From Bean to Cup: Chikkamagaluru
How far will you go for coffee—out of your bed to the bubbling moka pot in the kitchen, to your favourite café for that morning kick? The search for a perfect and flavourful start to the day sends some on an all-India road trip across the country’s top plantations.
An explosive lushness runs parallel to Karnataka’s smooth roads that cut through hill stations which took decades to reach the bucket lists of obsessive coffee drinkers. When Baba Budan planted the country’s first seven seeds in the 17th century, there was no knowing that centuries later, southern India would transform into a haven for a thriving beverage scene which would witness three distinct waves of coffee consumption.
Coffee-drinking has had a prolific history in the country. What started as colonial plantations, stirred up the interest of local communities who savoured strong concoctions with milk and sugar. Bolder, rougher and bitter coffees—mostly robusta—led the first wave of the consumption culture. As cafés started coming up in metropolises, roasters and pop culture pushed consumers to grumble about their morning brew. Demands for specific roasts, single-origin variants, particular flavour undertones and extraction processes kick-started the consumption of specialty coffee across India. But what is specialty coffee? How does one start to define it? How should you select a bean to your liking? India’s first coffee hub, Chikkamagaluru, answers.
All new Hyundai Tucson powers Suhas’ roadtrip as he zips through Chikkmagalur.
Dusty roads, trodden paths and sandy bits break the concrete highways into colourful segments. The post-monsoon foothills of the Western Ghats give way to tiny pockets of bliss dotted with paddy crops, fruit orchards, pepper trails and tall coniferous forests of peeping silver oak. The drive to the estates, however, remains seamless with Hyundai’s SmartSense ADAS, which has features such as Lane Keep Assist and Blind Spot Monitoring. Multi-terrain modes make it easy to cruise through challenging terrains.
Suhas’ enthusiasm for consuming the beverage in its finest form is ardent as he drives for four days, zipping from Bangalore to Salawara Estate in Belur, through Hulikere Estate in Muthodi forest, Ratnagiri and Halli Berri plantations in the Baba Budan Giri hills, concluding at Blue Mountain estate. What I learn later, is that plantations within the same district can often account for stark flavour differences.
Peaberry coffee is the sought-after varietal for South Indian filter coffee.
Dusty roads, trodden paths and sandy bits break the concrete highways into colourful segments. The post-monsoon foothills of the Western Ghats give way to tiny pockets of bliss dotted with paddy crops, fruit orchards, pepper trails and tall coniferous forests of peeping silver oak. The drive to the estates, however, remains seamless with Hyundai’s SmartSense ADAS, which has features such as Lane Keep Assist and Blind Spot Monitoring. Multi-terrain modes make it easy to cruise through challenging terrains.
Suhas’ enthusiasm for consuming the beverage in its finest form is ardent as he drives for four days, zipping from Bangalore to Salawara Estate in Belur, through Hulikere Estate in Muthodi forest, Ratnagiri and Halli Berri plantations in the Baba Budan Giri hills, concluding at Blue Mountain estate. What I learn later, is that plantations within the same district can often account for stark flavour differences.
Ratnagiri Estate, one of the most well-known hubs for specialty coffee, is perched at a height of 1,450 metres. With reportedly over 200 centimetres of annual rainfall, the estate produces complex-tasting beans whose profile is the stark opposite of Salawara’s robusta; the latter quickly ripen with merely 60 centimetres of rainfall, in the low-altitude flatlands at 850 metres. “The higher the region, the more complex the cup,” Suhas shares, adding that higher growing altitudes slows down the ripening of the cherries, allowing them to gather more aromas and flavours from the coffee tree. At the agriculture-forward estates of Halli Berri, heavily manicured estates featuring non-native trees and imported seed varietals thrive under modern irrigation techniques. On the other hand, Hulikere boasts eco-friendly practices, taking pride in housing endemic flora and fauna and seasoning the final produce through the process of ‘monsooning.’
The Blue Mountain Estate affords panoramic views of the coffee valley.
The answer to what adds so much difference to a cup goes beyond the basic three flavour determiners—minerals of the soil, endemic species cohabiting the plantation space and seed varietals. The final magic in the cup is a romantic story of how a seed transforms into flushing red cherries and yields glossy beans that are the stuff that coffee connoisseurs’ dreams are made of. A beverage so pure and fulfilling brews out of a process that took years to master. Plantation owners and farmers carefully select saplings that spend three to five years growing into bushes, fruiting cherries. After harvesting the fruit annually (usually between October and February), each plantation owner processes the golden-maroon drops differently. Natural processing includes sun-drying the cherries after cleaning them which yields the boldest body and aftertaste, while washed coffees that grant the high acidity and intense aroma, go through a pulper that removes the mucilage (skin and fruit) before a short period of drying. A blend of the two outcomes is the semi-wash or honey processing where only the skin is removed before the drying stage. The stage after processing and drying is hulling, where green beans are sent to a dry mill where the parchment and defects are removed and then for roasting, to mark the final stage for a magnificent metamorphosis.
“I’ve been driving the Hyundai TUCSON for four or five days and now I’m saving money to buy this car,” Suhas exclaims, while narrating his quest for a luscious cup of coffee. “But jokes aside, the vehicle performs way better than what I expected. Not all of the farms I’m tapping have good access by roads. I was surprised to see what the car can do off the road or on tough terrain.”
Traversing routes and flipping maps has been just as demanding as identifying the most memorable brews across Chikkamagaluru. But armed with all-wheel drive and a 10-way power adjustable seat, Suhas continues on the road, parking at a specialty coffee house. On the final leg of his journey, he hails his best finds. These include a bold, high-intensity cuppa brewed through a Japanese cold drip method and two cups of brown elixir that were later prepped for a blind tasting. “Floral, mild, super fruity with two kinds of coffee—washed and natural arabica,” he recalls the first cup. “The second one is packed with 30 per cent robusta and 70 per cent washed arabica, giving it an intense profile with a strong caffeine finish”.
Each sip reveals a long history and workmanship behind the beverage. Chikkamagaluru’s flavours, as discovered, create a spectrum of their own while maintaining chocolatey, caramel notes. But despite holding on to a bag of beans in his possession, the obsession to uncover more about the tiny bean keeps him determined to drive on.
Suhas ends his quest for coffee with two luscious blends. Photos by: Siddharth Kejriwal
By Muskaan Gupta
