VIDEO: Meet Madawi, a coffee farmer who inherited his craft from his ancestors

Madawi Sharif, coffee farmer

Coffee farms have been a part of this land for almost 300 years, if not more. This entire valley used to be covered in coffee fields.

I think I started planting coffee when I was around 13 years old with my father. After morning prayers, we would go to the farm to tend to the trees, water them, and pick the coffee beans once they were ready for harvest.

The most important thing after harvesting coffee beans is cleaning them. Then, we dry and prepare them to be sold on the market.

Hello.

Greetings.

How are you?

Great, and you?

We just finished processing your coffee, so you came at the perfect time. Is this your son?

This is my grandson, Seif.

God bless him. He will be a great farmer someday.

With the support of Aramco’s initiative, I’ve returned to my farm. Thankfully, it is bringing me a stable income and we are working toward shifting it from a rural farm to a touristic rural farm.

We benefited greatly from the training and expertise we received. Now, we have more knowledge on how to produce coffee, water the trees, and care for them so that they give back more.

Coffee is our heritage and part of our culture. It’s how we welcome guests.