By Matṧeliso Phulane
Good news to brandy lovers out there! You will soon be enjoying a smooth, aromatic and utterly delicious cognac made locally by fifth year students from National University of Lesotho (NUL).
Mocheko Mpobole has been working on this project with his classmates; Bongani Ndabambi, Thabelo Moahloli and Boitumelo Mpomane. They have worked tirelessly to ensure that they come up with a product that is of good quality.
Wondering what Cognac is? This is a type of brandy, a spirit made from fruit. It is made exclusively with grapes that are known for their exceptional aromatic properties, grown in the cognac region of France where it is produced.
The students decided to make this type of alcohol using grapes, and the final product is expected to be ready by late October/ early November this year. Its name will also be disclosed at its launch.
In an interview with theReporter this week, Mpobole mentioned that as students studying Chemical Technology – a course that focuses on concepts of chemistry – they thought long and hard about how it could be applied in industries around the world.
Among others, it teaches and propels students to be innovative. Mpobole said as a result, it is normal for students who have studied this course to think out of the box, create new products or even improve on existing products and projects.
“One of our colleagues, Bongani Ndabambi, came up with the idea and then approached the rest of the group, to brief us that there is a certain product sold in clubs and asked if we could be interested to manufacture it; especially because after completing at the university there will be nothing much to do.
“The rest of us were very fascinated by embarking on this journey and could not wait to get started. We then began in November last year whereby we immediately decided to assign roles to each of the group members to ensure our work flows smoothly,” Mpobole noted.
He added that the team considered that in the area where they live (Roma), what is mostly sold is either food or beer and people decide to drink in different places. There are some who enjoy their beers in clubs where it is classy, and buy expensive liquor.
In the light of this, producing cognac was a great idea to cater for such people, who are upper crust and those who like to buy expensive stuff. However, to cater for everyone the aim is to produce other types of alcohol like wine, brandy or whisky still using grapes.
Mpobole and the team then followed a long process of conducting their research on purification and other methods of testing the alcohol content in order to achieve the desired taste.
“The process of double distilling the alcohol and the drop count methods are some of the processes that we have gone through to ensure that the product will be safe for human consumption.
“The drop count method mainly helps to determine the alcohol volume and currently, the product is undergoing the ‘aging’ process,” Mpobole explained.
The challenges that they have encountered on their journey include unavailability of grapes. Transporting the grapes has also proven quite daunting, as the group members have found that they cannot find the type of grapes that they need within the borders of Lesotho, so they have to import from South Africa.
Apart from that, lack of equipment has also been challenging on their work.
“Lack of equipment makes it difficult for us to work. Grapes need to be maintained under a certain temperature during the production process, therefore we had to come up with a plan on what to use alternatively.
“To test alcohol, people use some equipment but we use chemical methods to test because we do not have access to equipment,” Mpobole said.
Despite such problems, the team has a vision. In two years to come they would like to be nationwide distributors as well as international distributors like in South Africa where their brand will be well known.
The plan is also to run a business which produces different types of alcohol and not limited to using grapes only; they plan to use other types of fruits such as peaches because they are available in high quantities in Lesotho.
Mpobole further called for financial support from sponsors because they are just from university and still not financially stable. With their vision, they would want to achieve their goals for their company to grow.
“Such funds would be used to promote and introduce the product, buy machinery to enable mass production, packaging and distribution,” he pointed out.
If interested in collaborating or sponsoring this dream, you can contact Mpobole on +266 50585693.
