India – a sleeping giant discovers its thirst for coffee
India is a multi-sensory experience that no one can escape. There are so many smells, sounds, sights, tastes, colours and shapes that it cannot be compared to any other country. The same is true of coffee – coffee has been grown in India since ancient times.
Coffee reached the country as early as the 16th century, when Baba Budan, a Sufi saint, discovered and came to appreciate the benefits of coffee on a pilgrimage to Mecca. He decided to grow coffee in his homeland. According to legend, he smuggled seven coffee seeds from the port city of Mocha in Yemen to India, where he planted them in the Chandragiri Hills in the Kadur district of Mysore (now Karnataka state). At that time, coffee could only be exported from Yemen in roasted form or after the green beans had been doused with hot water. This is how the Yemenis protected their global coffee monopoly at the time.
The mountainous region where the first coffee plantations in India were established was later named Baba Budangiri in honour of the saint and remains one of India's most famous coffee-growing areas to this day. India, with its 1.3 billion people, is the sixth largest coffee producer in the world after Brazil (now also the world's largest coffee consumption market ahead of the USA and Germany!), Vietnam, Colombia, Indonesia and Ethiopia, producing around 6 million bags of coffee (60 kg) in 2015. India produces around 50 per cent Arabica and 50 per cent Canephora. A special feature are the varieties grown (S795, Kent, CxR, SLN274, Old Paradenia), which are found almost exclusively in India and thus have their own unique character. The 13 growing regions are located mainly in southern India in the states of Karnataka (Bababudangiris, Biligiris, Chikmagalur, Coorg, Manjarabad), Kerala (Travancore, Wayanad) and Tamil Nadu (Anamalais, Nilgiris, Pulneys, Sheveroys). Other growing areas are located in Andhra Pradesh (Araku Valley) and the northeastern states (Brahmaputra).
Another special feature of India is ‘monsoon coffee’. This is coffee that is ‘matured’ after harvesting on the Malabar coast, in the area around Mangalore, under high humidity conditions. During this process, the dry-processed coffee beans absorb moisture, increase in size, bleach and break down acids. This gives monsoon coffee a caramel-like flavour profile that is smoother than that of unripened coffee. The ripening process and the name are linked to the Malabar region on the coast and thus correspond to a DOC, as with champagne. One third of Indian coffee production now remains in the domestic market, while two thirds is available for export.
Coffee for domestic consumption is roasted to a medium to medium-dark degree, finely ground and mixed with chicory. Ground coffee in India contains an average of around 20–30 percent chicory, which gives it a distinctive, unique taste and intense colour. India is still a tea nation with an annual consumption of around 837,000 tonnes (according to the Indian Tea Association) or an average per capita consumption of 250 cups (by comparison, Ireland has a per capita consumption of around 1,000 cups). So there is still considerable growth potential here as prosperity increases. Coffee consumption in 2011 was around 115,000 tonnes, with 73 per cent of this consumed in cities and only 27 per cent in rural areas (in southern India). Instant coffee is consumed more in the north, west and east of India, while filter coffee dominates in the south, which is the country's largest coffee consumption market with a share of around 78 per cent (approx. 80,000 tonnes).
In 2015, the average per capita consumption of coffee in India was 110 g or 2 l (by comparison, Germany has a per capita consumption of approx. 7 kg or 150 l). The growth potential is therefore immense, and the Indian government is promoting all projects that encourage increased coffee consumption. Over the past ten years, coffee consumption in India has risen by around 40 percent. This trend will continue and even intensify. The largest growth market will be in eastern, northern and western India. Most consumers are now occasional coffee drinkers.
The biggest obstacles to growth currently lie in the existing assumption that coffee consumption poses health risks and in the handling of its preparation. Traditionally, the coffee is called ‘Indian filter kaapi’ or ‘Boondh Bisneeru’ (Kannada). Boiled and frothed milk is mixed with brewed filter coffee. This coffee is also known as ‘Mysore filter coffee’ or ‘Madras Kaapi’. The typical coffee, kapi or kaapi, is served with lots of sugar in stainless steel cups. Traditional South Indian filter coffee is brewed in a two-part metal cylinder, with a container at the bottom to hold the brewed coffee and an upper part with a fillable filter insert, similar to a Neapolitan pot or the Vietnamese preparation method. The chicory powder contained in the ground coffee makes the coffee stronger and deeper in flavour. This makes the coffee much stronger than Western European filter coffee and more comparable to an espresso. The coffee is drunk with 1–2 spoons of sugar and a cup of hot milk from the ‘dabarah’ or ‘Davarah’, a large metal bowl (similar to the saucers commonly used in Europe and Russia for a long time, from which people drank directly), into which the sweetened coffee mixture is poured to cool and mix.Until it reaches the optimal drinking temperature, the coffee is now poured between the narrower, taller metal cup and the wider, flatter dabarah.
A particularly impressive artistic form of this preparation is the ‘meter coffee’ or ‘coffee by the meter’, whose name derives from the way the drink is mixed and frothed, being poured back and forth between two larger metal vessels, with greatly exaggerated height and distance. Coffee is drunk at home in the south in the morning or at small roadside stands (‘kaapi bars’), where a coffee costs around five rupees (approx. 7 cents). The coffee is drunk standing up and space is immediately made for the next guest – a situation similar to that in traditional Italian coffee bars at the counter.
In a coffee shop, you pay around 80 rupees (approx. 1.05 euros) or more. This price barrier contributes to Western coffee culture spreading mainly among the upper middle class, thus becoming a status symbol. The first coffee house in India opened in Calcutta in 1780, followed by the Madras Coffee House and, in 1792, the Exchange Coffee House, which was modelled on Lloyd's of London, with numerous free Indian and European newspapers and billiard tables.Coffee shops play a key role in changing perceptions of coffee. Coffee is now also available without chicory additives and is served as espresso, cappuccino or caffè latte. This has had a significant impact on raising awareness of coffee and its variety of flavours in the country. With over 1,550 shops, Café Coffee Day (CCD) is the market leader in the coffee shop segment in India. The second largest player is Barista (Lavazza) with around 320 shops, while Costa Coffee has remained at around 100 branches for years. Starbucks (Tata Starbucks Ltd.) currently has around 50 outlets, mainly in Indian cities. Adapting to Indian taste preferences is and has been essential for all international groups.
#CoffeeCulture #CoffeeEnjoyment #CoffeeLovers #CoffeeBeans #CoffeeTradition #CoffeeWorld #CoffeeCulture #CoffeeLove #CoffeeInnovation #CoffeeStory #CoffeeJourney #CoffeeConnoisseurs #CoffeePreparation
Coffee reached the country as early as the 16th century, when Baba Budan, a Sufi saint, discovered and came to appreciate the benefits of coffee on a pilgrimage to Mecca. He decided to grow coffee in his homeland. According to legend, he smuggled seven coffee seeds from the port city of Mocha in Yemen to India, where he planted them in the Chandragiri Hills in the Kadur district of Mysore (now Karnataka state). At that time, coffee could only be exported from Yemen in roasted form or after the green beans had been doused with hot water. This is how the Yemenis protected their global coffee monopoly at the time.
The mountainous region where the first coffee plantations in India were established was later named Baba Budangiri in honour of the saint and remains one of India's most famous coffee-growing areas to this day. India, with its 1.3 billion people, is the sixth largest coffee producer in the world after Brazil (now also the world's largest coffee consumption market ahead of the USA and Germany!), Vietnam, Colombia, Indonesia and Ethiopia, producing around 6 million bags of coffee (60 kg) in 2015. India produces around 50 per cent Arabica and 50 per cent Canephora. A special feature are the varieties grown (S795, Kent, CxR, SLN274, Old Paradenia), which are found almost exclusively in India and thus have their own unique character. The 13 growing regions are located mainly in southern India in the states of Karnataka (Bababudangiris, Biligiris, Chikmagalur, Coorg, Manjarabad), Kerala (Travancore, Wayanad) and Tamil Nadu (Anamalais, Nilgiris, Pulneys, Sheveroys). Other growing areas are located in Andhra Pradesh (Araku Valley) and the northeastern states (Brahmaputra).
Another special feature of India is ‘monsoon coffee’. This is coffee that is ‘matured’ after harvesting on the Malabar coast, in the area around Mangalore, under high humidity conditions. During this process, the dry-processed coffee beans absorb moisture, increase in size, bleach and break down acids. This gives monsoon coffee a caramel-like flavour profile that is smoother than that of unripened coffee. The ripening process and the name are linked to the Malabar region on the coast and thus correspond to a DOC, as with champagne. One third of Indian coffee production now remains in the domestic market, while two thirds is available for export.
Coffee for domestic consumption is roasted to a medium to medium-dark degree, finely ground and mixed with chicory. Ground coffee in India contains an average of around 20–30 percent chicory, which gives it a distinctive, unique taste and intense colour. India is still a tea nation with an annual consumption of around 837,000 tonnes (according to the Indian Tea Association) or an average per capita consumption of 250 cups (by comparison, Ireland has a per capita consumption of around 1,000 cups). So there is still considerable growth potential here as prosperity increases. Coffee consumption in 2011 was around 115,000 tonnes, with 73 per cent of this consumed in cities and only 27 per cent in rural areas (in southern India). Instant coffee is consumed more in the north, west and east of India, while filter coffee dominates in the south, which is the country's largest coffee consumption market with a share of around 78 per cent (approx. 80,000 tonnes).
In 2015, the average per capita consumption of coffee in India was 110 g or 2 l (by comparison, Germany has a per capita consumption of approx. 7 kg or 150 l). The growth potential is therefore immense, and the Indian government is promoting all projects that encourage increased coffee consumption. Over the past ten years, coffee consumption in India has risen by around 40 percent. This trend will continue and even intensify. The largest growth market will be in eastern, northern and western India. Most consumers are now occasional coffee drinkers.
The biggest obstacles to growth currently lie in the existing assumption that coffee consumption poses health risks and in the handling of its preparation. Traditionally, the coffee is called ‘Indian filter kaapi’ or ‘Boondh Bisneeru’ (Kannada). Boiled and frothed milk is mixed with brewed filter coffee. This coffee is also known as ‘Mysore filter coffee’ or ‘Madras Kaapi’. The typical coffee, kapi or kaapi, is served with lots of sugar in stainless steel cups. Traditional South Indian filter coffee is brewed in a two-part metal cylinder, with a container at the bottom to hold the brewed coffee and an upper part with a fillable filter insert, similar to a Neapolitan pot or the Vietnamese preparation method. The chicory powder contained in the ground coffee makes the coffee stronger and deeper in flavour. This makes the coffee much stronger than Western European filter coffee and more comparable to an espresso. The coffee is drunk with 1–2 spoons of sugar and a cup of hot milk from the ‘dabarah’ or ‘Davarah’, a large metal bowl (similar to the saucers commonly used in Europe and Russia for a long time, from which people drank directly), into which the sweetened coffee mixture is poured to cool and mix.Until it reaches the optimal drinking temperature, the coffee is now poured between the narrower, taller metal cup and the wider, flatter dabarah.
A particularly impressive artistic form of this preparation is the ‘meter coffee’ or ‘coffee by the meter’, whose name derives from the way the drink is mixed and frothed, being poured back and forth between two larger metal vessels, with greatly exaggerated height and distance. Coffee is drunk at home in the south in the morning or at small roadside stands (‘kaapi bars’), where a coffee costs around five rupees (approx. 7 cents). The coffee is drunk standing up and space is immediately made for the next guest – a situation similar to that in traditional Italian coffee bars at the counter.
In a coffee shop, you pay around 80 rupees (approx. 1.05 euros) or more. This price barrier contributes to Western coffee culture spreading mainly among the upper middle class, thus becoming a status symbol. The first coffee house in India opened in Calcutta in 1780, followed by the Madras Coffee House and, in 1792, the Exchange Coffee House, which was modelled on Lloyd's of London, with numerous free Indian and European newspapers and billiard tables.Coffee shops play a key role in changing perceptions of coffee. Coffee is now also available without chicory additives and is served as espresso, cappuccino or caffè latte. This has had a significant impact on raising awareness of coffee and its variety of flavours in the country. With over 1,550 shops, Café Coffee Day (CCD) is the market leader in the coffee shop segment in India. The second largest player is Barista (Lavazza) with around 320 shops, while Costa Coffee has remained at around 100 branches for years. Starbucks (Tata Starbucks Ltd.) currently has around 50 outlets, mainly in Indian cities. Adapting to Indian taste preferences is and has been essential for all international groups.
#CoffeeCulture #CoffeeEnjoyment #CoffeeLovers #CoffeeBeans #CoffeeTradition #CoffeeWorld #CoffeeCulture #CoffeeLove #CoffeeInnovation #CoffeeStory #CoffeeJourney #CoffeeConnoisseurs #CoffeePreparation