Seven seeds, two crops and a bean aged by the wind

By Ines Keane

Most coffee is judged on how fresh it is. One Indian coffee is judged on how it was left to age. Monsooned Malabar is spread in open warehouses while the monsoon blows through, and the beans come out larger, paler and gentler. First, how the coffee got there.

The seeds

The Coffee Board of India, the government body for the crop, says a saint, Baba Budan, planted “seven seeds” of Mocha in 1600 AD in the courtyard of his hermitage on the Baba Budan Giris in Karnataka. For a long time, it says, the plants were garden curiosities and spread slowly as backyard plantings. Commercial plantations began in the 18th century, the Board says, when British entrepreneurs took on the forested terrain.

Wikipedia’s article on coffee production in India tells it with more detail: the seven beans were smuggled from Mokha, in Yemen, hidden in the saint’s beard, and planted at Chikmagalur near the start of the 17th century, because export of unprocessed beans was prohibited. That page does not flag the story as uncertain. We do: it is a tradition, and neither source gives a document.

Where it grows

Wikipedia lists the traditional regions as Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, and non-traditional ones in Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and the northeastern states. It gives shares of production, undated: Karnataka 71 per cent, Kerala 21 per cent, Tamil Nadu 5 per cent. It says India was 4.5 per cent of world output as of 2009, seventh largest.

The Coffee Board says the crop is grown under thick natural shade in the Western and Eastern Ghats, which it calls one of the world’s 25 biodiversity hotspots. Wikipedia says all Indian coffee is grown in shade, usually under two tiers of trees, often alongside cardamom, cinnamon, clove and nutmeg. It says Indian coffee is “said to be” the finest shade-grown in the world. We treat that as a claim.

Two species

Wikipedia gives arabica as grown at 1,000 to 1,500 metres and robusta at 500 to 1,000 metres. It says blossom to maturity takes about seven months for arabica and nine for robusta, that fruit is hand-picked when fully ripe, and that robusta accounts for over 60 per cent of India’s production after coffee rust hit arabica. Varieties named include Kent, S.795, Cauvery and Selection 9, which it says won the Fine Cup Award for best arabica at the 2002 Flavour of India competition.

Regional brand names listed include Araku, Wayanad and Bababudangiris, with Kodagu and Chikmagalur as places. Neither page gives harvest months, so we give none.

Monsooned Malabar

Wikipedia’s article says the harvested cherries are sun-dried, cured and sorted into AA and A grades, then stored until the monsoon. From June to September the beans are exposed to damp monsoon wind in ventilated warehouses for 12 to 16 weeks, while workers spread, rake and turn them. The intro of the same article says about three to four months, which is close but not identical.

The origin story, it says, is the British Raj: wooden ships took raw coffee to Europe in almost six months around the Cape of Good Hope in the monsoon months, and humid sea air changed the beans from green to pale yellow. Faster ships protected the beans better, and the article says those arriving in Europe lost the old depth.

The result, it says, is larger, pale golden beans and a heavy-bodied, dry cup with a chocolatey aroma, notes of spice and nuts, and reduced acidity. It also says the coffee is grown on the Malabar Coast of Karnataka and Kerala and in the Nilgiri hills of Tamil Nadu and has protected status under India’s Geographical Indications of Goods Act.

Side by side

Mughal-era coffee drinking is dated “from the early 1600s” in one place on Wikipedia’s page and “from the 16th century” in another. The Coffee Board says seven seeds in 1600 AD, while Wikipedia says the start of the 17th century. Exposure time is 12 to 16 weeks in the article body and about three to four months in its intro. We have not tried to reconcile these.

Dates in order

875 AD: earliest coffee reference the Wikipedia page cites, a manuscript in Paris.
About 1600: seven seeds planted, according to the Coffee Board.
Start of the 17th century: the same event, according to Wikipedia.
18th century: commercial plantations, according to the Coffee Board.
1942: Coffee Board set up by an Act of Parliament, according to Wikipedia.
1995: the Board stops marketing pooled supplies, according to Wikipedia.

Questions a buyer would ask

What does “monsooned” tell me? According to Wikipedia, the beans were exposed to monsoon wind for 12 to 16 weeks, and the process reduces acidity. It tells you about the process, not the roast.

Is the name protected? Wikipedia says it has protected GI status. We did not read the registry entry.

Is fresh better? The sources describe monsooned coffee as deliberately aged, so no.

What kind of sources these are

The Coffee Board is a government trade body with an interest in the crop. Wikipedia is open to editing, and the two articles we used cite their own sources, which we did not open. No independent roaster, grower or cupping source was read. Our reading: the exposure ends in September, which would put monsooned lots on the market as the weather cools. No source says when they ship.

What we left out

Prices, auction figures, tasting scores, the world coffee-price table on the Board’s home page, and brew advice. The Board’s page says nothing on Monsooned Malabar or GI, so those facts rest on Wikipedia alone.

Quick answers

Who brought coffee to India? By tradition, the saint Baba Budan, who planted seven seeds in the hills of Karnataka around 1600, according to the Coffee Board. Wikipedia adds that he smuggled them from Yemen.

What is Monsooned Malabar? Coffee exposed to damp monsoon wind in warehouses for 12 to 16 weeks, so the beans swell and turn pale gold, according to Wikipedia.

Is Indian coffee shade-grown? According to Wikipedia, all of it, usually under two tiers of shade trees. The Coffee Board says it grows under thick natural canopy in the Ghats.

Roam first. Shop later.

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