Indian Monsoon Malabar Coffee Beans: Processing Process Special Report

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About Malabar Monsooned Coffee

Indian monsooned Malabar coffee has been favored by Europeans since the 17th century. This monsooned coffee was unintentionally created as a new flavor. In the 17th and 18th centuries, India transported coffee beans to Europe by sailing ship, a journey that took six months. The raw beans were placed in the bottom of the ship's hold, absorbing moisture and saltiness from the sea surface. By the time the raw beans arrived in Europe, they had deteriorated, changing color from deep green to the yellowish-brown of rice grains. The fruity acidity of the coffee had almost disappeared, but it unexpectedly developed strong nutty and cereal flavors, with a tea-like quality reminiscent of genmaicha (brown rice tea), which Nordic people particularly enjoyed this golden alternative coffee.

In 1869, the Suez Canal opened, and steamships emerged, shortening the voyage time from India to Europe. However, customers began complaining that Indian coffee had "lost its flavor," lacking its former charming color and taste, leading to a sharp decline in orders. Indian exporters then began researching solutions. They discovered that the transport time for coffee beans to Europe had been reduced by more than half, leaving insufficient time for maturation, thus losing the original flavor. Some clever people thought of the salty and humid environment brought by the Indian Ocean to the Malabar coast in southwestern India from late May to September each year. After several experiments, they successfully created a yellowish-brown, low-acidity coffee similar to the former product, thus named "monsooned coffee" or commonly known as "monsooned beans."

Indian coffee characteristics are originally thick and mellow, with lower acidity, and monsooned coffee beans are made from natural processed beans. All processing facilities for monsooned coffee beans face west, welcoming the salty and humid monsoon winds blowing from the southwest sea. The coffee beans are spread evenly in monsooning fields with all windows open. After monsooning to a certain degree, they are bagged, but because the beans expand considerably during the process, the bags cannot be filled too full, and coffee bags cannot be stacked too densely to avoid mold and spoilage due to poor ventilation. The beans must also be periodically emptied and burlap bags changed to prevent mold growth, making it a quite time-consuming and labor-intensive process. The monsooning period is about twelve to sixteen weeks. After maturation, the beans undergo smoke treatment to drive away weevils. Finally, manual sorting removes any beans that haven't turned golden yellow. After three to four months of monsooning treatment, Malabar raw beans expand in volume by one to two times, with both weight and density decreasing.

Indian monsooned Malabar coffee beans, though plump in appearance, are actually soft beans that are strong on the outside but weak on the inside. Because the coffee beans are long exposed to the humid monsoon wind environment, not only does the bean color turn yellow (earning them the name "Golden Malabar"), but the coffee's own acidity is also significantly reduced, creating a very special mouthfeel. Monsooned beans consumed as single origin offer rich wheat aroma and tea flavors. For centuries, they have been widely used by European coffee professionals for blending coffee blends, as they can increase viscosity and tea-like qualities, producing excellent espresso.

MANGALORE is India's New Mangalore port, located on the southwestern Indian Peninsula in Karnataka state, north of the Gurpur River estuary, northwest of Mangalore city, facing the Arabian Sea. The northeast shore of the port's waters (MANGALORE) serves as a bulk cargo terminal for general goods, with railway access. Southwest winds prevail in summer with average force of 5-6 level, and the area is also affected by tropical storms. The tides are semi-diurnal, exporting minerals, pepper, coffee, sandalwood, cashews, tea, and other products. The new port is about 2 nautical miles south of the original smaller port, which was mainly used for coastal trade and fishing. The city port of Mangalore is about 10 kilometers south of the new port and about 6 kilometers from the old port.

Monsooned Coffee Processing Method

Every May and June, monsoon phenomena occur in southwestern India. Monsooned coffee must be made from natural processed beans. Coffee farmers spread the beans evenly in monsooning facilities at a thickness of about 12-20 centimeters for 5 days, then repeatedly rake these coffee beans with rakes to ensure all beans contact the extremely humid air of the time. Then these coffee beans are loosely packed into bags and stacked to allow monsoon winds to penetrate through the bags. The monsooning facilities face west to capture the salty and humid monsoon winds blowing from the southwest.

Coffee beans are spread evenly in monsooning fields with all windows open. The monsoon winds blowing from the Arabian coast in summer have high humidity. After monsooning to a certain degree, they are bagged, but the coffee beans cannot be filled too full, and coffee bags cannot be stacked too densely to avoid mold due to poor ventilation. There, these bags are repacked and restacked weekly for a total of 7 weeks until the coffee beans change color and flavor. The beans must also be periodically emptied and burlap bags changed to prevent mold growth, making it quite time-consuming and labor-intensive.

The monsooning period is about twelve to sixteen weeks. After maturation, the beans must undergo smoke treatment to drive away weevils. Finally, manual sorting removes any beans that haven't turned golden yellow. Starting from June, after three to four months of monsooning, the volume of green coffee beans expands by one to two times, the color begins to change from green to golden yellow, and both weight and density decrease. The moisture content is about 13%, the beans' acidity is reduced, and both quality and quantity undergo significant changes.

Finally, any beans that haven't been properly monsooned or other debris and defective beans are filtered out again, removing those coffee beans not affected by the "monsoon." Then post-processing preparations such as cupping, grading, bagging, and export are carried out. Each year from October to February of the following year is the best season for making "monsooned" coffee.

Coffee Varieties

Kent:

A Typica hybrid variety discovered in 1911 at Kent Coffee Estate in the Mysore region of India, created from crossing S288 with Typica, characterized by high yield and rust resistance. However, it has never achieved good results in cupping. The coffee aroma has more body than Bourbon varieties.

S795:

Also known as Jember. Indian botanists used the first-generation S288 crossed with Typica to create Kent, then Kent was crossed with second-generation S288 to become the current S795. In 1955, the Indonesian Coffee and Cocoa Research Institute (ICCRI) named it Jember and it is widely planted in India, Indonesia, Yemen, and Ethiopia. It has some resistance to coffee leaf rust, but this resistance decreases over time. Its flavor is close to Arabica, with wild characteristics.

Catimor:

In 1959, the Portuguese crossed Brazilian Caturra with Timor to create the F2 hybrid Catimor, which has super-strong disease resistance and yield capacity. However, its flavor is also inferior, and it is currently an important commercial variety. To improve Catimor's poor cupping reputation, botanists from various countries in recent years have returned to crossing Arabica with Catimor in multiple generations to reduce the Robusta heritage.

FrontStreet Coffee Teaches You How to Roast Malabar Coffee

This coffee belongs to the category of beans with general density. Roasting should be done with medium heat and steady temperature increase. The yellowing point occurs around 4 minutes and 50 seconds, then reduce heat and open the air vent to enter the Maillard reaction. At first crack, open the air vent fully while maintaining heat. The temperature should be around 184.4°C. Drop the beans 2 minutes and 30 seconds after first crack.

Roaster: Yangjia 600g semi-direct heat

Preheat the roaster to 200°C and load the beans. Set the air vent to 3. After 30 seconds, turn on the heat and adjust to 160. The temperature return point is at 1'25". Maintain heat. At 4'50", the beans turn yellow, grassy aroma disappears, entering the dehydration stage. Reduce heat to 140, open air vent to 4. When reaching 168°C, reduce heat again to 110.

Dehydration is complete at 8 minutes. The bean surface shows wrinkles and black spots, toast aroma turns to coffee aroma, which is the prelude to first crack. At this time, maintain heat unchanged, open air vent to 5, and pay attention to listen for first crack sounds. At 8'55", first crack begins, open air vent fully to 5. The development time after first crack is 2 minutes and 30 seconds, dropping at 197.8°C.

Indian monsooned Malabar coffee beans, though plump in appearance, are actually soft beans that are strong on the outside but weak on the inside. Because the coffee beans are long exposed to the humid monsoon wind environment, the coffee's own acidity is also significantly reduced, creating a very special mouthfeel. Rich caramel, raisin, and herbal aromas, with a mouthfeel like genmaicha (brown rice tea) and a berry-like aftertaste.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommended Brewing Method: Pour-over

Grind size: 4 (Fuji R440) (China standard No. 20 sieve pass rate 47%)

Water temperature: 83°C

Kono filter cup, 17g coffee grounds, water temperature 83°C, grind size 4, water-to-coffee ratio close to 1:13

Technique: 30g water for bloom, bloom time 30s

Segments: Pour water to 120g, then pause. Slightly larger water flow to pour to 221g

That is 30-120-221, total extraction time 1:50-2 minutes

Other drip-style extraction recommendations:

French Press: Recommended grind size 4, water temperature 83°C

AeroPress: Recommended grind size 4, water temperature 83°C

Important Notice :

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