Nepal - Lekali Estate

The History of Lekali estate is a tall tale. Tenzing’s grandfather was a sherpa on the legendary Sir Edmund Hillary summit in 1958. The success of the expedition led to national recognition and eventually to a family business in trekking. Tenzing’s father, the son of the Mr. Pasang Phutter Sherpa, learned the trade and from it and built a tourism and trekking business ( that would eventually win the REI contract for tourism in Nepal). When things were good, they were good. Then, a 10 year civil war (the Moaist Revolution) in the mid 90’s to mid 2000’s claimed almost 17,000 lives and dried up the tourism that sustained Tenzing’s family. It was clear at that point, that the family business needed to diversify to protect itself from another falter in tourism. After trying many things (tea + honey), the family eventually tried coffee, and Tenzing (the youngest of two siblings) was the perfect person to manage the business. Nima Tenzing Sherpa had attended University in the Midwest, was familiar with coffee culture and the United States market. In 2008, he began Lekali Estate.

Tenzing’s coffees are processed immaculately. The cup sparkles with fruits, florals and lingering sweetness. At Columbia St. we’ve been interested in Nepali coffee for almost a decade. This is the only coffee we’ve seen coming out of Nepal worthy to bring to our customers. The harvest at Lekali is typically 20 bags (40kg), which must make this one of the rarest coffees in the United States.