India | Baba Budan Giri Coffee

Seasonal Selection

Available for a limited time. Once this coffee is gone, it's gone.

ORIGIN | India, Karnataka
REGION | Baba Budan Giri, Western Ghats
PRODUCER | Ashok Patre – Pearl Mountain Estate
PROCESS | Washed
ELEVATION | 1,200–1,500 masl
TASTING NOTES | Chocolate • Dark Maple Syrup • Dried Strawberry

Pearl Mountain Estate (Ratnagiri) has been family-owned since 1920 and is recognized as one of India's premier coffee farms. Third-generation producer Ashok Patre combines careful farming with innovative processing, harvesting cherries only at peak ripeness to produce exceptionally clean, expressive coffees.

Managed with organic and biodynamic farming principles and shaded beneath towering silver oaks, the estate is also home to remarkable wildlife, from dozens of bird species to monkeys and even the occasional elephant. This washed lot offers a rich, syrupy cup with notes of chocolate, dark maple syrup, vanilla, and dried strawberry.

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History of Coffee in India  

If coffee was born in Ethiopia and grew up in Yemen, then it left home to make its own way in the world through India in the 17th Century, when the Sufi Saint Baba Budan, returning from a pilgrimage to Mecca, smuggled seven beans and planted them in hills of the Chikkamagaluru district, a hill region now known as Baba Budan Giri. Green coffee cultivation grew slowly in India and the first formal plantations were established by the British in 1840 in the same region where the first coffee was planted. 

Growing Coffee in India

Over the years, repeated battles with leaf rust and an emphasis on yield caused India to increase planting Robusta and prioritize shade growing conditions. Today, India grows more than twice as much Robusta as Arabica and nearly all coffee is grown under shade, much of it in forest conditions. Over 21% of India’s coffee is exported to Italy, where Robusta has long been a part of traditional espresso blends. Coffee plantations in India are home to abundant wildlife due to it's forest like conditions, including tigers and elephants. Compared to shade grown coffee in other parts of the world, coffee in India is grown in dense shade conditions, and almost intercropped with peppercorn, cardamom, areca nut, oranges, bananas, and other crops.