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The Characteristics of Indian Coffee: The Legendary Indian Monsoon Malabar Coffee - Is Indian Coffee Delicious?

Published: 2026-01-27 Author: FrontStreet Coffee

Last Updated: 2026/01/27, Indian Monsoon Malabar Coffee - In a previous article about the history and branches of coffee varieties: Astonishingly, over 90% of the world's coffee actually originates from a single coffee tree! It was mentioned that coffee first originated in Ethiopia, Arab merchants brought it to Yemen, and then a thousand years later, due to a legendary love story, a Yemeni woman risked her life to give coffee seeds to an Indian prince

India Monsooned Malabar Coffee

In a previous article about the history of coffee variety branches, we mentioned that over 90% of the world's coffee originates from a single coffee tree! We discussed how coffee first originated in Ethiopia, with Arab merchants bringing it to Yemen. Then, a thousand years later, due to a legendary love story, a Yemeni woman risked her life to give coffee seeds to an Indian prince, allowing that particular Typica branch to spread globally from India. India was an extremely important link in early coffee history.

Some people say Indian coffee tastes like spices because Indians love spices, and the entire country has a rich curry flavor profile. But what is the true historical origin of spiced coffee? Does Indian coffee really taste like spices? Next, FrontStreet Coffee will introduce this to everyone!

The Most Important Adventurers in History - Merchants

During the 17th-18th centuries, merchants transported coffee from India to Europe via sailing ships. A single journey took at least half a year. Green coffee beans were stored in the bottom cabins, absorbing moisture and saltiness from the sea surface along the way. It was common for beans to be soaked by seawater, then dried, only to be soaked again. By the time green coffee beans arrived in Europe, they had essentially completely deteriorated. The green color of the coffee had completely faded and started to turn yellow.

Then something unexpected happened: Europeans fell in love with this coffee that had no acidity and a straw-spice flavor. This golden-colored alternative coffee from the distant oceans was surprisingly popular.

In 1869, a significant historical event occurred - the opening of the Suez Canal, which shifted shipping from the sailing ship era to the steamship era. The voyage time from India to Europe was greatly reduced. According to today's specialty coffee concepts, theoretically, shorter shipping times and better freight conditions should equal fresher, higher-quality coffee! However - that's just theory.

The actual European reaction was:

"Why did the coffee suddenly change its flavor!"

Europeans, accustomed to this intense flavor profile, had become deeply addicted to the seawater-damaged coffee flavor. Facing desperate circumstances with sharply reduced orders and unable to survive, clever merchants began identifying problems and seeking solutions.

Geography Lesson Time

Opening our familiar high school atlas...

Due to strong thermal differences between land and sea and the seasonal movement of wind and pressure belts, India is a typical representative country with a tropical monsoon climate. Year-round high temperatures and distinct dry and rainy seasons are significant characteristics of monsoon climate. From June to September, influenced by the southwest monsoon from the Indian Ocean, it's the rainy season; from October to May of the following year, influenced by the northeast monsoon from the Eurasian continent, it's the dry season. The side facing the moist southwest monsoon is the famous - Malabar Coast of India.

The merchants' solution was: Since shipping conditions are better and faster now, why not stack the coffee by the seaside for several months to create some aged flavor before transporting it to Europe! Thus, during June-September when the moist southwest monsoon blows along the Malabar Coast, they would place the processed green coffee beans ready for shipment directly along the Malabar Coast, exposed to the moist monsoon winds for several months.

This is the legendary: India Monsooned Malabar Coffee

This is excellent golden coffee from India's monsoon coast! Acid-free, mellow, and full of tropical ocean flavors.

India

Indian coffee is beloved by coffee enthusiasts for several reasons, but most importantly due to a processing method applied to the coffee beans, commonly known as the "monsooning" process.

Monsooned coffee (Rainy Season Malabar) is a unique coffee from southern India processed using typical air-drying techniques, intentionally stored in open warehouses exposed to monsoon winds to achieve increased viscosity and reduced acidity.

Monsooned coffee is stored in special warehouses until the monsoon arrives. The ventilation structure design allows moist monsoon winds to circulate among the coffee beans, causing them to expand in volume and develop a mellow but intense musty flavor. The monsooning process is labor-intensive: coffee is spread in special ventilated warehouses and raked or turned by hand to allow the beans to absorb moisture from the humid air. The entire process takes 12 to 16 months, during which the coffee beans expand to twice their original volume and take on a dull golden-yellow color. Then, after additional processing to remove incompletely expanded beans, the remaining coffee is ready for export.

This dried coffee doesn't have a very strong aroma, but when water is added, a complex sweet fragrance of intensely roasted nuts (dry-roasted peanuts), caramel, and tobacco emerges.

Indian Coffee Growing Regions:

Large quantities of coffee are grown in the Western Ghats region of India, where the southwest monsoon is crucial for coffee growth. Besides Karnataka state, excellent coffee is also grown in Tellichery and Malabar in the southwestern state of Kerala, as well as in Nilgiris in the southeastern state of Tamil Nadu (formerly Madras Province).

India has both plateaus and plains, with plateaus mainly in the central region and plains along the eastern and western coasts. The soil, water, and climate are very suitable for coffee cultivation, and many coffee varieties can be grown, mainly Arabica. Robusta was introduced in the late 19th century and also occupies a certain proportion. Monsooned coffee comes from the southern Karnataka region represented by Mysore and the Tamil Nadu region represented by Madras.

Fine Indian coffee is also classified as Arabian plantation coffee, with the highest grades being A, B, C, and T grades. "Monsooned" coffee is divided into premium Monsooned Malabar AA grade and Monsooned Basanically coffee. India also produces some berry-shaped coffee. October to February of the following year is the best season for producing "monsooned" coffee. June to September is the coffee bean harvest period, while December to February of the following year is the season for processing Indian specialty coffee.

Characteristics of Indian Coffee:

Monsooned coffee is India's most representative coffee. In fact, India is the earliest coffee-growing country in Asia. Indian coffee cultivation began with their colonizers - the British. As early as the 17th and early 18th centuries, British people were not tea lovers like they are today; they were coffee enthusiasts. India's coffee industry grew rapidly under British demand and promotion.

Strictly speaking, monsooned coffee cannot be classified as a coffee variety but rather a unique processing method for green coffee beans, unintentionally creating a new flavor. From the 17th to 18th centuries, India transported coffee beans to Europe via sailing ships, taking six months per journey. Green beans were placed in the bottom cabins, absorbing moisture and saltiness from the sea surface. By the time the green beans arrived in Europe, they had already deteriorated - their color changed from deep green to the yellow-brown of rice grains, the fruit acidity almost disappeared, but surprisingly developed strong nut and grain flavors. It had a rich mouthfeel with a genmaicha (roasted brown rice tea) flavor. Surprisingly, Northern Europeans loved this golden-colored alternative coffee.

Monsooned coffee must be made from sun-dried beans. The storage buildings face west, with coffee beans spread evenly inside, windows fully open to receive the salty, moist southwest monsoon winds. After reaching a certain level, they are placed in bags, but the coffee bags cannot be filled too full, nor stacked too densely to avoid mold growth from poor ventilation. The coffee beans must also be periodically poured out and burlap bags replaced to prevent mold growth - quite time-consuming and labor-intensive. This process takes about twelve to sixteen weeks. After maturation, the beans undergo smoking treatment to drive away weevils, and finally manual sorting to remove beans that haven't turned golden yellow.

After at least 6 months to a year of monsoon exposure, the beans undergo significant changes in quality and quantity. The coffee beans expand to one to two times their original size, with reduced weight and density, reaching about 13% moisture content.

When steamships shortened travel time, coffee producers discovered that consumers still wanted coffee beans with the color and flavor affected by long-distance travel. To recreate the original coffee flavor, the "monsooning" process was adopted.

Indian Coffee Market:

Currently, the Indian Coffee Board controls the entire coffee industry, uniformly purchasing and then selling coffee. Coffee is sold through large-scale auctions. These coffees are blended together to reach certain trade volumes, which eliminates differences between estates and regions, thus causing many high-quality coffee producers to lack sufficient motivation to produce distinctive, high-quality coffee beans. The government attempted to address this issue in 1992, and through efforts, obtained the famous Valley Nuggets coffee from grade A coffee plantation seeds in several high-quality coffee-producing areas.

How should such a special coffee as Indian monsooned coffee be roasted? FrontStreet Coffee shares roasting insights: Indian monsooned coffee beans generally have medium density. During roasting, use medium heat and climb steadily. The yellowing point is around 4 minutes 50 seconds. At first crack, open the air damper fully, maintain heat at about 184.4°C (363.9°F), and drop the beans 2 minutes 30 seconds after first crack. This belongs to medium-dark roast, but due to the special processing method, the roasted color is particularly light, with baking color differing significantly from normal roast levels.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommends Brewing Method: French Press

Parameters: Medium grind, powder-to-water ratio 1:13, water temperature 85°C (185°F), extraction time 2 minutes 10 seconds

Technique: Use 15 grams of coffee, pour in 195 grams of water. Stir the coffee bed at one minute, press down at one minute fifty seconds. Total extraction time is two minutes ten seconds.

Flavor: Smooth mouthfeel with a relatively heavy body, featuring soft fruit acidity and flavors of nuts, genmaicha (roasted brown rice tea), and creamy chocolate, with a sugarcane-like sweet aftertaste.