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Home > Feature Columns > Coffee Chat News > Tree to Cup: Low Acid, Mellow India Coffees Signal Quality

Tree to Cup: Low Acid, Mellow India Coffees Signal Quality

September 15, 2008

Cupping honors at home and abroad are becoming quite common for the fine coffees of India, the only country which exclusively grows its coffees under a well defined two-tier mixed-shade canopy with nearly 50 different types of trees found on many plantations. The resulting cups are mildly acidic, fragrant, and medium to full bodied with a true, clear coffee flavor.

Coffee growing regions in India are grouped under three distinct categories: the traditional states in the south: Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The northeastern region of The Seven Sister States of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Maghalya, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Taripua, and the non traditional areas of Andhra Pradesh and Orissa in the eastern Ghats.

Specialty coffees to look for from India are the Monsoon grades and Mysores, like the Mysore Nuggest Extra Bold, very large beans, highly polished with a even blush green color that produces full aroma, medium to good body and flavor with a hint of spice, reflecting the presence of spices and fruit crops grown along coffee plants such as pepper, cardamom, vanilla, orange, and banana. These are washed Arabicas, and very high quality, although rare in comparison with other types.

The "birthplace" of coffee in India is the Bababudangiris in Karnataka and its main grades are Monsooned Malabar AA, Monsooned Basanally, and Monsooned Robusta AA. Monsooned coffees all of which are mellow, golden in appearance with a mildly acidic true coffee flavor. Monsoon are intense, thundering storms with strong winds that have a direct impact on the coffee beans, causing them to swell in size, change color, and, especially for coffee lovers, acquire an intensely mellow flavor. The monsoons yellow the bean, reduce acidity, and create a heavy syrupy flatness similar to that of aged coffees. Only dry processed Arabica and Robusta beans are used in this category.

The two other predominant Indian beans are Catimor (Cauvery), a form of Bourbon variety, and Sin9 or Selection 9, a cross between Ethiopian Arabicas, Tafarikela and Hybrido-de Timor.

Although robustas have a secondary reputation among coffee lovers, Indian robustas are generally of good quality, particularly the Robusta Kaapi Royale, also from Mysore, Coorg and Shevaroys, plus the regions of Wynad, Pulneys and Barbabudans. These beans are round with pointed ends, a gray to blueish gray in color that produce a soft, smooth mellow flavor in the cup with a surprisingly full body. These beans are prepared from Robusta Parchment AB.

In various coffee growing regions of India, you'll find wildlife sanctuaries where bison, tigers (India's national animal) and leopards roam, plus exotic birds from the yellow headed jungle fowl to the country's national bird, the flamboyant peacock. Add this visual excitement to the fragrant crops of spices and fruits and you have coffee country that is as beautiful to see as the resulting crops are delicious to drink.

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