Madikeri: Coorg coffee has its own place in the coffee map and now the coffee from Coorg will find a place in the racks of America’s retail giant coffee store Starbucks Cafes all over United States of America.
At present the district has more than 30 percent share in India’s annual coffee production with 3.30 lakh tonnes. The district annually produces 1.05 lakh tonnes of Robusta and 18,500 tonnes of Arabica.
It is said that Arabica is tastier than Robusta and with the demand the cost too of the prior is 30 to 40 per cent higher than the Robusta. Somwarpet taluk alone produces 18,000 tonnes of Arabica annually making it the largest coffee producing taluk in the country.
Later this year an Indian single origin coffee grown in Karnatakas Kodagu district will be shipped some 14000 kilometers away to starbucks reserve roaster and tasting room in Seattle. The coffee will be roasted and served to 15000 square feet store that has been described as a mini Disney land for starbucks fans.
Nallure estate located 3000 feet above sea level is the largest Arabica plantation owned by TATA coffee limited, starbucks joint venture partner in India. Nallure estate has area of 394 hectare and produces over 500 tonnes of Arabica coffee every year, some of which is bought by Italian coffee roasting company ‘Illy’.
The small lot coffee from Tatas Nallure estate will be made available at the starbucks reserve roastry and tasting room, a premier destination for coffee connoisseurs in Seattle. The company plans to follow this up by increasing its coffee roasting capacity for supplying its stores here and other markets of the world.
A senior officer of Tata coffee told newskarnataka.com that coffees are selectively handpicked at the right stage and they undergo processing in the traditional way involving fermentation, aqua washing and sun drying.
Maximum attention is paid during the post harvest operations to preserve the inherent quality. Eventually, these coffees are subjected to further processing in the company’s ISO-9000 certified curing house that possesses state of the art machinery. The feedback received from the well-qualified and experienced personnel of the in-house quality control lab helps in continuous improvement and positively influences the final cup.
Arabica being one of the oldest coffee variety was seen as a slow yielding variety and in many parts of Kodagu and Chikkamagluru- the coffee land of Karnataka, the planters were removing the plants and were reseeding it with faster varieties, but with the linkage to US Coffee major Starbucks opening up, the planters are now inclined towards retaining them.