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premium prices for their coffee if the farm meets
their standards.
India is not well known around the India fulfills this condition already but the coffee
world as a major coffee producer is rated at the same standard as elsewhere, something
that doesn’t help the producers. In fact, certification
and when talking about specialty would not make sense for Indian coffee plantations as
it is not cheap for farmers and is followed by a long
coffee, an Indian Single Origin is bureaucratic process. India produces some amazing
tasting coffees, but the coffee that gets exported is not
hardly mentioned. the same as the unique tasting coffees that are available
within the country. The quantity of what we know
today as specialty coffee is not much and is mostly
consumed within the country.

The Meaning of “Specialty”

India has a steep growing rate when it comes to
consuming specialty coffee. There is an increasing
trend of specialty coffee shops and chains opening
across the country. And many coffee producers in
India expect a premium in price when they sell what
they consider as specialty coffee, but this is where
things get tricky. Interestingly, “specialty means dif-
ferent things to different people.
Mr. Iyer, a small coffee farmer, described it to
The Indian Coffee Industry in Numbers Indian coffee is exported to a lot of countries, but me as coffee that has taken more work, labor, and
amongst the top 10 are — Italy, Germany, Belgium, money to produce and hence specialty coffee is ex-
India is the 7th largest coffee producer in the Russia, U.S.A., and in total India had exported coffees pensive coffee, regardless of the taste. Pranoy, who
world, and the 6th largest exporter of the world. I to 127 countries during the period of 2021-22. Chances is a 5th generation farmer says that specialty to him
guess most of you didn’t know that. But wait there’s are, a lot of people from these countries have drank is all about taking special care of the coffee from the
more, India also exports 70% of its production. And coffee from India, but without actually knowing it. Most planting till the time it is brewed, and he wishes to
even though that remaining 30% is what the country of the coffee that is sourced from India goes into blend- add as much care and value he can in selecting, pro-
consumes domestically, it makes India one of the ing, so the roaster down the road in Italy, would have cessing, drying and brewing the best quality beverage
highest coffee consuming — coffee producing coun- Indian Robusta in their espresso blend. he can.
tries. India comprises around 392,000 small-scale I would like to talk to you about a couple of par- On the other hand, for a roaster, specialty means
coffee growers, which makes up 99% of all the coffee ticularly major challenges for Indian coffee, amongst it is a coffee that has scored above 80 on a 100-point
producers. Coffee provides livelihood for about 1.5 the common big challenges that exist in the coffee scale. According to Siddharth of Gshot Coffee Roast-
million families. producing industry worldwide like climate change, ery in Goa, there is also a really small percentage of
According to a legend, coffee came to India in staffing shortages and volatile prices. The first challenge roasters, for whom specialty means knowing the bean
the 1600 A.D. by Baba Budan, a 16th-century Sufi and is the understanding of specialty coffee, and the second to cup journey of their coffee, and recognizing the
the first man to break the Arab coffee monopoly of is the return of investment and risk. Speciality coffee is amount of care that has gone into it.
the time. India is not well known around the world as a gray area; the term has no unanimous understanding While chatting to Praveena a friend and roast at
a major coffee producer and when talking about spe- worldwide, aside from the Speciality Coffee Associa- Dryft Coffee in Alabama, U.S.A., she explained that
cialty coffee, an Indian Single Origin is hardly men- tion’s (SCA) scoring guidelines. the price the roasters would pay for a large quantity
tioned. Places where Indian Coffee is known are either It all starts at the farm and the conditions in of “specialty coffee” from India is similar to what they
just for the washed Robusta or the Indian Monsoon which the coffee is grown. Most producing countries would pay for a specialty lot from let’s say Brazil or
Malabar, a special coffee processing method near the aspire to have a biodiversity-friendly environment Tanzania, but the challenge is when the expense of
seashore, where there is higher atmospheric humidi- and this is something that India has in abundance. freight and transport and duty is all added, Indian
ty. I believe that India as a coffee origin country can For a coffee farm in Brazil to achieve this environ- coffee tends to be a little expensive, if not as expen-
be a lot more than these two coffee types, both for mental condition, they usually try to obtain a certif- sive as the coffee from other well known coffee pro-
the local people and the ones abroad. icate from organizations that tell them they can get ducing countries.

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