Chapter 86 Coffee
Foothills of Mount Kenya.
The coffee plantation selected by Ernst is under construction.
As the most common drink in Europe, America and the Middle East, coffee has a considerable market.
In the past, Kenya was a producer of high-quality coffee, but coffee cultivation in Kenya did not begin until the late 19th century, when British colonists introduced high-quality coffee varieties from abroad.
Now Ernst has opened up a coffee plantation here in advance.
It’s funny to say that the birthplace of coffee, Ethiopia, is located in the north of Kenya, but coffee did not take root in Kenya until modern times.
A small number of coffee trees were introduced by Arabs from Yemen before, but they were not planted on a large scale.
Ernst drew directly on the previous experience of Kenya and introduced coffee varieties from Brazil.
The eastern plateau area, mainly composed of the foothills of Mount Kenya, has an altitude between 1,400 and 2,000 meters.
The scale of the first coffee plantation currently planned has reached more than 28,000 acres.
If Ernst wanted to compete with Britain, France and other countries for business, he might not have the courage, but he was still very ambitious to dominate the German region.
Most of the overseas colonies, such as Britain and France, have their own coffee plantations. For example, France has opened plantations in Vietnam and other places. Haiti once shouldered the responsibility of producing coffee for France.
The countries in the German region had no overseas colonies, and their own countries were not suitable for coffee production, which provided convenience for Ernst.
Kenyan coffee is of very good quality due to its natural conditions. As the saying goes, good goods are easy to sell. In addition, the land cost in East Africa is extremely low, and the labor cost may not be comparable to that of the colonies of Britain, France and other countries.
But Ernst is not afraid and can accept giving up some profits. Growing coffee in Kenya is one way to make money and another way to solve employment problems for immigrants.
In the past, Kenya relied on the coffee industry to support millions of employed people. Ernst's requirements were not high. He believed that the East African colony could still employ hundreds of thousands of people relying on this crop.
It takes at least three years for coffee to grow from planting to fruiting, so the results will not be seen in a short period of time, but the East African colonies are currently able to support the cultivation of these long-cycle crops.
By then, with the help of the Hechingen Company's mature commercial outlets in Germany, it would be possible to quickly occupy part of the German coffee market. At that time, it would just be time to catch up with the convenience of the opening of the Suez Canal and reduce transportation costs.
To get products from East Africa to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, they only had to follow the western coastline of the Indian Ocean, the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea.
After unloading in Trieste, the goods can be distributed to various parts of Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire via the Austro-Hungarian railway network and the railways connecting to Germany.
If possible, Ernst could also take advantage of East Africa's geographical advantages to open up a Far East coffee trade route.
Today, the Far East is influenced by Western countries, and more and more people are drinking coffee there, which is a new market that is being developed.
Especially since the time for Japan's Meiji Restoration was not far away, the Meiji government would definitely learn a lot from the West at that time.
According to the Japanese character, they will definitely try to escape from Asia and enter Europe. If they don't drink this coffee, how can they integrate into the "civilized world" and become a European country?
At that time, Japan's demand for coffee would surely surge in a short period of time. Ernst planned to develop the instant coffee from his previous life and export it to Japan.
After all, Europeans have more picky tastes and may not easily accept the taste of instant coffee. And when Japan tries coffee for the first time, there must be many people who cannot accept the bitter taste of coffee.
Add more sugar and flavors to instant coffee and fool the Japanese into thinking it is the latest "industrial" coffee in Europe. You can even increase the price.
After all, traditional ground coffee is still very original, while instant coffee is like a pagan in the eyes of traditional coffee lovers.
There is no concept of food safety in this era. Introducing more technology can also broaden the horizons of the Japanese, who yearn for Western industrial civilization.
The black smoke emitted by London factories is sweet. It doesn’t matter if I add a little more technology to my coffee. I can just treat it as a dessert.
At that time, the coffee produced in Kenya can be divided into two parts, one high-quality part will be supplied to Europe, and the other low-quality part will be consumed by the Japanese market.
In this way, Kenyan coffee will definitely become famous in Europe. After all, the quality is not bad, and after being screened again, all the goods that arrive in Europe are good products.
By the time the Japanese react, the Heixingen Company can confidently say that all the products are made in Kenya and European customers have praised them highly, so how could there be any problems with the products we provided to you?
Our company has taken special care of your country's tastes and made appropriate improvements to the coffee. How can that be called fraud? As for why Europeans don't drink instant coffee, that was because you didn't investigate it clearly at the time.
Instant coffee is certainly not a terrible thing. Compared with traditional coffee, it just has some differences in taste and contains a little more added ingredients.
As for its cancer risk, increased risk of cardiovascular disease, and increased risk of obesity and diabetes compared to traditional ground coffee, no one can prove it at this time.
In Japan during the Meiji Restoration, those who could afford to drink coffee were definitely not ordinary people; they had to at least have a certain status and position.
Ordinary people can't touch those things, so there is no risk. As for instant coffee, what's there to be afraid of as long as you don't drink it like water?
Anyway, Ernst was going to make the money, so he would definitely advertise more in Japan to promote his own products. In an era without perfect supervision, it was not outrageous to say that coffee was a miracle drug. After all, in this era, the British still used opium as a panacea! So compared with the Jewish businessmen, Ernst suddenly felt that he was still too "conscientious".
In order to plan ahead for the Japanese market, Ernst prepared to make some plans in advance. After all, Japan, which has taken the initiative to open its doors, has a considerable market.
If Japan wants to learn from the West, it will certainly buy a large amount of Western products and send many people to inspect and study in the West.
When it comes to studying abroad, Ernst thinks that he could open a fake university in Europe and defraud Japan of funding.
At that time, we will set up a fake school in the UK or France and use low tuition fees to deceive Japanese students. After all, the cost of studying abroad is not low in this era.
Ernst could even take the initiative to go to Japan to recruit students. Once the boat tickets and tuition were paid, it was unclear where they would be taken...
This is not to say that Ernst is psychologically dark. After all, influenced by his past life, Ernst still has some hostility and prejudice towards some countries.
This does not mean that everything can be wiped out after rebirth. It is natural that one will be influenced by the values of the previous life.
What's more, you can make some money from them, cheat them, and earn some goodwill from Japan for unknown reasons.
After all, they are "friendly countries" separated by a narrow strip of water! Alaska and Japan are both in the North Pacific bathtub, so it is only right to help their neighbors more.
(End of this chapter)
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