Making coffee work for rural India

Indian coffee has been on our wish list for a very long time because of an incredible mix of properties we saw at some estates: advanced processing knowledge, a history of developing not only specialty arabica but robusta as well - combined with high ethics and business efficiency. You find yourself wondering how this country is not top of mind for more coffee roasters out there.

We admire our partners Komal and Akshay’s resolve to make coffee a viable way of living for themselves and the region. After their time in the UK, Komal and Akshay came back to Akshay’s family farm in India to restore it and seek alliances with a wide range of very diverse growers in the region. "We were not only looking for partners," says Komal "we were looking for passionate coffee growers that understand the complexities involved in this trade." With low prices and people leaving farms to work in cities, their proposition has to be based on higher prices and innovations: both technological as in terms of (regenerative) agriculture). Through hard work and a firm resolve they are proving that through coffee, a better future is possible for the people in their region and for the environment.

These are the estates Komal and Akshay brought together for the 2024 season.

More than anything, Komal and Akshay work with like-minded individuals whose produce they are proud to promote internationally.
Their goal is to help their partners achieve consistent prices year on year, so they can invest back in the fields.

acres: 75
trees: 50.000
workers: 7
seasonal workers: 40-74

(70% women)

acres: 170
trees: 127.500
workers: 8
seasonal workers:

(60% women)

acres: 52 (42 cultivated)
trees: 28.000
workers: 23
seasonal workers: 12

(75% women)

acres: 1-8 acres per farmer
farmer families: 8
trees: 7.000
workers:

community and SICC workers

acres: 44
trees: 2.520.000
workers: 30

acres: 240
trees: 80.000
workers: 20
seasonal workers: 60

acres: 170
trees: 127.500

acres: 105
trees: 46.200
workers: 32

THIS SIDE UP VALUE CHAIN

Venkids, Craigmore and Kanbile, like many estates, have their own wet milling and drying capacity, and our parter SICC (also estate owners) grade, mill and export this coffee. Srilangalli is community coffee, so many of the growers do not have their own drying yards- SICC processes and dries their coffees.

Traceability

You can find all the signed contracts and shipping documents that we made with South India Coffee Company since 2022 below (Google Drive).

contracts and shipping docs SICC

Key Achievements

2020 : Met Komal and Akshay via Instagram, at the very start of the pandemic after Lennart’s return from Chikmagalur. First import late in the season to account for our need for more specialty robusta.

2021 :.import of Venkids Valley and some small lots from Mooleh Manay. SICC are redefining what the European market can do with high quality robusta, and talks start about importing high quality arabica and excelsa.

2022 : Massively updated and expanded portfolio, including single farmer and community lots. People are astounded by the arabica’s produced by SICC’s partners, Craigmore is used in the Dutch Brewer’s Cup.

2023: Five new producers join our project through SICC. This means widening our vision and shared purpose with like-minded individuals who are already doing so much to fight global warming, increase farmers' livelihoods, and offer great coffee to the world. South India Coffee Company is becoming a pioneer in sustainable technology, standing at the forefront of soil analysis, installing a huge solar irrigation system, a bee project, and an ambitious economic viability program with profitability per acre compared to profitability per crop.

Our QC’s Impressions

India is diverse! Still somewhat of a “terra nova” on the specialty map, this country produces very special coffees. Indian arabicas tend to have bold flavours. Where the honeys are more delicate and floral with notes of berries and tropical fruits, the anaerobics tend to have pronounced concord grape and watermelon flavours. We noticed that the average washed Indian profile has a hard time finding its fans, but you can expect a good caramel sweetness, notes of black tea, cinnamon and stone fruits with a creamy mouthfeel.

The flavours and texture of excelsa are like eating creamy vanilla ice cream with almost overwhelming liquorice sweetness, some notes of papaya and raspberry and caramel aftertaste.

What stands out in our Indian specialty robustas is its cleanness. Sweet, chocolaty with warm spices, very full body and some hints of stone fruits if you roast it light.

Renata Hardewijn, July 2024

Mooleh Manay Natural Yeast Fermented (2024)

Roasting Advice

None of the Indian varieties seem to be easy to roast at first…This origin definitely needs some time and attention from a roaster to find the way to tame it. As a rule of thumb stretching “yellow” or Maillard phase will help a lot in bringing up both sugars and acidity (in arabicas) in these coffees. For excelsa, keeping your development time around 16% lets you not being fooled by its light colour and thus develop it fully.
At the moment we use a few profiles for different varieties and processes: Natural, Honey, Washed Asia, Robusta and Excelsa. You can use them freely, however pay attention to the Excelsa profile as it’s meant to be manual, so you will need to mark the first crack and press the drop button at 15-16% DT.

our ikawa profiles

Komal and Akshay Dashrath

Komal and Akshay are very keen to meet roasters and all lovers of their coffee and regularly feature them on their beautiful instagram channel. Get in touch with Komal for any inquiries about any of the estates and communities they work with.

Email: komal@sicc.coffee
Phone: +91 99701 98003

Nakur Shirangala, Coorg, Karnataka, India

reviving coffee with data and other species

Mooleh Manay Estate is managed by Komal and Akshay, taken over from 4th generation coffee planter, Ms. G.G. Padmashree. Mooleh Manay estate is located near the beautiful backwaters of the Harangi Reservoir in Coorg, Karnataka. The producers take a data-driven approach to farming and coffee processing, believing that data is essential for optimizing agricultural practices and ensuring the highest quality coffee production. The farm uses meticulous processing methods and is not afraid to experiment to bring out the best the coffee has to offer.

Excitingly, they are becoming known for their species innovation: by rediscovering native species, introducing other lesser known species and grafting different species onto each other, this farm has a very unique and important role in making coffee climate resilient - for themselves, their community and possibly the world.

Excelsa beans are smaller and rounder than their more common counterparts. Local growers often group Excelsa with Liberica under the name "Mara Kaapi," meaning "Tree Coffee" in the local language. This overlooks the subtle differences between the two species.
Traditionally, coffee farms in India planted Excelsa trees along their borders. These trees served a dual purpose: marking the farm's boundaries and providing an additional source of income. However, many farms have removed Excelsa in recent years due to the challenges of harvesting and its susceptibility to berry borer if left unpicked.
SICC, however, see the potential of Excelsa for specialty coffee drinkers. With over 130 Coffea species the focus has primarily been on Arabica and Robusta. Excelsa offers a unique opportunity to explore a new species and new flavour profile.
Notably, Akshay's grandfather-in-law recognized these distinctions and always distinguished Excelsa for its characteristically fruity notes. Interestingly, even when prepared with milk, our traditionally washed (unfermented) Excelsa coffees retain their vibrant fruitiness. We have tested the Excelsa for its caffeine content which is 0.7% - 0.98% which is lower caffeine than Arabica. The most notable difference between Excelsa and the other 2 species is the harvesting. Harvesting Excelsa one needs to climb the tree with the help of a ladder and harvest the fruit from the branches. The sheer size of the tree makes it a challenge to harvest. The information about Excelsa or Liberica remains scarce and it does require further investigation. SICC are actively engaged in research to bridge this knowledge gap and document their own findings.

CULTIVARS

arabica - Chandragiri,
robusta - CxR and Old Peradeniya and
Excelsa

elevation

900 - 1200 meters

NOTABLE

Most farms across Coorg have been growing Excelsa across the boundaries of the farms. This year the Excelsa community naturals were sourced from 4 different farms across Coorg,that included the Srirangalli community.

Available lots:

Ripe coffee cherries are hand picked and floated in water to remove floats. Coffee cherries are dried on raised beds for 60 hours. The coffee is then added sealed tanks for a controlled, anaerobic fermentation for 48 hours where a custom yeast culture is introduced to the coffee.
After fermentation, the coffee is transferred to a polyhouse and spread on raised drying beds, raked frequently throughout the drying process until the coffee reaches a specific moisture level. It is then bagged and stored for 2 months before further processing.
See our Tastify cupping report (2024)
Ripe cherries are hand picked and floats are removed. Coffee is dried on patio for 15-20 days and is raked frequently to ensure even drying throughout the beans. The drying process is continued until until the coffee reaches a specific moisture level. It is then bagged and stored for 2 months before further processing.
Excelsa coffee cherries are harvested by climbing on the tree with ladders. Floats and unripe are removed and cherries are placed in sealed tank for 84 hours. Following fermentation, the cherries are transferred to a polyhouse for drying and raked frequently to ensure consistent moisture loss throughout until desired level is reached. It is then bagged and stored for 2 months before further processing.
Cherries are placed in a sealed tanks with a custom yeast culture for 84 hours. Following fermentation, the cherries are transferred to a polyhouse for drying and and raked frequently to ensure consistent moisture loss throughout until desired level is reached. It is then bagged and stored for 2 months before further processing.
Ripe coffee cherries are hand picked by climbing on ladders and using flotation lower density coffee is removed. The cherries undergo a drying period around 3 days on raised beds to remove moisture before fermentation. The partially dried cherries then placed in sealed tanks for a controlled fermentation process. They are inoculated with Saccharomyces Cerevisiae Yeast. Ripe coffee cherries are hand picked and floats are removed.
Picking only the ripe fruit and removing all the greens. The cherries are then moved to the patios where it is regularly raked and ensures even drying. In the evenings the coffee is covered and opened up in the morning, protecting it from morning mist and unexpected rainfall.

The price you pay for Mooleh Manay estate's coffee p/kg. We agreed on this price directly with the farmers, disregarding the volatile US Coffee C price.
Here farmgate refers to price paid per kg of green coffee to the farmer by South India Coffee company and in this case constitutes 56% of the total price. Mooleh Manay is the estate owned by the founders of South India Coffee Company - Komal and Akshay. The costs are expected to cover all the production and processing expenses to produce 1 kg of green coffee with specialty standards.
This includes the exporting cost, SICC margin for their services and CIF costs including customs, insurance and freight. The above costs is for Mooleh Manay Natural Arabica. The costs for other Mooleh Manay coffees are as follows :
Mooleh Manay Estate Natural Robusta : € 0.96
Mooleh Manay Community Lot Natural Excelsa : € 2,16
Mooleh Manay estate lot - 84 hours yeast inoculated natural excelsa : € 2,16
Mooleh Manay estate lot - anaerobic natural excelsa : € 2,16
Mooleh Manay estate lot - natural yeast ferment robusta :€0,74
International shipping from Kattupalli, Chennai to Rotterdam, Netherlands. It is exclusive of freight, customs and insurance.
Average financing cost owed to (mostly social) lenders. This ensures immediate payment to the farmers when the coffee leaves the farm or port.
A standard TSU premium on all coffees designated exclusively to accelerate farmers’ own regenerative agriculture project. A suitable regenerative project for the SICC network is currently being planned. Read more about the other regenerative projects done by TSU partners here.
This Side Up compensation for spending time and resources importing this coffee. Our work includes year-round contact with producers, managing export, shipping, import, warehousing, grading, sampling, finding and keeping roasting partners for Mooleh Manay. € 1,65 is This Side Up’s Model 1 markup. For a full overview of our modular margin construction, see the Trade Models page

Photo gallery

You may use these images freely to promote Mooleh Manay’s coffee amongst your customers.

where innovation and regeneration meet

Pavan and Shilpa are both third generation coffee growers with their roots coorg, India. Pavan learnt all that he needed from his father about traditional production and farm practices. Shilpa who was born and brought up in Bangalore studied business and English literature. She is also a Bharatnatyam dancer who has many accolades to her name. At Venkids valley estate, she handles management and marketing of their brand: Papakuchi Coffee.

They grow both arabica and robusta which are planted in blocks based on their varietals. This planning facilitates traceability. Pavan's team at the farm bring this alive through their hard work and dedication to support his vision in great detail. Located at Kandankolli village in Coorg, Venkids Valley estate spans over 170 acres coffee is intercropped with avocado, sapota, mangosteen, bitter lime, garcinia, oranges and mangoes. Innovation is at the heart of his operations. Reduced water use, organic manure, mechanical drying etc are some of the important initiatives at Venkids Valley estate.

Pavan, Shilpa and their two kids and two dogs (one of whom is Zorro who is a gentle hunk!) live in Venkids Valley.