of what they did.”

Another couple that has fostered a child for the past seven years is Bhushan Tuladhar and Shriju Prad­han. They are now trying to adopt the child legally. It is through their relatives that they adopted Siddharth, who is 10 now. He is related to their family but both his parents passed away when he was little. “We saw a child in need and decided to help. Once he came and lived with us, we felt so close that we have now thought about going ahead with adopting him legally. Hopefully we won’t face many prob­lems,” says Pradhan.

The couple has two daughters. They consulted their elder daugh­ter before bringing Siddharth in the house and she was excited. Their younger daughter was only a year old then. “The law tells us to share property with our three children, which is as it should be. All my children should get a share,” she says. “We cannot go around telling everyone that he is our foster child. When we meet someone and introduce him as our child, sometimes people point that he does not look like either of us, right in front of him which can be hurtful. Even when one says such things to a biological child, it can cause psy­chological harm. I wish people were more thoughtful!”

Dangol says that most parents who adopt children from Bal Mandir cannot accept the truth that their children are adopted. So they shy away from the topic. But Dangol says this is not something to be hidden because these children are actually “chosen by their heart”.