How is Indian Monsoon Coffee? What is the Origin of Monsoon Coffee? What is the Monsooning Process?

Professional coffee knowledge exchange, more coffee bean information, please follow Cafe Workshop (WeChat public account: cafe_style)

FrontStreet Coffee Briefly Describes the Monsooning Process

There are several reasons why Indian coffee is favored by coffee lovers, but the most important is due to a processing applied to the coffee beans, commonly known as the "monsooning" process.

Monsoon coffee (Monsooned Malabar) is a unique coffee from southern India processed using typical air-drying techniques, intentionally stored in open warehouses exposed to the monsoon winds to achieve the purpose of increasing viscosity and reducing acidity.

The Accidental Discovery of Monsooned Coffee

However, when it comes to monsooned coffee, this new flavor was actually created unintentionally. During the 17th to 18th centuries, India transported coffee beans to Europe by sailing ships, which took six months per trip. The raw beans were placed in the bottom of the ship's cabin, 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 surprisingly developed a rich nutty and grainy flavor, with a full-bodied taste reminiscent of genmaicha (brown rice tea). Originally, coffee shipped to Europe had its travel time shortened by more than half, leaving insufficient time for the "transformation" during maturation, resulting in the loss of original flavors. Consequently, exporters thought of the salty and humid environment along the Malabar coast in southwestern India, where the Indian Ocean brings salty moisture from late May to September each year. After several experiments, they successfully produced a similar golden-colored, acid-free coffee from the past, thus naming it "Monsoon Coffee," commonly known as monsooned coffee. For hundreds of years, it has been widely used by European coffee professionals for blending coffee beans, as it can increase viscosity and create a tea-like sensation.

The Monsooning Process

Monsoon coffee is stored in special warehouses until the monsoon arrives. The ventilated structure design allows the humid monsoon winds to circulate among the coffee beans, causing them to expand in volume and develop a mellow yet distinct musty flavor. The monsooning process is labor-intensive: coffee is spread out in special ventilated warehouses, raked or turned by hand to allow the coffee beans to absorb moisture from the humid wind. The entire process lasts 12 to 16 months, during which the coffee beans expand to twice their original volume and take on a dull golden color. Then, additional processing is done to select out incompletely expanded coffee beans, and the remaining coffee is ready for export.

Indian Malabar coffee beans, during sea voyages, in the bottom of the ship's cabin, come into contact with moisture and saltiness from the sea surface, maturing into a golden-colored, acid-free coffee with nutty and grainy flavors. Later, through experiments, the monsooning process was developed to recreate these flavors:

1. Place the stored beans in factory buildings facing west, spread the sun-dried coffee beans evenly inside, with all windows open to welcome the salty and humid monsoon winds blowing from the southwest.
2. Coffee beans cannot be packed too full, as densely stacked coffee bags would lead to poor ventilation and mold growth. It's also necessary to regularly pour out the coffee beans and replace the burlap bags to prevent mold cultivation, which is quite time-consuming and labor-intensive.
3. This period lasts about twelve to sixteen weeks, and after maturation, the beans must undergo smoking treatment to drive away weevils.
4. Manual bean screening to remove failed beans that haven't turned golden yellow.
5. After at least 6 months to a year of exposure to monsoon winds, the quality and quantity of the beans undergo significant changes. The coffee beans expand to one to two times their original size, with reduced weight and density, and a moisture content of approximately 13%.

Because the coffee beans are long exposed to the humid monsoon wind environment, the acidity of the coffee itself is significantly reduced, creating a very special taste with a slightly salty flavor. Rich caramel, raisin, and herbal notes, with a texture like genmaicha (brown rice tea) and a berry aftertaste.

FrontStreet Coffee's Pour-over Brewing Recommendations

Recommended brewing method: Pour-over

Dripper: Hario V60

Water temperature: 90°C

Coffee-to-water ratio: 1:15

Grind size: BG 5R (Chinese standard: 58% pass-through rate for #20 sieve)

Brewing technique: Bloom with 32g of water for 32 seconds, pour water to 126g in stages. When the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, continue pouring to 228g and stop pouring. When the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, remove the filter cup. (Timing starts from the bloom) Extraction time is one minute and fifty seconds.

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473