India Mangalore Monsoon Malabar

Cupping Notes

Indian Monsooned coffee is an unparalleled experience, renowned for its robust body, intense roast flavors, and remarkably low acidity. These distinctive attributes make it a bold and intense profile, more bitter than sweet, with mere hints of caramel brooding beneath deep tones. The cup unveils pungent notes of bitter cocoa, unsweetened baker's chocolate, spices, and earthy accents, all enveloped in a smoky aroma. As the cup cools, intriguing flavors of roasted corn and earthy raw and roasted cacao nibs emerge.

Monsooned coffee stands apart from conventional cupping standards. To reflect its unique character and comparative excellence among Monsooned coffees, we've adjusted the cupping score to 85 points with a "cupper's correction." It’s exotic flavor profile is indeed an acquired taste.

Farm Notes

Monsooned coffees undergo a unique maturation process in specialized warehouses, where they are exposed to the humid monsoon winds of Southern India. As the monsoon season arrives, the sides of these structures are opened, allowing the moist winds to circulate around the coffee beans, causing them to swell and develop a mellow yet assertive flavor. This Monsooned Malabar is meticulously sourced from several farms in Southern India and processed in Mangalore between Karnataka and Kerala on the Malabar Coast. Typically, the coffee is naturally processed before being spread on the floor of the monsooning warehouse, where it is raked and turned by hand to absorb the moisture of the humid winds. The monsooning process spans 12 to 16 months, during which the beans swell to twice their original size and adopt a pale golden hue. Following this, the beans undergo additional rounds of hand sorting to remove any that did not expand properly, preparing the coffee for export.

This process results in an extremely pungent cup, marked by a unique combination of burnt-bittering flavors, a caramel finish, and potent earthy undertones. It defies the expectations of those who prefer a "clean" or sweet cup, presenting a flavor profile that is traditionally considered defective yet undeniably intriguing and unique.

While it doesn't conform to conventional standards of good coffee, Monsooned Malabar holds its own as a unique flavor experience. Even when brewed as a drip or infusion, the coffee mellows after two days, achieving a more balanced flavor—underscoring the importance of resting for optimal results. We take pride in sourcing the highest quality beans, and this lot is one of the cleanest we have seen in a long time.

Process: Monsooned

Varietals: S795, Kent

Score: 85

Grade: AAA