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The History of Coffee's Global Journey

Coffee only became the world's number one beverage after 1600, which means its recorded history is a mere 400 years—about as long as Taiwan's. Most people place coffee's homeland in Africa, in Ethiopia, from where it spread worldwide via Yemen's port of Mocha. To keep other countries from cultivating it, the Arabs dehulled every bean before export. But no precaution is perfect. Around 1600, in the 17th century, the first man to carry coffee out of Yemen's Islamic world was BaBa Budan, who on a pilgrimage to Mecca hid seven viable coffee beans in his belly and smuggled them home to southwestern India—opening the chapter of coffee's worldwide spread. That southwestern Indian region is known today as Malabar.

The Creation of Monsooned Malabar Coffee

Indian Malabar beans, better known as Monsooned Malabar Coffee, have long been a European favorite. The style was discovered by accident. From the 17th to the 18th century, India shipped coffee to Europe by sailing ship, a voyage of six months. The green beans sat in the lower hold, soaking up sea moisture and salt, and by the time they landed they had transformed: the color shifted from deep green to a rice-like yellowish-brown, the fruit acidity all but vanished, and in its place came rich nutty and grainy flavors with a full body something like genmaicha, the Japanese brown rice tea. Northern Europeans adored this golden, low-acid coffee. Then in 1869 the Suez Canal opened and steamships arrived, cutting the India–Europe voyage short. Customers began complaining that Indian coffee had "lost its flavor," that the earthy yellow color and nutty taste were gone, and orders fell sharply. Exporters looked for an answer. The beans headed for Europe were maturing in less than half the time, too little for the transformation to take hold. They recalled that India's southwestern Malabar coast turns salty and humid from May to September under the Indian monsoon. After several experiments they successfully recreated a similar golden, low-acidity coffee, naming it "Monsoon Coffee"—commonly known as Monsooned Coffee.

The Monsooning Process

Monsooned coffee must start from sun-dried beans. The monsooning warehouse faces west to catch the salty, humid southwest monsoon winds, and the beans are spread flat across the monsooning yard with every window open. Once they have monsooned to a certain degree they are bagged, but the sacks can't be overfilled or stacked too densely, or poor ventilation will cause mold. The beans must also be periodically removed and moved into fresh gunny sacks to keep mold at bay—making the whole process slow and labor-intensive. Monsooning runs roughly 12 to 16 weeks. After maturation the beans are smoke-treated to drive off weevils, then hand-sorted to remove any that failed to turn golden. After three to four months of monsooning, the green beans swell to one or two times their original size while losing weight and density, ending at about 13% moisture—a remarkable change in both quality and quantity.

Personal Experience with Monsooned Malabar

This time I ordered 5kg of Monsooned Malabar. When I placed the order the owner told me a whole 50kg gunny bag costs $200/kg—ICO prices have skyrocketed lately, otherwise it should be available for $150/kg. In the end I told him that 50kg minus one zero, in a plastic bag, would do fine—but before I even got home, my wife had already carried 15kg of raw beans through the door!

After its May-to-September baptism in the seaside warehouses of India's southwestern coast, the monsoon coffee only reached Taiwan at the end of October. I worked on it last night.

Observations and Processing

1. Poor bean appearance — as the photos in this article show, 30g of defective beans could be picked out of 500g
2. Beans expanded significantly — an 8# ziplock bag used to 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, placing the beans on top and stirring while drawing off the odorous air
2. b. Sort out defective beans — about 400g was removed from 5kg in total
3. c. Although Typhoon Lupit turned exactly as the Central Weather Bureau predicted, it poured outside today. This weather's humidity is just right for refined monsooned coffee! (monsoon coffee, extracted by typhoon)
4. d. While sorting beans with ventilation below, my home here in Keelung becomes the warehouse, windows open, for the monsooning process

The effort was worth it—though 5kg took 4–5 hours and left my back sore, the beans are completely free of acidity.

PS: Malabar coffee actually needs to rest 2–3 days after roasting for the genmai-like flavor to develop properly, so we'll enjoy it slowly in a couple of days.

Conclusion

The early sailing ships that carried coffee from India to Europe, whose long sea-wind baptism created the unique monsooned flavor, are long gone. Today the monsooned coffee is processed by bean merchants in warehouses along India's southwestern Malabar coast. The flavor remains; the bean appearance, after today's special handling, is another matter—I can only say I hadn't had coffee of this type in two years, and it was excellent.

Indian Coffee Bean Brand Recommendations

FrontStreet Coffee's roasted Indian beans—Monsooned Malabar among them—come with full guarantees on brand and quality, and excellent value besides. A half-pound (227g) package costs only about 80 yuan. At 15g per pour-over cup, one package makes 15 cups, about 5 yuan per single-origin coffee, against café prices that often reach dozens of yuan.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

FrontStreet Washed Yirgacheffe Coffee. The benchmark entry point into Ethiopian specialty coffee, showing clear jasmine florals and bright citrus acidity. Grown in the town of Yirgacheffe in southern Ethiopia, where cool, misty, humid conditions give the cup its delicate, elegant, tea-like character—clean and refreshing, like a bright glass of lemon tea.

FrontStreet Natural Red Cherry Coffee. A Yirgacheffe lot made from fully ripe whole cherries, sun-dried so the fruit sugars seep into the bean until moisture falls to 12%. Dried with the pulp intact, it keeps the classic Yirgacheffe character while adding tropical fruit: expect peach, cocoa, honey, and lemon.

FrontStreet Natural Flower Queen Coffee. From the Hambella area of Guji in Sidamo, where the farm spreads across 200 hectares and uses traditional natural processing. Cherries dry on raised beds for 21 days with regular turning and hand-sorting. After a medium-light roast it shows light fermented wine, florals, citrus, and mango, with a dense, complex body, honey-like sweetness, cocoa, a hint of spice, and a long finish.