India Yelnoorkhan Estate

This is a shade grown estate coffee grown 4000 feet up on the Bababudangiri Mountain Range in Karnataka, Southern India. The two varietals of coffee grown on this estate are Cauvery (common in India but rarely grown elsewhere) and S-795 which was developed in India but is the primary varietal grown in Sulawesi and fairly common on the other Indonesian islands. This coffee does have a spicy finish much like you would expect from a Sulawesi bean.

India is an underrated coffee. It is in close proximity to Yemen and Africa, both of which command much higher prices for their coffees. Indian coffee has a clean, creamy, nutty taste that you would think would give it more credit in the coffee world, and often you find spicy notes in darker roasts. This one has a subtle spiciness to it, and the aroma reminds me of nutmeg, the initial taste of hazelnuts and that factor where as soon as you've finish your mug you are looking forward to the next time that you get to brew it again. It’s not an earthy-tasting coffee, and it has a creamy and sweet grain-like quality to it in light to medium roasts. A friend remarked it reminded her of a combination of Chai tea and coffee. What else would you expect from India? They grow coffee alongside their spices.

Sometimes I let it out right before the second cracks where I get a sweet nutty note, but usually I give it 30 seconds of 2nd cracks and pull it out as a dark roast which is the the best way to taste the spicy flavors. Think clove and cinnamon and a little black peppercorn paired with the bold coffee taste and a little nutmeg and hazelnut. All in all, it is a versatile and forgiving bean to roast as you can enjoy it at a variety of roast levels.

At a medium to dark roast, you can also appreciate this coffee as an espresso. The flavors are enchanced and the crema it produces is quite nice. Slight bitterness if you go overboard on the roast level.

It's really great to have an India in stock again -- I've missed this coffee. It arrived in the US in June 2016.