"Welcome to Five Senses Coffee"

Well, this was supposed to be a story about a little coffee nursery in the Highlands of Bali, but a few different events have conspired to convince me to take a slight left turn. Bear with me; it’s still a coffee story at heart, just one with a slightly philosophical detour!

The first event happened whilst I was at the Perth Royal show with my 11 year old daughter. A mother was struggling to pull a huge pram backwards up a set of stairs. Instinctively I grabbed the front of the pram and together we easily negotiated the stairs. After a particularly heartfelt thanks on her part, we both went on our way. I felt good, she felt good – but the biggest surprise was the reaction of my daughter. She immediately commented on it, and may have even been a little proud of her slightly weird father. Any parent with an 11 year old (11 is the new 14, if you didn’t already know that!) knows how fleeting these moments are. And that made me feel even better.

So what’s this got to do with coffee, I hear you ask? Well, I remember that exact same feeling when our group headed back to the vehicles for the trip back to Ubud after completing phase 1 of our nursery project at Tri Karya during our June harvest trip. We had worked incredibly well as a team to help others to help themselves. The vibe was ebullient, and not in a peaky, sugar high kind of way. We were grounded and high at the same time, and dangerously close to a group hug. (Yes, I would have gone there!)

The moral of this slightly disjointed story is that doing good feels good, and others in the immediate vicinity catch a little of the buzz as well. Organise a fundraiser at your workplace or cafe and get everyone involved. Commit to it wholeheartedly and give others an opportunity to do good and feel good about themselves as well. I guarantee that people will think a little differently (in a positive way) about your business or workplace afterwards.

Do good, feel good … Pass it on!

P.S. Oh, and the coffee nursery in Bali is doing great as well. The seedlings are ready to go into the poly bags for planting in February!