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The History of Coffee's Global Journey

Coffee becoming the world's number one beverage only happened after 1600, so coffee's recorded history is merely 400 years, similar to Taiwan's history. Most people recognize Africa as coffee's homeland, originating from Ethiopia, and spreading worldwide from Yemen's Mocha port. However, to prevent other countries from cultivating coffee, Arabs ensured all coffee beans were dehulled before export. But no matter how careful, there's always an oversight. The first person to spread coffee from Yemen's Islamic region was around 1600 (17th century), when BaBa Budan, on a pilgrimage to Mecca, hid seven germinable coffee beans in his belly and secretly brought them back to his home in southwestern India, thus opening the chapter of coffee's global dissemination. This southwestern Indian region is now known as Indian Malabar.

The Creation of Monsooned Malabar Coffee

Indian Malabar coffee beans, also known as Monsooned Malabar Coffee, have always been favored by Europeans. This monsooned coffee was unintentionally created as a new flavor. From the 17th to 18th centuries, India transported coffee beans to Europe by sailing ship, taking six months per journey. The raw beans were placed in the ship's lower hold, absorbing sea moisture and saltiness. By the time the raw beans arrived in Europe, they had deteriorated, changing color from deep green to rice-like yellowish-brown. The coffee's fruit acidity had almost disappeared, but unexpectedly developed rich nutty and grainy flavors, with a full-bodied taste somewhat like genmaicha (brown rice tea). Northern Europeans particularly loved this golden alternative coffee. In 1869, the Suez Canal opened, and steamships emerged, shortening the India-Europe voyage time. However, customers began complaining that Indian coffee had "lost its flavor," losing its former charming earthy yellow color and nutty taste, with orders sharply decreasing. Indian exporters then began researching solutions. It turned out that the coffee destined for Europe had its journey time reduced by more than half, insufficient time for maturation and "transformation," losing its original flavor. Thus, exporters recalled that India's southwestern Malabar coast experiences salty and humid conditions from May to September due to the Indian monsoon. After several experiments, they successfully created a similar golden, low-acidity coffee, naming it "Monsoon Coffee," commonly known as Monsooned Coffee.

The Monsooning Process

Monsooned coffee must be made from sun-dried beans. The monsooning warehouse faces west to welcome the salty, humid monsoon winds from the southwest. Coffee beans are spread flat in the monsooning yard with all windows open. After monsooning to a certain degree, they are bagged, but the coffee bags cannot be filled too full, nor can they be stacked too densely to avoid mold growth due to poor ventilation. The beans must also be periodically removed and transferred to new gunny sacks to prevent mold growth, making it quite time and labor-intensive. The monsooning period lasts approximately 12 to 16 weeks. After maturation, the beans undergo smoke treatment to drive away weevils, followed by manual sorting to remove beans that haven't turned golden. After three to four months of monsooning, green coffee beans expand to one to two times their original size, with reduced weight and density, about 13% moisture content, undergoing significant changes in both quality and quantity.

Personal Experience with Monsooned Malabar

This time, I ordered 5kg of Monsooned Malabar. When ordering, the owner said a whole 50kg gunny bag costs $200/kg (ICO prices have skyrocketed recently, otherwise it should be available for $150/kg). Finally, I told the owner that 50kg minus one zero would be fine with a plastic bag—but before I even got home—my wife had already carried 15kg of raw beans home!

After May to September sea-side warehouse baptism on India's southwestern coast—monsoon coffee that just arrived in Taiwan at the end of October, I worked on it last night.

Observations and Processing

1. Poor bean appearance — as seen in this article's photos — 30g of defective beans could be picked out from 500g
2. Beans expanded significantly — previously, an 8# ziplock bag could hold 1kg of raw beans perfectly, this time only a 7# bag could hold 500g
3. Extremely odoriferous when sorting raw beans — but after roasting, they're incredibly aromatic

Refined Monsooned Coffee Processing

1. a. Use a silver skin collection cooler to place the coffee beans on top, stirring while extracting the odorous air
2. b. Sort out defective beans — from 5kg, about 400g were removed in total
3. c. Although Typhoon Lupit turned as expected by the Central Weather Bureau, it was raining heavily outside today. This weather's humidity matches the salty, humid monsoon conditions needed for refined monsooned coffee! (transforming into typhoon-extracted monsoon coffee)
4. d. While sorting beans, with ventilation below, here in Keelung, my home becomes the warehouse with all windows open for the monsooning process

The processing was truly worth the effort, though 5kg took 4-5 hours to process—my back is so sore—but the beans are completely not acidic.

PS: Actually, Malabar coffee needs to be rested for 2-3 days after roasting for the genmai-like flavor to develop well—let's slowly enjoy it in a couple of days.

Conclusion

The early sailing ships transporting coffee from India to Europe, with their long sea-wind baptism creating the unique monsooned flavor, are no longer seen. Currently, monsooned coffee processed by bean merchants in warehouses on India's southwestern Malabar coast—though the flavor remains—the bean appearance—after today's special processing—I can only say I haven't had this type of coffee for two years—excellent!!

Indian Coffee Bean Brand Recommendations

FrontStreet Coffee's roasted Indian coffee beans—Monsooned Malabar Coffee and others—offer full guarantees in both brand and quality. More importantly, they offer excellent value. A half-pound (227g) package costs only about 80 RMB. Calculating at 15g per pour-over cup, one package can make 15 cups of coffee, with each single-origin coffee costing only about 5 RMB. Compared to café prices that often reach dozens of RMB per cup, this represents exceptional value.

FrontStreet Coffee: A roastery in Guangzhou with a small shop but diverse bean varieties, where you can find both famous and lesser-known beans, also providing online shop services. https://shop104210103.taobao.com

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473