"Welcome to Five Senses Coffee"

I’ve just come back from two weeks of intensive coffee travel in South India and now I’m finding myself completely re-thinking everything I thought I knew about Indian coffee.

My trip had a twofold purpose. The first week was dedicated to the Gems of Araku cupping competition, where we focused on a non-traditional, but emerging coffee growing region in South India. Here the farmers were referred to as ‘the Advasis’ or tribal farmers, and for the most part they produced very little, sometimes less than a bag per year. Week two was spent making my way from one estate to the next, as a guest on a number of well established coffee farms in the Chikmagalur region.

My trip started with touching down in Hyderabad and meeting up with the rest of the international judges, most of whom I’d met before, which was a nice surprise. I had been invited to judge the competition by well-known Indian coffee expert and friend Sunalini Menon, and was well and truly honoured to be offered this opportunity. The competition is supported by the Naandi foundation (a not-for-profit NGO) which set up the ‘Brew for Prosperity’ livelihood programme as a source of income for the tribal farmers of the Araku Valley. The project is large in scope, as they are working with over 10, 000 Advasis on the introduction of coffee in what was not a traditional growing region until ten years ago. This comes with the big responsibility of ongoing education and support, which from what I saw, was well and truly happening.

Enlisting the help of Sunalini to create the competition platform as well as advise on the incredibly sophisticated CPU (central processing unit) are just some of the ways they are making large moves in quality and encouraging excellence. The Gems of Araku competition is the perfect stage to attract international buyers, and also to extract the “gems” of this region through a vigorous cupping and selection process by both the national and international juries. This means the very distinct lots stay separate, which in turn helps to strengthen Araku Valley’s reputation as a unique, quality producing region.

I knew I was in for something special, but the first three days we spent cupping the top lots from this region blew me away. Lots of variation in body and sweetness, but mostly squeaky clean cups that I had not expected. Had I not been told otherwise, I could have easily been convinced that there were some central and South American coffees on the table. More info on the competition results can be found here.

Once the competition was over, we flew to Vishakaptnam and drove another 4-5 hours to the Araku Valley. The Advasis people greeted us with such warmth that the experience was a very memorable one. We spent the next couple of days visiting small farms, villages and schools, as well as agricultural R&D areas which had dedicated professionals working solely on this project. I left feeling suitably inspired! If you want to read more detailed info about the trip to the valley, have a look here.

The second week was a completely different experience. I flew back to Bangalore and was met by Purnesh at the airport. We spent the next 5 hours driving to the Chikmagalur region. We made it to the Badra Estate at dusk, and had our first glimpses of the drying patios and washing stations. The familiar smell of drying coffee was mixed in with the spicy scent of a patio full of fresh black pepper.

The biggest treat was that I happened to arrive during the two days of coffee flowering. Blossoms appear 9 days after the first rains and last only for a fleeting two days, for one of which they are in full bloom. That was our day! We drove through the estate at night and the hills literally GLOWED with millions on tiny jasmine-like blossoms. The smell was thick and intoxicating. It’s hard to describe the sheer magnitude of these blossoms, and having spent most of my life in Montreal, I can see how it can be compared to snow. The magic of the blossoms is not lost on the farmers, as when they are blessed with rain (not always a given), they can predict how successful their crop will be that year, based on the success of the flowering (whether or not the blossom opens, as well as the amount.) Every perfect flower becomes a cherry, and so the cycle starts again.

I spent the next five days travelling from estate to estate, staying with the families, and learning the ins and outs of coffee farm life in India. One of the unique challenges farmers are facing in this region is to do with the shortage of labour. In the lush green mountains I can’t think of a nicer lifestyle, but many of the famers say the same thing; fewer workers want to pick and process coffee as many labourers prefer basic living in the busy cities to rural living on the farms.

Although the estates all provide schools, nurseries, clinics, lodging and food, it seems the stigma attached to being a farm hand (as opposed to the cachet of living in the city) is drawing people away. The rains are also a big topic; irrigation and water catchments are becoming more of a necessity. It was agreed that they could not rely on nature to ensure the first blossom rains, something that is pivotal to the success of their crop. Even though we saw the blossom flowers on the first estate, many others had not yet seen rain and some had already irrigated.

Interesting side crops: Growing amongst the coffee we saw jackfruit, cardamom, pepper, tea and cocoa … I had my first chance to taste the sticky mucilage around the fresh cocoa bean, straight out of the pod, and also saw tea picked and processed for the first time. The animals hanging around the farms were also the subject of some interesting stories over curries at night, as the farmers discussed king cobras, bison, elephants, monkeys and tigers and their sometimes comical / terrifying encounters.

I feel like I could babble on for ages about what I learned and how I think Indian coffee is going to make a strong statement in the years to come. Farmers have spent the last 13 years re-learning what makes a great coffee and how to find a market for it. As they no longer have to sell via the Indian coffee board, they are able to reap the rewards of finding good buyers and producing a premium product. They told stories of how much they have learned from buyers over the years, how demands for premium coffees have helped them grow and learn about what it means to produce great coffee in a tea-drinking country. My gut feeling is that we are going to see some of the best coffees to come out of India just around the corner.

We have some estate as well as Araku valley coffees on the way, so stay tuned. Then you can see for yourselves.