Inside Sri Lanka’s Specialty Coffee Sector

The Brief: ‍

Foodscapes is the first longform video series produced by Roar Studios. It was developed with the aim of exploring the ideas and innovations driving Sri Lanka’s food and beverage industry. MDF, which is supported by the Government of Australia, has been working with a handful of specialty coffee brands and smallholder coffee farmers to revive the country’s coffee sector. The team at MDF were looking for a content production studio to produce a short video on this project but we were able to pitch a longer version of this video as the pilot episode of the series.

Our Role:

Over four months, the Roar Studios team travelled to the Central Province of Sri Lanka and to several parts around the Colombo District to meet with smallholder coffee farmers, agriculture experts, entrepreneurs, cafe and roastery owners and the Ambassador to Australia. We were able to document the tireless efforts to train and upskill farmers, significantly improve the taste and quality of Sri Lankan coffee, educate Sri Lanka’s growing specialty coffee enthusiasts and bring it to a standard that can, eventually, be on par with that of some of the best coffee growers in the world. The result was a 20-minute documentary that was highly informative and interesting, and well-received by our audience. The documentary was also screened at Sri Lanka’s first-ever coffee festival in January 2021.