India Arabidecool Estate

This is a shade grown estate coffee grown 4000 feet up on the Baba Budangiri Mountain Range in Chikmagalur, Southern India. The two varietals of coffee grown on this estate are Kent (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. In a dark roast, it tastes almost exactly like a clean, well sorted, spiced Sumatra or Sulawesi.

India is an underrated coffee. It is in close geographic 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 definite spiciness to it. It’s not an earthy-tasting coffee, and it has a creamy and sweet grain-like quality to it in light to medium roasts. It reminds me 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 15 seconds of 2nd cracks and pull it out as a medium-dark roast which is 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 peanut. 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 enhanced and the crema it produces is quite nice. Slight bitterness if you go overboard on the roast level.

US Arrival in August 2023