Newstrack

Lot's happening over coffee

Suman Tarafdar

A coffee picker earns a rupee and a half per hour for his or her labour. At eight hours a day, it would still not be a whole number of even my unsubstantial salary. Yet I offered to do time at the Thirthagundi estate, one of the hundreds of coffee estates in the breathtaking Malnad region of Karnataka.

A recent weekend trip to the Café Coffee Day (CCD)-owned plantation proved to be an eye opener in more ways than one. The 5 Senses Coffee Trail, a crash course in coffee appreciation -from its history to brewing it - was an educative and exhilarating experience, especially as the delightful Chikkamagaluru, or Chikmagalur weather complimented the stay. Incidentally, the town is on the periphery of the holiday map for the area, and CCD last year inaugurated what is arguably the resort destination in Karnataka, The Serai. But more on that elsewhere.

Coffee is said to have originated in Ethiopia in the ninth century when a Sufi monk discovered goats that consumed the coffee cherries were more energetic, says Dr Prakash Kenjige, head, Research and Development, CCD. Its fame and reputation spread and it remained a closely guarded secret of the Arab world till expanded trade and smuggling spread it to the rest of the world in the centuries where seafaring mercantilism was at its peak.

In India, it is said that another Sufi saint, Baba Budan smuggled seven beans in his belly button and planted them in Chikmagalur in the 17th century, and the district to date remains the centre of coffee plantations in the country. Baba Budan is still revered in the area for his service, only violent competing claims by some Hindus and Muslims have led to a ban on any visits to his shrine - a Babri Masjid-like situation in south India.

Coffee grows best in cool tropical climates. In India, south Karnataka and Kerala produce the bulk of India's 2,93,000 tonnes, the production for last year. Two major varieties are grown, Arabica and Robusta, though the former has greater value for exports. There are about 800 varieties in all though. And there are four crucial individuals in the journey from the plantation to your cup at a nearby café - the planter, roaster, blender and brewmaster. We would meet them all, we discovered.

Coffee, before the cup

The coffee plant requires about a year to grow from the seed, planted in nurseries. The saplings are then transferred in plantations, on average 1.8 hectares in India. The flowering season is in February, and the fruit takes about nine months to mature. While CCD, India's largest owner of estate area with about 8,000 acres, grows its own coffee, it also buys from other plantations, says Dr Kenjige.

Coffee plantations are not just about coffee, we soon discovered. The plantations are dominated by tapering silver oaks and arecanut trees, both which are pruned by specialists who, to do that, do not climb each tree individually, but swing from one tree to another. Just watching them to do at heights of about 15 to 20 feet makes one dizzy. The forests abound in orchids, growing high in the hills. We did not just stop to watch lush green peppers, but bit into them immediately. Hot, but oh so fresh.

The ripe red coffee cherries are best for picking - note that unlike tea, which comes from leaves - coffee comes from fruit, making processing that much more difficult, points out the coffee lobby, combating the much greater popularity of tea in India. The cherry has few takers, as it is sweet in an unpleasant way. Apart from the civet of course, whose droppings make for the most expensive coffee in the world, at about $10,000 for a mere cuppa! Madonna never travels without it, one is told!

After harvesting, the coffee berries are transported immediately and the beans extracted either by wet (pulping) or dry (sun drying) methods. When the moisture content is about 11.5 per cent - coffee experts know that by tasting, they are sent to the blender. Though CCD itself uses just one blend across its cafes, it makes 28 blends, many for sale outside the company. Next came the roasting machines - three storey high machines that purred and whizzed and hissed almost unceasingly. And there's a new one company. From there is was just a short step to packing, which involves special six-layered packs that let the heat escape but not the aroma, so that when you open the packet, you still smell fresh coffee. Don't ask me how.

Felix Daniel Mathew, manager, F&B, took us through the intricacies of brewing. We were meant to master the skill of not just making the perfect coffee, but also those beautiful hearts and flowers that top the cups! We may not have got that right, but between learning the right fruit to pick to the right grinding proportions, a cup of coffee no longer remained just that. It is a work of art!