INDIA
PRODUCES
COFFEE TOO!!
India is a country known in North American circles mostly for its quality teas, such as Darjeeling, Assam, and Nilgiris. However, India is the sixth largest producer of coffee in the world, behind Brazil, Vietnam, Colombia, Indonesia, and Mexico. Much of India's coffee is shipped to Europe, Japan, and the Middle East, where Indian coffees have always commanded a premium price. Very little of India's production has traditionally made it to the U.S. until recently.
India started producing coffee in commercial quantities more than 170 years ago when the British began establishing plantations throughout South India. They found the tropical climate, high altitude, sunny slopes, ample rainfall, humus-rich soil, and well-drained sub-soil ideal for coffee cultivation.
India has since been a consistent producer and exporter of high-quality coffees, of which well-known coffee authority William H. Ukers once wrote, "Indian coffees are noted for their blue color, cleanness of bean, and fine liquoring qualities. ... The producers have always taken a stand on quality, and, accordingly, Indian coffee has commanded a premium on the European market."
For additional information read this article. Although few years old, much of the content is still valid. | |
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AVAILABLE: MYSORE NUGGETS EXTRA BOLD COFFEE 
We have been importing this grade of coffee for many years. However, in past crop years, we were able to secure only enough coffee that meet our stringent quality standards, to satisfy the requirements of those roasters who had made firm contractual commitments for this grade of coffee.
For the first time, we have been able to secure a limited number of extra bags of Mysore Nuggets EB coffee to enable us to accommodate more roasters than we had in the past. These include coffees from Harley, Sunticoppa, Goorghully , Mylemoney, Jumboor, Nullore and Margolly Estates in the Chikmagalur and Coorg Growing Regions.
Mysore Nuggets Extra Bold is considered the best of the best of all Arabica from India. It is a 19-screen coffee obtained by re-grading washed Arabica coffee from selected growing regions. Most important, this grade does not tolerate any defects; that it has to be hand garbled to be defect free, an expensive and labor intensive process.
In the cup, it is medium-to-high in acidity, medium in body, highly aromatic and displays a chocolaty spiciness that is uniquely Indian.
Contact us for price, arrival schedule, and availability information.
For additional information see:
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Dear Recipient:
In the initial issue of this newsletter, we explained that Josuma imports high grade Specialty Coffees exclusively from India. When we were planning this business in late 1991, many advised us that importing from only one origin, particularly a coffee origin relatively unknown in North America, would not be a viable business.
But we felt that if we were to represent an origin, we have to be an effective
resource to the roasters who will be using this coffee. I believed I have the responsibility to become an expert on a country's coffee if I am going to import it; and I have time for only one.
Or may be, I simply believed all the rhetoric of that time about Specialty Coffee, as to how one needs to focus on quality and be very knowledgeable about the origin and all it represents.
I see many importers and brokers representing twenty or more origins. In many such cases, other than knowing how to spell the name of the coffee, they have very little to offer. Over the years, I have been appalled at the misinformation many display about the Indian coffees they carry, about which I happen to know a thing or two. That is not a model I subscribe to.
Sincerely,
Dr. Joseph John, President
Josuma Coffee Company
PO Box 1115
Menlo Park, CA 94026
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INDIA's PRODUCTION TODAY
All Coffee in India is Shade Grown |
India's coffee industry is diverse and vibrant. Specialty purveyors normally prefer the mellow, sophisticated flavors of India's Arabica coffees, although India grows some of the finest Robusta coffees in the world. Top-grade Indian Robusta exhibits a clean and smooth flavor with none of the rubbery aftertaste typically associated with other Robusta coffees. Arabica coffee in India is grown at elevations between 3,000 and 5,000 feet, whereas Robusta is grown above 1,000 feet.
Most of India's coffee is grown in the three southern states of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala. Karnataka accounts for nearly 70 percent of total production, whereas Tamil Nadu contributes approximately 6 percent and Kerala makes up around 20 percent, the remainder coming from non-traditional areas. India's principal Arabica-growing districts are Anamalais, Baba Budan, Biligiris, Coorg, Mysore (Chikmagalur), Nilgiris, Palanis, and Shevaroys.
In the 2009-2010 season, India produced approximately 290,000 metric tons of coffee, of which nearly 95,000 tons were Arabica and 195,000 tons were Robusta. Of this total production, 95,000 tons (mostly Robusta) was consumed domestically, while the remaining 195,000 tons were available for export.
Until mid 1990's, coffee was a tightly regulated commodity in India. However, the government deregulated the industry a few years ago, and producers are now free to market their coffees anywhere in the world. Many growers now brand their coffees as estate-grown, a move that has also resulted in a significant improvement in coffee quality. The Coffee Board of India, which once served as the industry's regulating arm, now focuses on agricultural research, grading coffees, and enforcing quality standards.
For additional information, see: http://www.josuma.com/green-coffee.html |
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MYSORE PLANTATION-A, KENTS
Kent is a natural-hybrid Arabica first discovered in the Doddenguda Estate in the Chikmagalur district of Mysore, and is named after the British owner of the estate at that time. British planters shipped this popular cultivar to several of their colonies, including Kenya and Jamaica.
Standing Next to an Heirloom Plant |
Because Kent is susceptible to leaf rust, many Indian growers uprooted and replaced this coffee. However, small blocks of these heirloom plants, now more than 80 years old, remain in a few estates. This particular lot is from an estate at an elevation of 3,800 feet. These Kent coffees have a light flower fragrance and a clean, refined cup.
We have secured a limited amount, 22 bags, of this heirloom coffee. It will be avialable in the US in about a month. Please contact us for arrival schedule, price and availability.
For additional information, see: this |
Monsooned coffees are truly one of a kind. Unlike most high-grade specialty coffees, which are washed (or "wet processed") by growers to ensure consistency and eliminate defects, monsooned beans are spread on warehouse floors in the west coast of India during the monsoon season. While there, moisture-laden winds from the Arabian Sea blow over the coffee through the open walls of the warehouse. The beans do not get wet, however, as the warehouse still has a roof.
 During this 12- to 16-week process, the beans soak up moisture, swell in size, change color, and, most importantly, shed their acidity, turning monsooned coffees into the lowest-acid coffees in the world. In the cup, the coffees boast abundant body and a smooth, pleasant earthiness.
Monsooning simulates the process that Indian coffee used to undergo more than a century ago, when it was shipped in wooden sailing vessels around the African continent for four to six months on its way to the markets in Europe. Modern shipping better preserves the initial condition of the coffee, but at the expense of several unique flavor characteristics.
Josuma's Monsooned Malabar-AA Super Grade and Monsooned Robusta-AA are superior to similar grades carried by other importers and brokers in the U.S. These Super Grade coffees are exclusive to Josuma. We ensure their superiority by employing several quality-control initiatives during processing.
First, we start with the very best raw material. We procure natural Arabica and Robusta beans for monsooning from large growers who would normally convert these beans to washed coffees. By paying a higher price than other importers, we receive fully ripe and uniform beans, while the growers earn a premium equivalent to the one they would have earned by selling washed coffees.
Paying fair prices is important. If we don't pay a premium for the best coffees these estates can offer, we will receive the inferior greens and yellows that estates segregate before the washing process each day, as well as the floats and lights (defects) that separate out during washing. We might also receive unripe beans from the previous round of picking.
In addition, we purchase these coffees as "whole crop cherries" and contract with specific monsooners to process our coffee. Rather than using Cherry-AB, the minimum grade required by the monsoon process specifications, our monsooners start the process with Cherry-A to make a truly Super Grade coffee.
Most natural Arabica and Robusta coffee in India comes from small farms that don't meet Josuma's quality standards. Because the farms can't afford costly labor, they cannot pick the coffee beans in several rounds, but rather must strip the bushes in one round and dry the ripe, overripe, and green cherries together. These same growers also typically don't have proper drying yards and are forced to dry their coffees on paved public roads or other ill-suited areas. As a result, when most monsooners buy 250-bag lots of coffee from the Indian trade, they invariably receive lower-grade coffee cobbled together from the work of several small farmers. The result is poor-quality monsooned coffee, no matter how efficient the monsooning process might be.
Aspinwall & Co. is the principal supplier of the monsooned coffees imported by Josuma. The royal family of Travancore owns Aspinwall, an old-line British company headquartered in Kochi, Kerala State. Among all the companies that monsoon coffees in India, Aspinwall has been involved the longest, and has the most actual monsooning experience from which to draw.
For additional information, see: this article |
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