Monsooned coffee from Malabar, India

£5.00 - £20.00

Back in the day when sailing ships were cutting edge technology, the green beans were on the ship for many weeks. During this time they were exposed to high humidity which affected both their flavour and colour. By the time the beans arrived in Europe they were no longer green, but pale yellow.

Customers became so used to the modified taste of the beans that when steamships shortened the journey time, reducing the ‘monsooning’ effect of the journey, the monsooning effect had to be artificially induced.

Today the beans are ‘monsooned’ by spreading them to a depth of 12-20cm in open sided buildings and left for 5 days during the monsoon season. The beans are raked during this time to ensure all the beans are exposed to the elements. They are then loosely packed into bags and stacked so that the monsoon winds can blow over the sacks. The sacks are re-stacked every week for seven weeks, after which time they have changed in colour and flavour. Finally the beans are sorted to remove any beans that have not been effectively ‘monsooned’.

As you may already know, the monsooning process mellows the coffee. As a result it produces a fine single origin espresso.

Our experience of roasting this coffee suggests there is a very fine line between under and over roasting this coffee; it is very intolerant of sloppy roasting. Roasted correctly, we detect notes of hazelnut.

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