What is Monsooned Coffee? Characteristics of Indian Coffee Beans & Monsooning Processing Method

When discussing Asian coffee beans, most people first think of Indonesian Mandheling. However, Asia also has another mysterious coffee - the famous Indian Monsooned Coffee (also known as Monsoon Malabar Coffee), whose flavor formation process has greatly interested FrontStreet Coffee. Legend has it that this process occurred accidentally when raw coffee beans were shipped from India to Europe. The high humidity and heat from the Indian Ocean during the voyage caused the raw beans to expand in volume and turn golden yellow. These fermentation and other changes resulted in a mellower taste and unique flavor. While most coffee processing methods rely on artificial drying and fermentation techniques, only Indian Monsooned Coffee relies on natural climate conditions to create its distinctive flavor characteristics, which FrontStreet Coffee finds truly remarkable.

Indian Monsooned Malabar

• Region: Malabar Coast, Southern India
• Altitude: 1100-1200 meters
• Varieties: Kents, S795, Catimor, Selection 9
• Processing: Monsooned Natural Processing

Regional Introduction

Coffee was first introduced to India in the 16th century when pilgrims established the first coffee plantation. You might be surprised to learn that India produces much more coffee than Ethiopia and any Central American country combined. With 900,000 hectares of land dedicated to coffee cultivation, India has approximately 140,000 coffee farms, with over 90% being small-scale operations under 10 acres. These farms are distributed along the coastal mountains of the southern and eastern regions at altitudes of 900-1200 meters. Arabica varieties account for two-thirds of the total production, with Robusta making up the remainder. The total annual production is between 440,000-450,000 bags, making India the fifth-largest coffee producer in the world.

Monsooned coffee was accidentally created as a new flavor profile. From the 17th to 18th centuries, India transported coffee beans to Europe via sailing ships, a journey that took six months. The raw beans were stored in the lower decks, absorbing moisture and saltiness from the sea air. By the time the beans arrived in Europe, they had changed - their color had transformed from deep green to the yellow-brown of rice grains, and the coffee's fruit acidity had almost disappeared. Instead, it developed strong nutty and grainy flavors with a rich mouthfeel reminiscent of genmaicha (roasted rice tea). Northern Europeans particularly loved this golden alternative coffee. In 1869, the opening of the Suez Canal and the advent of steamships shortened the India-Europe voyage time, but customers began complaining that Indian coffee had "lost its flavor," missing its distinctive golden color and nutty taste. Orders decreased sharply, prompting Indian exporters to research solutions.

It turned out that with the journey time to Europe cut by more than half, the coffee no longer had time to mature and "transform," losing its original characteristic flavor. Exporters then recalled that the southwestern Malabar coast of India experiences a salty and humid environment from May to September due to the Indian Ocean monsoon. After several experiments, they successfully recreated the golden, low-acidity coffee similar to the traditional product. This coffee was named "Monsoon Coffee," commonly known as Monsooned Coffee. For hundreds of years, it has been widely used by European coffee roasters in coffee blends to increase viscosity and add tea-like characteristics.

Export Port

MANGALORE is India's New Mangalore port, located north of the Gurpur River estuary in the southwestern Indian peninsula of Karnataka state, northwest of Mangalore city, facing the Arabian Sea. The port's (MANGALORE) northeastern waterfront serves as a bulk cargo terminal for general goods, with railway access. Southwest winds prevail in summer with average force of 5-6, and the area is also affected by tropical storms. The tides are semidiurnal. The port exports 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. Mangalore city port is approximately 10 kilometers south of the new port and 6 kilometers from the old port.

Processing Method

During May and June each year, monsoon phenomena occur in southwestern India. Monsooned coffee must be made from naturally processed beans. Coffee farmers spread the beans in monsooning warehouses to a thickness of about 12-20 centimeters for 5 days, then repeatedly rake the coffee beans with rakes to ensure all beans come into contact with the extremely humid air. The beans are then loosely packed into bags and stacked to allow the monsoon winds to penetrate through the bags. The monsooning warehouses face west to capture the salty, humid monsoon winds from the southwest. Coffee beans are spread flat in the monsooning yards with all windows open. During summer, the monsoon humidity from the Arabian coast is very high. After monsooning to a certain degree, the beans are bagged again, but the coffee bags cannot be filled too full, and the bags cannot be stacked too densely to avoid poor ventilation and mold growth. At the facility, these bags are repacked and restacked weekly for 7 weeks until the coffee beans change in color and flavor. The beans must also be periodically removed and the burlap bags changed to prevent mold growth, making this a time-consuming and labor-intensive process.

The monsooning period lasts about twelve to sixteen weeks. After maturation, the beans undergo smoke treatment to drive away weevils, followed by manual sorting to remove any beans that haven't turned golden yellow. Starting from June, after three to four months of monsooning, the green coffee beans expand to one to two times their original volume, their color begins to change from green to golden yellow, and their weight and density decrease. The moisture content reaches about 13%, and the beans' acidity is reduced, resulting in significant changes in both quality and quantity. Finally, any beans that haven't been properly monsooned, along with other debris and defective beans, are sorted out again to remove those not affected by the "monsoon" process. Then cupping, grading, bagging, and other post-processing preparations are carried out. The period from October to February of the following year is the best season for producing "Monsoon" coffee.

Cultivated Varieties

Kent:

A Typica hybrid variety discovered in 1911 at the Kent Coffee Estate in the Mysore region of India, created by crossing S288 with Typica. It has high yield and rust resistance characteristics but 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, which was then 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 has been widely cultivated in India, Indonesia, Yemen, and Ethiopia. It has some resistance to coffee leaf rust, though this resistance decreases over time. The flavor profile is close to Arabica with wild characteristics.

Catimor:

In 1959, Portuguese breeders crossed Brazilian Caturra with Timor Hybrid to create the F2 hybrid Catimor, which has super strong disease resistance and yield capacity. However, its flavor is inferior, making it an important commercial variety today. To improve the poor cupping reputation of Catimor, botanists from various countries have recently returned to crossing Arabica with Catimor multiple times in an attempt to reduce the Robusta genetic influence.

Roasting Recommendations

This coffee has medium bean density. FrontStreet Coffee decided to roast it with medium heat, steadily increasing the temperature. The yellowing point occurs around 4 minutes and 50 seconds, then the heat is reduced and the airflow increased to enter the Maillard reaction. At first crack, the airflow is opened wide while maintaining heat at approximately 184.4°C. The beans are dropped 2 minutes and 30 seconds after first crack.

Roasting Machine: Yangjia 600g Semi-direct Heat

Preheat the roaster to 200°C before loading, set airflow to 3, turn on heat after 30 seconds, adjust heat to 160, return to temperature at 1'25'', maintain heat, yellowing at 4'50'', grassy smell disappears, enter dehydration phase, reduce heat to 140, open airflow to 4, reduce heat to 110 again when reaching 168°C.

After 8 minutes of dehydration is complete, the bean surface shows wrinkles and black patterns, the toasted bread aroma transforms into coffee aroma, signaling the prelude to first crack. At this point, maintain constant heat, open airflow to 5, and listen carefully for first crack. First crack begins at 8'55'', fully open airflow to 5. Development time after first crack is 2 minutes and 30 seconds, dropping at 197.8°C.

Brewing Recommendations

FrontStreet Coffee experimented with four brewing methods: siphon, AeroPress, French press, and Kalita wave three-hole filter cup to compare their flavor profiles.

I. Siphon

Brewing Parameters: Grind size BG 6M (70-75% pass-through rate on China standard #20 sieve), coffee-to-water ratio 1:13, water temperature 84°C, extraction time 1 minute 20 seconds

Brewing Method: Pour 260g of water into the bottom chamber, wait for water to rise to the top chamber, then add 20g of coffee grounds and gently press the coffee bed to ensure full contact between coffee and water. Stir at 30 seconds, turn off heat and stir again at 50 seconds, allowing coffee to return to the bottom chamber.

Flavor: Slight fruit acidity on entry, with genmaicha and chocolate flavors, relatively thin body.

II. AeroPress

Brewing Parameters: Grind size BG 6M (70-75% pass-through rate on China standard #20 sieve), coffee-to-water ratio 1:13, water temperature 85°C, extraction time 1 minute 50 seconds

Brewing Method: Inverted method, using 15g of coffee, pour 195g of 85°C hot water, stir at 1 minute, flip and start pressing at 1 minute 30 seconds, completing at 1 minute 50 seconds.

Flavor: Aroma of cream and nuts with some herbal plant notes, sugarcane aftertaste, medium body.

III. French Press

Brewing Parameters: Grind size BG 6M (70-75% pass-through rate on China standard #20 sieve), coffee-to-water ratio 1:13, water temperature 85°C, extraction time 2 minutes

Brewing Method: 15g of coffee, pour 195g of water, stir the coffee bed at 1 minute, press down at 1 minute 50 seconds, total extraction time 2 minutes.

Flavor: Smooth mouthfeel entry, relatively heavy body with soft fruit acidity, featuring nutty, genmaicha, and creamy chocolate flavors, sugarcane aftertaste.

IV. Kalita Wave Three-Hole Filter Cup

Brewing Parameters: Grind size BG 5R (70-75% pass-through rate on China standard #20 sieve), coffee-to-water ratio 1:14, water temperature 85°C, extraction time 2 minutes

Brewing Method: Using 18g of coffee with a coffee-to-water ratio of 1:14, bloom with 30g of water for 30 seconds, slowly pour to 125g for segmentation, finish pouring at 250g.

Flavor: Entry with light plum acidity, cocoa, nutty, and creamy flavors, with noticeable wheat tea and genmaicha tea characteristics in the finish.

FrontStreet Coffee found that when brewing this coffee with different equipment, the basic flavor profile is similar - all showing distinctive genmaicha, cocoa, and nutty flavors - but the mouthfeel and fruit acidity expression varies significantly. Among these brewing methods, siphon-brewed Malabar is overall more balanced and gentle; AeroPress-brewed coffee shows more prominent aromatics; French press brewing yields a Malabar with higher richness and body; while in pour-over brewing, the fruit acidity becomes clearer and more distinguishable.

The same coffee beans can display different flavors when brewed with different equipment, which is precisely what makes coffee so fascinating and enjoyable to explore!

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