India Coffee Beans

India is one of the most geographically and agronomically distinctive coffee-producing countries in the world. Almost all Indian specialty arabica is grown on estates rather than smallholder plots, in the forested hill regions of the Western Ghats running down the southwestern coast. Karnataka, which accounts for the majority of Indian coffee production, and the adjoining states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu contain the main growing regions: Coorg (Kodagu), Chikmagalur, Wayanad, and the Nilgiris are the most significant for quality-focused arabica. Elevations range from 900 to 1,500 metres, lower than most African or Latin American specialty origins, and the shade-grown growing conditions under a canopy of native trees, pepper vines, cardamom, and other spice crops have a measurable influence on cup character.

Indian arabica at its best is full-bodied, low-acid, and complex, with spiced and earthy characteristics that reflect both the growing environment and the processing tradition. Washed lots from high-altitude estates can show surprising clarity and fruit, while natural and pulped natural processing tends to produce denser, more intense cups. India is also the home of Monsooned Malabar, a process unique to the country in which green coffee is exposed to monsoon winds during the drying season, absorbing moisture and producing a heavily bodied, low-acid cup with earthy, mushroom, and cereal notes that has a devoted following. Monsooned Malabar sits outside the specialty coffee mainstream but represents a genuinely distinct and historically significant processing tradition. Any lots we are currently roasting will appear below.

Browse: All Asian coffees · All single origins