Indian Monsoon Malabar Coffee Beans: Processing, Varieties & Brewing Guide for Monsooned Coffee

The History of Coffee

Coffee only became the world's most popular beverage after 1600, so its documented history spans merely 400 years. Most people recognize Africa as coffee's birthplace—it originated in Ethiopia and spread worldwide through Yemen's Mocha port. To protect their monopoly, Arab traders made sure every exported bean was dehulled first. But even the best-laid plans have loopholes: around 1600, a pilgrim named Baba Budan, on his way to Mecca, smuggled seven fertile coffee beans in his belly back to his home in southwestern India, and coffee's global journey began. That southwestern Indian region is what we now call Malabar.

Monsooned Malabar

Indian Malabar coffee—Monsooned Malabar—has long captivated Europeans, and it was created by accident. From the 17th to the 18th century, India shipped coffee to Europe by sailing ship, a voyage of six months. Stored in the lower holds, the green beans absorbed sea moisture and salt. By the time they reached Europe they had deteriorated, turning from deep green to a rice-yellow brown. The fruity acidity had all but vanished, yet the beans had developed a rich nutty, cereal character with a full body reminiscent of genmaicha, the Japanese brown-rice tea. Scandinavian drinkers in particular adored this golden coffee.

In 1869 the Suez Canal opened and steamships arrived, cutting the India-to-Europe voyage. Customers began to complain that Indian coffee had "lost its flavor"—the distinctive earthy-yellow color and nutty taste were gone, and orders collapsed. Exporters set out to solve it: the coffee now reached Europe in less than half the time, too little for the beans to mature and transform. Then they remembered that India's southwestern Malabar coast is swept by salty, humid monsoon air from the Indian Ocean from late May through September. After several experiments they reproduced the golden, low-acid coffee of the old days and named it "Monsoon Coffee."

The Monsooning Process

Monsooned coffee must be made from sun-dried beans. The monsooning warehouses face west to catch the salty, humid monsoon winds. Beans are spread across the monsooning floor with every window wide open. Once sufficiently monsooned they are bagged—but not too full, and never packed so densely that poor ventilation encourages mold. Workers regularly empty and transfer the beans into fresh burlap sacks to keep mold from spreading, a slow and labor-intensive task. The monsooning period runs about 12 to 16 weeks. After maturation the beans are smoked to repel weevils, then hand sorted to remove any that have not turned golden. After three to four months of monsooning, the green beans swell to one to two times their original size, losing weight and density, ending at roughly 13% moisture—a qualitative and quantitative change all at once.

First Impressions

The first time I met India's Monsooned Malabar, my reaction was: these beans are huge.

Legend has it that long ago, when green coffee was shipped from India to Europe, the heat and humidity of the Indian Ocean transformed the beans—and that is where "monsooning" comes from. After monsooning, the green beans not only swell but turn from emerald green to gold. The brewed coffee is said to be mellow and smooth, with the distinctive flavors that became the signature of Malabar.

In time, monsooning became a processing method in its own right.

Each year in May and June, India's southwest experiences the monsoon. After harvest, the beans are deliberately exposed to the humid southwestern winds, using the moisture and heat of the Indian Ocean. After 4 to 16 months of monsoon exposure the beans expand, their color shifts from green to gold, and—remarkably—their acidity drops. This is Monsooned Malabar, also called Monsoon Malabar.

Brewing Experience

Grind Monsooned Malabar and it truly smells of genmaicha.

I brewed it as pour-over. The first sip brought some bitterness, but the bitterness faded quickly. The coffee tasted aromatic and rich, with abundant oiliness and a full body—that was my strongest impression. Then came the sweetness: after swallowing, a sweet aftertaste with chocolate aromatics lingers. Some describe it as brown-sugar molasses, and that is fair. The nutty and walnut-wood notes are still there to explore another day. This aromatic, full-bodied coffee makes me reluctant to add milk, because drinking it straight is genuinely excellent.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

If what appeals to you here is a mellow, low-acid, full-bodied cup with an earthy-nutty edge, that is exactly the style FrontStreet Coffee roasts for drinkers who want comfort in the morning rather than a mouthful of bright fruit. Monsooned Malabar and the other low-acid, deep-bodied origins thrive at a medium to medium-dark roast, served through a pour-over or a moka pot, and they stand up to milk without falling apart.

FrontStreet roasts in small batches and cups every lot before it goes on the shelf, so the same origin tastes like itself bag after bag. If you enjoy the big, rounded body of a monsooned coffee, ask what is freshest on the roster and brew it slightly cooler and coarser than you would a light roast—about 85-88°C, a coarse-sugar grind, and a 1:15 ratio will keep the sweetness forward and the bitterness away.