Coromandel Coast blog

When I was last at the farms in February, everyone was talking about the rain that hadn’t come. The air was dusty, the leaves were tired, and irrigation lines wound like veins through the red soil. Komal and Akshay at Mooleh Manay and Pavan at Papakuchi (Venkids Valley) were preparing for another dry year digging pits, mulching, and trying to coax their young coffee trees into flower.Now, the same hills are drenched. It hasn’t stopped raining for weeks. In some areas, like the Sirangalli community, rainfall has crossed 250 inches. Streams that once whispered now roar. The soil squelches underfoot,...

For decades, Arabica has been coffee’s golden child. It dominates speciality menus, makes up around 60% of global production, and carries the prestige of complexity and heritage. Yet Arabica is also fragile. A landmark study predicted that by 2050, suitable Arabica-growing land could shrink by half under climate change. The question is: what comes next? The answer may lie in the rediscovery of Excelsa, a rare coffee once overlooked, now confirmed to be its own species. With fresh scientific recognition, remarkable resilience, and a flavour profile unlike anything else in the cup, Excelsa may well be the coffee we’re all...

When most people think of speciality coffee, they think of Arabica, the delicate, floral, high-altitude bean. But there’s another side to coffee that’s been long overlooked, and it’s quietly staging a comeback: Robusta. And nowhere is this more exciting or more refined than in India.   First, a Quick Primer: Arabica vs Robusta Coffee comes primarily from two species: Coffea arabica: Known for its acidity, complexity, and sweetness. Grown at higher altitudes, it’s the darling of the speciality world. Coffea canephora, commonly known as robusta: Hardier, more caffeinated, more bitter, and historically treated as a lower-grade commodity bean. But in...

My journey into understanding Robusta coffee began with an embarrassing laugh. InFebruary 2024, I was proudly sharing our newest blend with Akshay Dashrath from SouthIndia Coffee Company in February 2024 – a creation we named "Climate Change"because it combined what I believed were two climate-resilient species: Robusta and Excelsa. His laughter caught me off guard. It turns out my understanding of Robusta wasn't quite as solid as my confidence in discussing it. That moment sent me down a rabbit hole of research, scouring articles and rethinking everything I thought I knew about this misunderstood coffee variety.  It took me a...