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to get higher weight (quantity) to make more mon- of roasting them at home and adding spices to it
ey. But with the decentralization, the focus on the continues. This results in a remarkably beautiful and
quality increased, as the buyers would demand bet- spicy coffee drink. This is just one of the many sto-
ter quality, better tasting coffees. ries that lies within our vast country filled with
During colonial rule, when coffee plantations hidden history gems.
were run by the Dutch or the British, coffee was
never an accessible product for most of the Indians. A New Age
Coffee was always something that was beyond the
reach of a common man/woman. They were only But speaking of specialty coffee, which is rela-
allowed to work at coffee plantations as laborers tively new to us, a lot is happening here, and one can
but could never afford coffee. This is what gave only imagine the positive future that lies in our
them the idea that coffee was always a premium coffee industry. There is a new wave of specialty
product, out of reach for a lay person. Hence the coffee education that is being spread. There are
popularity of the drink also took a real slow curve courses that our national coffee board conducts,
going upwards. there are seminars that take place in different loca-
Coffee itself has a dark history, and such was tions, but the information to such sources of educa-
the case in India as well. I remember meeting one tion doesn’t spread as much or as fast as needed to.
such small coffee grower who now owns a small This will take time and slowly and gradually it
coffee estate, and they hosted me while I was on my will spread to more people.
motorbike journey; they said they could never buy There are also some new-age coffee consultants
coffee when they worked at a coffee plantation un- that are present in the community who take pride
der British rule. Not just because it was expensive, and initiative in spreading the knowledge. In the
but they were not allowed to buy coffee. They used recent past, companies like Blue Tokai, have started
to collect the coffee waste from the plantation, like an initiative to specifically help new and small coffee
the broken green beans, the blacks and the defects, growers to get access to the new age coffee process-
Photo / Unakki Coffee Collective in Chikmaglur or the cherry skin (cascara as we know) and they ing methods and information. New coffee houses and
used to bring this waste product home and dry it in chains are opening around the country and are fo-
their backyard. cusing on specialty coffee and they will eventually
Once dried, they used to take this waste mate- need more specialty coffee.
Whereas the intermediaries and roasters and traders regarding the way coffees are processed or grown or rial and roast it at home in their kitchen with clar- With this collective growth we can expect more
are often in a state to avail such education, which creates traded, our country is still trying to play catch with ified butter. But since this was mainly coffee waste amazing coffees around the nation. Especially now,
power imbalance to dictate what and how the coffees other industry players. and discard, it never tasted like anything, so to make people are slowly becoming more accepting of coffees
should be processed. The knowledge dissemination that it palatable, they used to add spices like cinnamon, from origins that are not the typical ‘Single Origin’
happens in the country is availed via two different ways: Out of Reach black pepper and cloves into the roasted coffee waste nations, I am sure we will see more Indian coffees
1) From the Coffee Board of the country, which and grind them together, then brew it with hot wa- as single origins in various places around the world,
is run by the government and needs to follow a long A very important factor that needs to be kept ter. In the current day they can afford to buy coffee and people will realize that India does indeed pro-
chain of command. Compared to private organizations, in mind is the fact that Indian coffee was centralized or grow and use their own coffee, but the tradition duce some good coffee.
it takes a lot more time and efficiency to get the knowl- up until 1992, which meant that all the coffee that
edge disseminated. was being produced up until 1992 was technically a
2) The formal education, such as SCA courses, is property of the government. The farmer could only
mostly not available within the country and if they do it is sell the coffees to the governmental coffee board
super expensive for an average small growing planter. and there was no free trading that was allowed. It
On the other hand, Ganga, the Co-founder of was only post-1992 that coffee as a commodity be-
Coffee Mechanics in Bengaluru, says that there is a came decentralized, and coffee became free to trade.
great amount of research in coffee that is being A farmer could then sell his/her coffees to any- A very important factor that
conducted in the country, and we are home to some one, directly. Considering this fact, the growth has
amazing scientists who have dedicated their lives to been immense. Ajoy Thiapiah of Kerehaklu Estate needs to be kept in mind is the
coffee. This research needs to be an education ma- remembers that before coffee was decentralized, the fact that Indian coffee was
terial for more people in the value chain. A bigger focus was not much on the quality of coffee, but was
challenge also lies in the fact that when it comes to only on quantity, and there were instances when centralized up until 1992.
the pace at which the coffee industry is moving, farmers kept higher moisture in their green coffee

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