COFFEE lovers can now enjoy coffee with a little kick to it in the form of a coffee wine, a local product of among 20 wines being retailed in supermarkets and shops across the country.

John Luke is the face behind the innovative product, coffee wine. He hails from the Jacklow community on the Pomeroon River and is an agro-processor who has a community-based business instead of a family-owned one.

Luke told the Pepperpot Magazine that where he is from, there is plenty of locally-grown coffee, and it was wasting away. Eventually, he thought of ways to utilise it and birthed the idea of coffee wine.

With his expertise, he played around it for a bit and decided to make it into a wine – which has become of his best-selling products.

“It was with the thought in mind of doing more with coffee that I came up with the coffee wine concept, and, after I mastered wine-making, I decided to give it a try, and it came out well. It is in demand, selling off like ‘hot cakes’,” he said.

Luke related that he had invested time to educate himself in wine production overseas, and with his culinary skills as a qualified chef, he knew he was ready to make things happen in terms of business.

He stated that his line of coffee wine is unique, of high quality and high standard, and he is exporting it mostly to the Caribbean.

However, customers in the US and Canada have since expressed interest in buying, so soon, he will set up an online shopping outfit to accommodate those buyers.

Luke’s brand of coffee wine is available for sale at the Guyana Manufacturing Corporation (GMC) Guyana Shop on Robb Street.

The father of three told the Pepperpot Magazine that he is expanding his business into a 24-hour processing facility, hoping to employ more than 100 people, using a two-shift system.

Luke reported that he is presently land-filling the site at New Road, Pomeroon, earmarked as the processing plant, and will soon erect a fence, after which the building will be constructed, and he is seeking support in this aspect of his expansion.

The agro-processor noted that when he started out, he had 15 employees, but today, he has three full-time staffers. He is renting a business place and the monthly fee is putting pressure on his production. As such, he is seeking to have his own processing factory.

Luke’s Manufacturing, John’s brand of products, is a local agro-processing company which specialises in the production of condiments, hot sauces, powdered seasonings, green seasonings, wines, jams and jellies, cake fruits and other products.

Luke has made great strides within the past 30 years of establishing his agro-processing business, which now produces 21 different products such as cassava seasoning, pepper sauce, cassareep, fruit and coffee wines.

He sources all raw materials, including fruits and all produce, from local farmers across the country under the farmer’s group called Pomroom.

Of the 20 flavours of wines Luke produces, only a few were released for sale while the others will be on the market once his processing facility is in full operation.

Luke’s wines include coffee, jamoon, capadulla, red oman, mixed, cherry, and passion fruit, which all derive from locally grown fruits.

In some of his newest products, he has passion fruit essence, powdered passion fruit, cherry-flavoured pepper sauce, cassava powder, cassava cassareep powder, and cassava seasoning, which add flavour to the pot.

Luke explained that he was a full-time chef with a big company catering to hundreds of staffers, and whenever he wanted time off, he couldn’t get it without lying. That got him thinking as a staunch Christian; he knew it was not good and a change was necessary, so he started his own small business.

He told the Pepperpot Magazine that he had to get out of that and start his own small business because working with big companies was not worth it.

Luke explained that where he is living had jamoon in abundance, and he thought of a way to use it.

He began making jamoon wine in a 45-gallon container, which came out well. He shared it as gift samples to people around him, and they encouraged him to make it into a business since it was good enough to market.

“Once I get the factory up and running, it is guaranteed I will be producing a lot more newer products since all my products are local and all-natural [organic] with no additives or artificial flavours,” he said.

Luke reported that he is re-branding his products and only five of his products have been branded “Made in Guyana” so far. He is also re-packaging to make them more attractive.