Coromandel Coast blog

For years, if you asked us for a decaf, the answer was no because everything about Indian-origin decaf worked against us. Today, 12th September that changes.  We're launching the world's first Excelsa decaf, and it's the first time we're taking a decaf direct-to-consumer here in the UK. This is a big one. Grab a cup (ideally not decaf yet as you'll want to save that first pour for later) and let us walk you through it. The Decaf Problem Nobody Wanted to Solve Decaf has an image problem, and it's a fair one. Ask most coffee drinkers what decaf tastes...

In 2017, we set out to do something no one else in the UK was doing: build a roastery around Indian coffee as an origin. Not for cheap blend fillers or as an "also available" but with Indian coffee as the main event. We remain the only one to this date. That same commitment led us to open the only coffee shop collective in the UK serving exclusively Indian coffee. And in 2019, it led us to champion a species almost nobody in specialty coffee was talking about: Excelsa. The intrigue Long before it was a business decision, Excelsa was...

When we talk about Indian coffee, the conversation almost always starts — and ends — in Karnataka. Coorg, Chikmagalur, Bababudangiri. These are the names that appear on menus, in guides, in the minds of even dedicated specialty drinkers. And they deserve their reputation. But India is a vast country with extraordinary growing diversity, and Karnataka is only one corner of it. Odisha is another corner entirely. One of India's 16 recognised coffee-growing regions, sitting quietly on the eastern coast, facing the Bay of Bengal, almost invisible to the international specialty world. We went there because we believe the best Indian coffees are the ones nobody has found...

We have been roasting Indian-origin coffee since 2017. Over that time we havewatched policy shape markets, seen small farmers navigate seismic change, and learned that where coffee comes from, right down to the specific hillside, matters enormously. The EU Deforestation Regulation is the next big moment in that story. Here is what it is, what it means for Indian coffee, and how we at Coromandel Coast are thinking about it across our six stores. Why a new EU law matters to your morning cup The EU Deforestation Regulation, officially Regulation (EU) 2023/1115 and almost universally shortened to EUDR, is one of the most significant pieces...