The story
Nepal is a very small and very young coffee origin. The Nepal Coffee Federation says coffee was first brought in from Burma in 1938 by a man named Hira Giri and planted in Aanpchaur, in Gulmi district. The Nepali Times calls this a legend, and says commercial growing only began in 1976, with Arabica brought in from South India. The Federation dates the start of commercial production to 1978, when Gulmi was declared a coffee region. The sources differ by a couple of years, but both put real farming in the late 1970s.
The numbers are still modest. A review published in Acta Horticulturae, listed by the FAO, says coffee covers 2,646 hectares in 42 of Nepal's 75 districts, and gives recent output as 517 tonnes of green coffee. A Nepali roaster quoted by Perfect Daily Grind puts national production at 500 to 600 tonnes a year. For comparison, that is a tiny fraction of what a large producer grows, so Nepali coffee is rare outside the country.
Almost all of it is Arabica. The FAO-listed review says it grows between 800 and 1,600 metres, and the Nepali Times gives the same band for the mid-hills. Other sources draw the line differently: a 2021 field study from Gulmi, Syangja and Palpa says 700 to 1,500 metres, and Perfect Daily Grind says most farms sit between 1,000 and 2,100 metres. That study found the most coffee per plant, and the fewest defects, at 900 to 1,100 metres under shade.
Gulmi and its neighbour Arghakhanchi in the west are important growing areas, along with Palpa, Syangja and Lalitpur. The Kathmandu Post names Kavrepalanchok, east of Kathmandu, as the district that produces the most coffee, and Nuwakot has larger plantations. In the east, Ilam and Panchthar, close to Nepal's tea country, are getting more attention.
Most farms are small, and coffee is often grown among fruit trees rather than in rows on its own. Because farmers rarely use chemical fertilisers or pesticides, the FAO-listed review describes much of the crop as "organic by default", though that is not the same as being certified organic. Bourbon, Typica and Caturra are the main varieties, according to Perfect Daily Grind, and the Nepali Times reported in 2006 that Pacas, Pacamara and Tekisic seed had been brought in from El Salvador.
How it's processed
A coffee bean is the seed of a small fruit called a cherry. After picking, the fruit has to come off and the seed has to dry.
ECS Nepal says the harvest runs once a year, from about the end of November to the end of March, with cherries picked by hand as they ripen. Farmers in Kavrepalanchok told the Kathmandu Post they press a berry and pick when it bursts easily.
Perfect Daily Grind says washed coffee is the most common in Nepal: the fruit is removed and the beans are fermented and washed before drying. Some farmers make natural coffee instead, drying the whole cherry in the sun for about two weeks; the Kathmandu Post notes this carries more risk of over-fermenting and mould. The honey process, where some of the sticky fruit stays on during drying, is also used, according to both ECS Nepal and Perfect Daily Grind. Some producers are trying anaerobic fermentation too, but it is still new.
Much of Nepal's coffee is processed in small batches, by farmers or local collectors, so methods and quality vary from lot to lot.
What it tastes like
Perfect Daily Grind describes Nepali coffee as typically having bright acidity and a medium body, with flavours that range from floral and citrus to chocolate and spice, depending on the region and the processing. It also says the altitude tends to give dense beans.
There is not much published cupping data for Nepal, and lots are small, so treat any country-wide description loosely. The tasting notes on each coffee in the registry are a better guide than a general rule.