MY FATHER, BOB MARLEY, CAME FROM THE FARMLANDS IN NINE MILE, JAMAICA, AND ALTHOUGH MAKING MUSIC WAS WHAT HE DID, HE DREAMED OF, ONE DAY, RETURNING TO HIS ROOTS AND BECOMING A FARMER. THAT DREAM NEVER CAME TRUE FOR HIM, BUT I WAS LUCKY ENOUGH TO TAKE HIS VISION AND MAKE IT MY OWN. I’M LUCKY ENOUGH TO BE A COFFEE GROWER, AND TO HAVE A COMPANY THAT PRODUCES ETHICALLY FARMED, ARTISAN-ROASTED COFFEE OF THE HIGHEST QUALITY.
I feel coffee came into my life for a purpose: not just so I could create more opportunities for my family and myself, but to help the communities that depend on coffee for their lives. Growing coffee is a way I can help others sustain themselves in life. It’s a way for me to give back to the community and to create jobs. For me, coffee is a way to make a better tomorrow.
I didn’t always think of coffee as a vehicle for sustainability, the way I do now. I’d left my homeland, Jamaica, in 1984, at the age of twelve when my family moved to the United States. During my college years, studying sociology at the University of Miami, I played football as a linebacker for the Hurricanes. While I wasn’t as musical as Ziggy and some of my other siblings, I was actually a pretty good athlete. Good enough to play for one year as a professional in the Canadian Football League for the Ottawa Rough Riders (known today as the RedBlacks).
But, in my twenties, I began to dream of getting back to my roots and becoming a farmer. My father and I had shared a deep respect for nature and for all humanity. Like him, I found myself drawn to the land. In 1999, I had the opportunity to buy fifty-two acres of land in Chepstowe, in Portland, Jamaica. This area, atop Jamaica’s Blue Mountains, is arguably one of the world’s premier coffee-producing regions and is known for its excellent coffee- growing climate. Moisture-laden northeast trade winds reach the coastal area of Portland, Jamaica, first, and rise up the slopes of the Blue Mountains. The cool mist that blankets the area helps coffee berries ripen, yielding a fantastic aroma and flavor.
It’s not just the climate that’s idyllic. I learned that everything else about this area—the soils, the geology, and the vegetation of these mountains—is ideal for growing coffee.
As I walked the land I had just bought, the idea of growing coffee became my goal. I grew passionate and committed to producing the best coffee in the world. Still, it took another eight years—and plenty of red tape—before Marley Coffee finally began to flourish and grow. Today we produce sustainably grown, ethically farmed, and artisan-roasted premium coffee beans from select locations around the world, including Jamaica, Ethiopia, and Central and South America. What these climates have in common are optimal growing conditions for arabica beans—a type of coffee bean famous for its high-quality flavor and sweet aromas. Arabica beans are what all Marley coffee roasts are derived from.
Starting out, I had a lot to learn about coffee. It took time, but now I know the best coffee cherries grow under organic banana, mango, Inga, and other shade trees. And weed control can be taken care of by hand. In short, I’ve learned more than I could ever have imagined about growing coffee. And every day, I discover something new.
Yet while I’ve absorbed more coffee knowledge than I’d ever thought possible, the idea of using my coffee in recipes never occurred to me—until three years ago, when I met Chef Max Hardy through a mutual friend, Amar’e Stoudemire, the star basketball player.
Max, a personal chef who’s often hired by celebrities to cook for their dinner parties, has a reputation for being generally awesome, and so, one night, I invited him to my New York City apartment to cook for some friends and me. When Max arrived at my apartment and saw all the bags of freshly ground coffee in my kitchen, he asked if he could use some in his cooking. That night he whipped up this great coffee-infused syrup, along with some of his crazy good fried chicken and waffles. My friends went wild for this dish, especially the syrup, and so did I. The next day, when I realized all the chicken, waffles, and syrup were gone, I called Max and asked him to come back to my apartment and make the dish again.
One dish led to the next, and, pretty soon, we were having so much fun cooking and eating the dishes made with various types of coffee, we realized we were onto something big: using coffee as an essential ingredient in a wide variety of dishes. Not just brewed coffee, but the beans, finely ground, too. In our minds and in my kitchen, coffee had become not just something to drink, but a magical ingredient to flavor, enhance, and enliven food. Sharing the story of coffee, as well as our favorite dishes made with coffee, is what we are passionate about. It’s why we decided to write this book. One love, and many coffees, and a rich assortment of dishes you’ll treasure, each made with coffee.