Introducing 2 fantastic Indian coffees
To explain how exciting is to finally share with you 2 new coffees from India we decided to ask a few question to the producer himself Akshay Dashrath of Mooleh Manay Estate.
The farm is located at 1000masl in the Karnataka region and last year we had the pleasure to work with their Excelsa for our Italian Barista Championship.
After discovering this farm and their scientific approach we wanted to continue exploring Excelsa as well as the other coffees they produce there, so this year we selected again Excelsa (that in our opinion has so much improved!) and an amazing Arabica varietal called Chandragiri.
So here below some questions to better understand these coffees and the amazing work Akshay and Komal do at Mooleh Manay and South India Coffee co.
EXCELSA
Matteo: “We are so happy to have Excelsa back this year and to continue working with you! We are also noticing this year's lot is sweeter and cleaner and improved overall, so first of all congratulations on your work.
Can you tell us why we should call this coffee Excelsa and not Liberica?”
Akshay: “Thank you very much! The species we have on the farm have been DNA using markers and is classified as Excelsa, the origin of our plant material can be traced back to South Sudan form the early 1900s.”
M: “Why did you choose to apply a black honey processing?”
A: “Our ancestral farm traditionally processed our excelsa as washed, however at Mooleh Manay we wanted to reduce on our water consumption so we either had Naturals or Honey as an option, we do Naturals so we wanted a version of our Excelsas that were a little less fruity and we went down the Honey route., the excelsa bean on its own is very fruity. Excelsa mucilage is dense and we can push the fermentation, with the Black Honeys we were able to bring out a degree of balance to the cup.”
M: “Can you share 2 exciting things about Excelsa that people might not be aware of?”
A: “Sure thing,
- Our Excelsa has a caffeine content of 0.9-0.98% which is lower than most arabica.
- Excelsa are not just climate resistant, they're drought resistant and low intervention. The rooting system is deep (a deep tap root) and this coupled with thicker leaves which have lower transpiration losses makes it ideal for drought prone areas or areas with unpredictable climatic conditions.”
M: “In the long term do you think production of Excelsa can grow, improve even more in quality and maybe take over Arabica and Robusta?”
A: “Arabica has had over 150 years of observation and research, Robusta over a hundred, we've barely scratched the surface of any alternate species of coffee, so yes there is ample scope for improvement in yield and quality. We ourselves have started identifying plants that are cupping naturally better, imagine what happens when this happens on a global scale. I don't think we should look at taking over Arabica or Robusta, however we should be looking at alternatives and species that are best suited to a region or climate. From our current understanding, for example, Excelsa is maybe better suited to regions or growers who prefer lower intervention and want to be frugal with resources. Robusta is probably better in regions with limited shade cover and ample water resources.”
CHANDRAGIRI
M: “What is the name of this Arabica variety and why is so interesting from a genetic point of view?”
A: “We have a mixture of Chandragiri (Satchimor) and SLN 6 which is Cross between Kent (Typica) and Robusta S274, which is a selected variety of the Robusta type Peredinia. What makes Chandragiri and SLN6 interesting is that its resistance to leaf rust, leaf rust in-itself has several variations, and robusta genetics offers resistance to some variations while liberica to others. Therefore, both SLN6 and Chandragiri are leaf rust resistant varieties. Because of our heavily shaded and moist conditions, India suffers from relatively high susceptibility to rust (which is fungal) which thrives in moist conditions. What's quite interesting from our experience and this, as far as I know isn't backed by structured research, is that Chandragiri does well in our terroir, especially for Naturals. The fruit is large with a lot of mucilage and if harvested at the right time has comparatively high brix on average. The SLN6 has a brightness that is quite interesting and both together seem to be largely complementary.”
M: “We found this coffee to be very sweet and with a great mouthfeel, also we didn't expect to find also a lovely citric acidity that usually you don't find in Arabicas from India. Is the secret your processing?”
A: “I'd like to say that maybe you haven't been trying the right Indian coffees :). But in all seriousness, this year's arabica naturals of ours has taken a bit more of a hands off approach, so what you taste is mainly the terroir, the agricultural practices, the varietal and lastly, the post-harvest processing. We've had Indian coffees that are even brighter than this. Remember, altitude isn't the only factor influencing the acidity and complexity in the cup. Altitude also needs to be taken in conjunction with latitude. Indian coffee may not have the extreme terroir that a lot of other coffee growing nations have, however what we do have is coffee grown in soils with higher organic content than most, arabica is grown largely under shade which is usually over 50% and in its grown in an agroforestry setting, all of these factors play a part. If the coffees are processed with a little attention to detail, we do come across some very nice cups.”
M: “Compared to Excelsa from a grower perspective which coffee is for you more sustainable?”
A: “From the little information we have available, at the moment I personally believe, Excelsa is going to be the most sustainable coffee for us, from an economic and environmental perspective. We rarely see Excelsa plants struggling during summer, we rarely provide any inputs to the plants and they're absolutely healthy and producing. The biggest drawbacks at the moment with Excelsa is that harvesting it is painful (the trees go up to 15-20 mtrs), it takes a long time to yield as its slow growing and the amount of fruit you need to harvest for a KG of green coffee is much higher than arabica or robusta. If not Excelsa I think we need to explore Stenophylla a bit more and from the little information that we have available, racemosa seems to show promise as a sustainable species based on its rooting behaviour. All we need to do as consumers is open our minds to coffees that taste a little different to what we are used to.”
M: “Thank you. I think your coffees are super exciting and challenge the expectations of how Indian coffees should taste like, it's a pleasure to work with you and we can't wait to hear more about your researches and progress! See you soon.”
A: “Thank you very much! We love working with you too and with what you've done with our coffees. Can't wait to show you what we've been up to when you get here later in the year.”
