Pleasant Coffee Works

Out here in Erattupetta, the smell of coffee is pretty much everywhere. Pleasant Coffee Works is where we spend our mornings and most of our afternoons too. It’s a small operation. We get the beans in, sort them out, and get the roasting machines going. The noise of the beans cooling down is something you get used to after a week or two. My father started doing this and I just sort of stayed on to help. We aren't doing anything fancy, just standard roasting and packing. The bags are stacked up near the back door. Sometimes the neighbors come by just to chat because of the smell. We keep a few chairs near the front for breaks. Erattupetta is a good spot for this kind of work. The humidity can be a bit of a pain for storage, so we have to watch the bags closely. We don't have a big office or anything like that. It is just a workspace with a few tables and the roaster. Sometimes the power goes out and we have to wait it out. That's just how it is. We pack everything by hand mostly. It’s simple work but it keeps us busy through the seasons. We like the routine of it. Every day is mostly the same, which suits us fine. Just the coffee and the bags and the morning air. The floor gets a bit stained from the coffee oils, but we give it a good scrub once a week. My hands always smell like roasted beans even after I go home.