For Precilla Betham-Taua’a and her family, coffee is a passion. Now, after returning to Samoa permanently to run their family plantation, it’s become a way of life.  

 So, how many trees do you currently have on your plantation? “Honestly, no idea”, laughs Precilla. “We just planted five hundred the other day. The trouble we have here is that the seeds keep dropping and growing, it's actually quite hard for us to keep them under control!”

Precilla and her brother, Les have faced their fair share of challenges since taking over their family’s coffee plantation – fortunately, fertile soil has not been one of them.  Blessed with favourable temperatures and a good amount of annual rainfall, their fifty-acre plantation in Aleisa is ideal for growing coffee. It was these conditions that gave their father the idea to try growing coffee on their family plantation nearly three decades ago.

“This is our family land, it’s where my dad was born,” says Precilla.  “Twenty-seven years ago he started growing coffee because he saw not many people were growing it.  He grew coffee and started supplying to mama and popa stores around the island.”

Now, the plantation’s original grower is turning 80 and a decision was made to continue farming coffee and try to grow the business.

“It was a shame to let it all go to waste, so we came over from New Zealand, me, my husband and the kids last year,” says Precilla. “They’ve gone back for schooling and my husband has gone to look after them, so my brother comes back and forth to help me run the farm.”

Fast forward from those first tentative steps to the present day, Aleisa Coffee (kofe in Samoan) is now in its second year of operation. The product has taken on a new form and is now being marketed as a premium product within Samoa. Aleisa Coffee is sold at local supermarkets such as Farmer Joe, Apia Supermarket, Myna’s and Lynn’s, as well as local cafes around Apia. 

“It’s an evolution to what our parents have done, they used to sell to the small shops in small unbranded packages. Now we focus on our coffee as a premium product, roasted on commercial equipment with proper packaging,” says Precilla. “Getting our people to trust our brand was a big thing at the start, but after a year and a bit, people have gotten to know us and it's starting to build up slowly.”

For Precilla and the Aleisa Coffee brand, support from like-minded businesswomen has also helped the progress of the family business. The Samoan Women’s Agricultural Group (SWAG) has supported Aleisa Coffee through a network of agricultural entrepreneurs, utilising their expertise to help the once-modest enterprise evolve into a premium brand in Samoa.

According to Precilla, SWAG – a civil society organisation supported by the Governments of Samoa and Australia’s Tautua Partnership – has helped a lot, particularly in information sharing on how to grow your business.  

“I go to the SWAG meetings and workshops and it’s really connected us to people who can help with things like packaging or paying GST,” says Precilla. 

SWAG as a group has also been a place for like-minded growers to share their challenges and achievements, helping to foster a positive environment for women to make a living through agriculture. 

“Even just connecting us with other organisations has been great,” says Precilla. “It’s been really inspiring to see other female growers and entrepreneurs in Samoa.” 

With the global coffee market valued at over $120 billion in 2022, Precilla believes that there is enough demand for ‘Samoan kofe’ to make it a viable export product.

“We would like to get more people interested in growing coffee, we can’t support large-scale exporting without more farms getting involved for supply,” says Precilla. “It would be great to be able to train people here if they’re interested in growing coffee and get certified as an organic operation because that’s where the premium product comes from.”

The future for Aleisa Coffee looks prosperous. Thanks to a lot of hard work and a supportive network of like-minded people, Precilla and her family are looking forward to what the future has in store for their coffee as well as the local industry. 

“For this land, it would be great to grow and sell different varieties of coffee, we would like to get into arabica beans to help with our blends and keep growing our range,” says Precilla “At the end of the day, we are passionate about our product and we’re excited about our plans for the future.”

• Hugh Taylor-Pati is the Communications and Public Diplomacy Manager for the Tautua Program which is funded by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.