INDIA
The origins of coffee production in southern India are entwined with myth. The story goes that a pilgrim named Baba Budan passed through Yemen in 1670 while returning from Mecca and smuggled out seven coffee seeds, the export of which was strictly controlled. Because he took seven, a sacrosanct number in Islam, it was considered a religious act.
Baba Budan planted these first seeds in what is now known as the Chikmagalur district of the Karnataka region and there they thrived. The hills there now bear his name, Bababudangiri, and this is still an important coffee-growing area.
It wasn’t until the middle of the 19th century, under British colonial rule, that coffee plantations in southern India began to flourish. This was short-lived, however, and coffee’s popularity began to wane again. In the 1870s the industry suffered due to an increasing demand for tea, combined with an increasing incidence of leaf rust, which attacked the coffee plants. Many plantations switched to tea production, ironically the same plantations that had been successful exporting their coffee. Leaf rust did not drive coffee out of India, however, but instead encouraged research into rust-resistant varieties. This research was relatively successful and some new varieties were bred, although this was before the flavour of the coffee was deemed to be very important.
In 1942, the Coffee Board of India was created, by way of a government act that began the regulation of the industry. Some argue that by pooling coffees from many producers, the government reduced incentives for producers to improve the quality of their coffee. However, production certainly grew and in the 1990s India’s output increased by an astonishing thirty per cent.
During the 1990s there was also a decrease in regulation governing how and where producers could sell their coffee. The domestic coffee market in India also grew rapidly. While India has a very low per capita consumption of coffee, tea being a far cheaper alternative, the population is so large that the total consumption is quite sizeable. The annual consumption per person is just 100g (3½oz), but this results in a total consumption of two million bags of coffee per year. India produces just over five million bags in total, although the majority of this is Robusta.
Robusta is, in many ways, better suited to India than Arabica. The lower altitudes and climate make Robusta yields high. More care and attention is paid to the production of Robusta in India than in most other countries so it occupies the premium end of the market. Even the best Robustas still carry the distinctive woody flavours of the species, but the relative lack of unclean flavours in Indian Robustas makes them popular with roasters who still like Robusta in their espresso blends.
Although tea is generally more popular in India, the country consumes two million of the five million bags of coffee it produces annually, most of which is the Robusta variety.
MONSOONING
One of the better-known coffees from India is called Monsoon Malabar, and it is created by an unusual process called ‘monsooning’. Monsooning is now a controlled process, but it began completely by accident. During its export from India to Europe at the time of the British Raj, coffee was transported in wooden boxes and was, therefore, subjected to the wet weather that came during the monsoon months. The raw coffee absorbed a great deal of moisture, which had a strong effect on the resulting cup of coffee.
As export practices improved, the demand for this unusual coffee still remained so the process was recreated in factories along the west coast. Monsooning is only done with naturally processed coffees; the raw coffee looks very pale afterwards and is somewhat brittle. Monsooned beans are difficult to roast evenly, and their brittle nature means that a bag of roasted coffee often contains lots of beans that have been damaged in the packing process. This is nothing to worry about, however, and is not the same thing as low-grade coffees that contain broken pieces in them and should be avoided.
During the monsooning process, coffee usually loses its acidity, but often gains pungent, wild flavours that make it somewhat divisive in the coffee industry. Some love the richness and intensity of the cup, while others believe the flavours are the result of defective processing and are very unpleasant.
TRACEABILITY
Because 98 per cent of India’s 250,000 coffee producers are small growers, it is often difficult to find coffees traceable down to a single estate. However, these are often worth seeking out. Traceability may only be possible back to the point of processing or to a specific region.
Coffee berries dry in the sun at Coorg, part of the Tamil Nadu, one of India’s four main coffee growing states.
GRADING
Indian coffees are graded in two different ways. The first is unique to India, and classifies all washed coffees as ‘Plantation Coffees’, all naturally processed coffees as ‘Cherry’, and all washed Robusta coffees as ‘Parchment Coffees’.
India also uses a size-based grading system, from AAA (the largest), down through AA, A and also PB (peaberry). As in many other countries that use a size system, the larger bean sizes are associated with higher quality but this is not necessarily true.
TASTE PROFILE
The best coffees from India tend to be heavy, creamy and low in acidity, but rarely particularly complex.
GROWING REGIONS
Population: 1,326,572,000
Number of 60kg (132lb) bags in 2016: 5,333,000
Most of India’s coffee is grown in four main states, each of which can be subdivided into a number of smaller geographic regions.
TAMIL NADU
Tamil Nadu (which translates simply as ‘land of the Tamils’) is the southernmost of India’s 28 states. The capital city is Chennai (formerly Madras), and the region is famous for its monumental Hindu temples.
PULNEY
This is the largest area of coffee production in the state. There are a number of challenges here for the coffee growers, including a high incidence of leaf rust (which determines the choice of varieties to grow), labour shortages, absentee ownership, and a scarcity of water for post-harvest processing.
| Altitude: | 600−2,000m (2,000–6,600ft) |
| Harvest: | October–February |
| Varieties: | S795, Selection 5B, Selection 9, Selection 10, Cauvery |
NILGIRI
Many growers in this mountainous region are tribal and have smallholdings with financial constraints. This region produces around twice as much Robusta as Arabica, and struggles with high rainfall and many different kinds of pests, including coffee berry borer. It is the westernmost of the growing regions, bordering Karnataka and Kerala.
| Altitude: | 900−1,400m (3,000–4,600ft) |
| Harvest: | October–February |
| Varieties: | S795, Kent, Cauvery, Robustas |
SHEVAROY
This region produces almost exclusively Arabica. Most of the farmers in the region are smallholders, but the distribution of land is skewed in favour of larger farms. Only 5 per cent of the farms occupy around 75 per cent of the land under coffee. One of the problems with large farms in the area is the trend towards monocultures of trees used to shade the coffee, silver oak being extremely common here. Many consider that a diverse range of shade trees is important for biodiversity and sustainable production.
| Altitude: | 900−1,500m (3,000–4,900ft) |
| Harvest: | October–February |
| Varieties: | S795, Cauvery, Selection 9 |
KARNATAKA
This state produces the majority of the nation’s coffee. It used to be known as Mysore, but was renamed Karnataka in 1973. The meaning of the name is not completely agreed, opinion divided between ‘elevated lands’ and ‘the black region’, the latter being a reference to the black cotton soil (vertisol) found in the area.
BABABUDANGIRI
This region is considered the home of Indian coffee, where Baba Budan first planted the seeds he smuggled from Yemen.
| Altitude: | 1000−1,500m (3,300–4,900ft) |
| Harvest: | October–February |
| Varieties: | S795, Selection 9, Cauvery |
CHIKMAGALUR
This is a larger region that encompasses Bababudangiri within it. It is centred around, and named for, the city of Chikmagalur. The region produces slightly more Robusta than it does Arabica.
| Altitude: | 700−1,200m (2,300–3,900ft) |
| Harvest: | October–February |
| Varieties: | S795, Selection 5B, Selection 9, Cauvery, Robustas |
COORG
Many plantations in this region were started by the British in the 19th century, then sold to the locals when India gained independence in 1947. Nearly twice as much land here is used to grow Robusta as Arabica so, with its higher yield, nearly three times as much Robusta as Arabica is produced in the region.
| Altitude: | 750−1,100m (2,450–3,600ft) |
| Harvest: | October–February |
| Varieties: | S795, Selection 6, Selection 9, Robustas |
MANJARABAD
This area is more focused on Arabica, although several of its estates have been recognized for the quality of their Robustas through competitions run by the Coffee Board of India.
| Altitude: | 900−1,100m (3,000–3,600ft) |
| Harvest: | October–February |
| Varieties: | S795, Selection 6, Selection 9, Cauvery |
KERALA
This southwestern state produces just under one-third of the total Indian coffee production. It is home to the Malabar coast, and therefore the Monsooned Malabar coffees, and organic coffee production has had greater success in this region than any other. The export of spices began here in the 1500s, which brought the first Portuguese to the region and established a trade route that would pave the way for the European colonization of India.
TRAVANCORE
This region grows mostly Robusta, although some Arabicas are produced at higher altitudes.
| Altitude: | 400−1,600m (1,300–5,200ft) |
| Harvest: | October−February |
| Varieties: | S274, Robustas |
WAYANAD
The low altitude in this part of India really only lends itself to Robusta production.
| Altitude: | 600−900m (2,000–3,000ft) |
| Harvest: | October−February |
| Varieties: | Robustas, S274 |
ANDHRA PRADESH
The Eastern Ghats mountain range runs along the east coast of India, providing the necessary altitude for coffee. Only a relatively small amount of coffee is produced in this region, though the majority is Arabica.
| Altitude: | 900−1,100m (3,000–3,600ft) |
| Harvest: | October−February |
| Varieties: | S795, Selection 4, Selection 5, Cauvery |