At the heart of Tanna Coffee is passion and the pursuit of the perfect cup of coffee.

An agricultural and development specialist and long-term resident of Vanuatu, Terry Adlington has spent decades working alongside Indigenous farming communities to rebuild and strengthen coffee production on Tanna Island. Arabica coffee has been grown on Tanna since 1852.

When Terry arrived on the island decades later, the industry was fragile, shaped by generations of farming, but repeatedly set back by cyclones, disease and near collapse. This included the total destruction of plantations during Cyclone Uma in 1986 and the spread of coffee-leaf rust in the early 1990s.

In 1997, Terry Adlington identified Catimor varieties uniquely suited to Tanna’s volcanic soil and climate. From a handful of surviving trees, Tanna Coffee was rebuilt carefully, organically and with Indigenous farmers at the centre of every decision.

Coffee on Tanna has always been grown as part of a living landscape. Rather than monoculture farming, coffee trees are traditionally integrated with fruit trees, food crops and native species, protecting soil health, supporting food security and building resilience to extreme weather.

Following a major cyclone in 2015, Tanna Coffee invested in rebuilding farms by planting over 250,000 coffee trees alongside a diverse intercropping system. Farmers were supported to grow a wide variety of crops, including food plants and essential oil trees to strengthen income security while improving soil stability and natural wind protection.

Today, Tanna Coffee works with over 500 registered smallholder farmers on Tanna Island alone.