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Coffee Estate in South India
[ Tamilnadu ]
Tamilnadu, the state remembered for its myriad temples
and historic culture, produces both Arabica and Robusta coffees,
with Arabicas of approx.12,000 T and Robustas of 5000T.
Nilgiris, the number one region in the world market
for fragrant teas, is also the home to aromatic and distinguished
coffees from India. The Nilgiri Hills also known as the Blue
Mountains of India, produces just 2500 T of quality Arabica.
The beans are blue in color, large and wide with tight white
centre cuts. In the cup, the quality is best described as
full bodied with fine acidity and flavor akin to wild berries.
These coffees could be compared with some of the finest coffees
from Ethiopia and are appreciated by German and Japanese buyers,
who find their flavor and acidity excellent components for
canned coffee.
Shevaroy Hills is a place of scenic beauty, centered around
a lake, with coffee bushes and forest trees adorning hills
at an altitude of 3,500 to 5,000 ft and producing just 3000
T of quality Arabica. Oranges, peaches and apples playing
truant with ripe red coffee cherries is the trade mark of
Shevaroy Hills. As for the coffee beans which are medium in
size, are dense, distinctly green in color and have good clear
acidity and a fragrance with a hint of Spice. Truly unique
beans to be served as filter coffee.
Anamalais, as the name implies, is the home to numerous herds
of elephants, producing special Arabica coffees, which are
still unknown to coffee connoisseurs around the world. This
region in India, produces approx. 2,000 T of Arabica coffee,
at an altitude of 2,000 to 3,500 ft. The beans are large,
greyish green in colour with a balanced cup. The beans also
roast evenly and lend themselves to uniform and effective
blending
From the traditional coffee areas to the non-traditional coffee
areas of Araku valley in Andhra Pradesh and Kohima in Nagaland,
Indian coffee is certainly preserving not only the natural
forests in these areas by preventing shifting cultivation;
providing employment to the tribal force (90% of whom are
women and uplifting their lives) but also enabling the preparation
of some fine distinct coffees from these areas. Special strains
of coffee with lineage to an Ethiopian strain are being processed
with upgraded processing technology and the marketing of these
coffees with distinct brand identities are being explored.
Distinct Preparation Techniques To Market Estate Branded and
Specialty Coffees India has entered the arena of Estate Branded
preparations. Distinct plant strains and unique processing
techniques have helped in the preparation and marketing of
coffee as “Estate Brands.” It is an established fact that
each plant strain has distinct quality characteristics. Certain
estates cultivating plant materials with unique acceptable
cup quality characteristics have taken to processing them
with strict adherence to quality norms and are now launching
them in the market as Estate Brands.
Meerthi Mountains, Banangala Organic, Horseshoe Heights, Jamboor
and Buttercup Bold are some of the Estate Branded Coffees,
which have been prepared from distinct plant strains and with
special care during processing..
Meerthi Mountains, a delicious coffee prepared from an exotic
Indian strain of Sln. 9, is from Badnekhan estate located
in the Bababudan hills at an altitude of 4000 ft. These fine
washed arabicas are the result of care from the seed to the
cup. The processing is carried out on state-of-the-art machinery
and is sun dried. The beans exhibit sweet acidic notes and
distinct flavour of fruit nuances in a caramel dip.
Banangala Organic is from a well-maintained estate in the
region of Coorg and belongs to the progressive company of
The Bombay Burmah Trading Company. The coffee is organically
grown and is prepared from a distinct plant strain of BBTC
Selection, comprising greenish grey, bold dense arabica beans
with balanced body and acidity and an aftertaste of fruit
notes laced with smooth acidity. This coffee could certainly
be served “black” and is the first Indian organic coffee to
be offered to the overseas market.
Horseshoe Heights, an excellent Estate Branded Special Coffee
of M/s Bettadakhan Estate, prepared from Sln.795 coffee beans,
is from a high altitude estate (4250 ft.) nestled in the lush
emerald valley in the Inner ‘Giri’ Mountains. The purity of
the plant material has been ensured with the planting of uniform
and homogenous plant material of the Sln.795 in distinct blocks
on the estate. The coffee is prepared by the washed method,
without any chemicals or machine attrition, utilizing only
an aagard pulper to remove the fruit skins, with the rest
of the operations such as the breakdown and removal of mucilage
carried out by natural fermentation and manual washing and
finally being sun dried. Labor intensive indeed, but the intrinsic
flavour notes have been preserved and highlighted by the natural
methodology of selective hand picking, processing with biological
degradation and drying with the help of cost effective natural
sunshine!
Jamboor, is a special coffee from Jamboor estate, at an altitude
of 3500ft. in Coorg and owned by the well known Corporate
company of the Tatas. The washed Arabica of this estate, is
harvested by selective picking and is carefully processed
both on the estate and at their modern curing factory, where
the coffee is not only meticulously graded and stringently
sorted, but also cupped to ensure the quality of the produce.
This premium coffee finds favor with roasters, who follow
a fast technique of roasting and the balanced body and acidity
enables fine blending.
Buttercup Bold, is an exotic name for an exotic robusta
coffee from a small farmer in Coorg. This estate houses distinct
plant material of Sln.CxR, producing bold, dense beans, which
when washed, possess a grey hue with clean, soft “buttery”
after notes in the cup. This coffee could, with ease and perfection,
provide the froth and bubbles for the much sought after espresso.
India also prepares speciality coffees for coffee connoisseurs
around the globe. We have the proud privilege of having launched
the Specialty Coffees of Monsooned Malabar and Monsooned Robustas
as early as 1972, even before the world was awake to the concept
of Specialty in coffee. These delicious beans, which are of
golden hue, are large in size and possess mellowness with
a hint of spice, making them unique in the cup. You could
use these beans in a variety of ways….a neat coffee as an
after dinner drink, as a highlighter in an espresso blend
or as a smooth body builder in your regular filter coffee.
Added, washed arabica and robusta beans from selected coffee
regions of growth and subjected to special preparation techniques
have resulted in the speciality coffees of Mysore Nuggets
EB and Robusta Kaapi Royale launched by the Indian Coffee
Board in the 1990s. The popularity of these coffees is growing
with the overseas trade. The recently introduced premium grades
of Plantation AA and Robusta Cherry AA, comprising bold beans,
which have been enriched with stringent quality standards
are finding ready acceptance in the market.
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