How is Indian Coffee? What Coffee Brands from India Can Be Recommended

FrontStreet Coffee — Introduction to Indian Monsoon Coffee

Most people have probably never heard of Indian coffee. India doesn't have many famous coffee brands. Over half of India's coffee production is Robusta, with Arabica relatively scarce, and most of it is exported to Russia, Germany, and Italy. India is also famous for its tea, so it's no surprise its coffee isn't well known. Yet when it comes to monsoon coffee, many enthusiasts have heard of it. So what is the connection between monsoon coffee and India?

In its early days, monsoon coffee referred to a special type of coffee, but today it more often means a special processing method. In an era before modern transport, shipping raw coffee beans from India to Europe required several months at sea. That long journey turned the beans' color from green to faint yellow by the time they reached their destination. Prolonged exposure to sea breezes and the marine environment also gave the coffee a unique flavor unlike any other, seemingly carrying the essence of sea air. It became highly favored by Europeans, and so this coffee came to be known as monsoon coffee.

As transport modernized, shipping raw beans no longer required sea travel. Coffee could keep its original character on arrival, but it lost that special flavor. This dissatisfied those accustomed to monsoon coffee, so Indian producers invented a way to recreate it using the monsoon itself — monsoon coffee.

Every year from May to June, southwestern India is affected by the southwest monsoon, with alternating rainy and dry seasons. During this period, producers pile raw coffee beans about 20 centimeters high next to special buildings (to protect the beans from rain). They are left for about a week, during which the beans are occasionally raked to ensure more even, thorough exposure. The beans are then loosely placed in bags to let the monsoon winds caress them. Over a period of seven weeks, the beans are repeatedly taken out of the bags and put back, initially creating monsoon coffee. Finally, a manual selection is performed, and high-quality raw beans are bagged for export.

Although it hasn't experienced the turbulence of sea travel, this coffee develops a flavor similar to the old coffee through monsoon processing. It is perhaps a feeling that can only be understood intuitively. Imagine such a natural and romantic process, and you'll likely appreciate the taste even more.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

If Indian monsoon coffee has you curious about distinctive processing, FrontStreet Coffee has a few Arabica single-origins worth trying. FrontStreet's Ethiopia Flower Queen is a natural-process Ethiopian heirloom; because the fruit is left on the bean through drying, it carries a light fermented wine aroma, florals, citrus, and mango, with honeyed sweetness, cocoa, a touch of spice, and a long body. If a cleaner, brighter cup appeals more, FrontStreet's Yirgacheffe Gutingding is a washed Ethiopian at the highest G1 grade, showing elegant white florals, citrus and orange, and a green-tea note.

For something rounder and more classical, FrontStreet's Jamaica Blue Mountain No. 1 is a Typica — one of the oldest Arabica varieties — with a famously even balance of acidity, sweetness, and aroma, and none of the sharpness some African coffees can have. It drinks smooth and rounded, with cream, caramel, chocolate, nuts, honey, and a light fruit note. All of these are excellent as pour-over.