1
Shade Grown Coffee
Indian Coffee is grown under the shade of large trees, giving filtered sunlight to the coffee bushes – it is widely regarded among the world’s best shade grown coffees. The tree canopy filters direct sunlight from hitting the plants; the advantage being that the beans develop more fully, lending richness & complexity to the beans.
2
Handpicked
The coffee terrain in India is hilly, and forest-like. This makes hand- harvesting the only practical way to harvest coffees. Although this makes the process expensive & effort intensive, it gives the advantage of selective harvesting, at the right stage of ripeness and maturity.
3
Bio-Diverse Lands
In addition to shade trees, Indian Coffee Estates are also home to a large number of species of mammals, reptiles, birds, insects and plants. It is quite common to see elephants, gaur (the largest bovine in the world), many species of snake, and even the occasional tiger!
Wide range of soil, altitude & weather conditions produces incredible environments, and incredible coffees! It enables India to be one of the few major origins to produce the entire range of coffees – Washed & Naturals – Arabicas & Robustas – in significant volumes to suit tastes of coffee drinkers around the world!
4
Mature Growing & Processing Practices
With its history of over 200 years of active cultivation, growing & processing practices have been passed down from one generation to another, making Indian Coffee quality good, reliable, and sought after. Most growers in India are 3rd, 4th or even 5th generation growers in their families. This traditional knowledge, coupled with modern approaches given Indian Coffee the best of both the past & present.
5
The “mosooned coffee”
Unique to Indian coffee, the monsoon rains humidity, carefully managed, gives the coffee an added size and flavor! Read more about this fascinating process here.
These fascinating facts were written and delivered to us by Mr. Anil Ravindran. Thank you!
Anil Ravindran is Managing Partner at RV Commodity Services, India’s premier choice export brokerage firm. If you’re a coffee importer and would like to get in touch with Anil, please send him an email to: [email protected]
Our own Coffee storyteller:
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