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. Indeed, India doesn't have many famous coffee brands. Over half of India's coffee production is Robusta, with Arabica coffee being relatively scarce. Most of the coffee is exported to Russia, Germany, and Italy. India is also famous for its tea production, so it's not surprising that its coffee isn't well-known. However, when it comes to monsoon coffee, many coffee enthusiasts have heard of it. So what's the connection between monsoon coffee and India?

In its early days, monsoon coffee referred to a special type of coffee, but now it more often represents a special processing method for coffee beans. In an era when transportation was not yet developed, shipping raw coffee beans from India to Europe required several months of sea travel. This long journey caused the coffee beans to change color from green to faint yellow by the time they reached their destination. Additionally, prolonged exposure to sea breezes and the marine environment gave this coffee a unique flavor profile different from other coffees, seemingly carrying the essence of sea breeze and ocean air. It became highly favored by Europeans, and thus this coffee came to be known as monsoon coffee.

With the advancement of time and increasingly sophisticated transportation methods, shipping raw coffee beans no longer necessarily required sea transport. This allowed coffee to maintain its original characteristics upon arrival at its destination, but it lost the special flavor of the former coffee. This type of coffee dissatisfied those who had grown accustomed to monsoon coffee, so Indian coffee producers invented a method to produce coffee using monsoons—monsoon coffee.

Every year from May to June, the southwestern region of India is affected by the southwest monsoon, with alternating rainy and dry seasons. During this period, coffee producers pile raw coffee beans to about 20 centimeters high, placing them next to special buildings (to protect the coffee beans from rain). They are left for about a week; during this time, the beans are occasionally raked to ensure more even and thorough sunlight exposure. Then the coffee beans are loosely placed in bags to allow them to be caressed by the monsoon winds. Over a period of seven weeks, the beans are repeatedly taken out of the bags and put back, thus 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, through monsoon processing, develops a flavor similar to that of the former coffee. This is perhaps a feeling that can only be understood intuitively. Imagine such a natural and romantic processing process, and you'll likely appreciate the taste of this coffee even more.

FrontStreet Coffee's Mission

In short: FrontStreet Coffee is a research center for coffee, dedicated to sharing coffee knowledge with everyone. We share without reservation, hoping to help more friends fall in love with coffee. Additionally, we hold three coffee discount events every month, because FrontStreet Coffee wants to offer the best coffee at the lowest prices to more friends. This has been our mission for the past six years!

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