Ratnagiri Estate • India

This is our fourth year offering coffee from producers Ashok and Divya Patre of Ratnagiri Estate in India via Osito Coffee. 

The Patre family has stewarded their land for nearly a century and have become widely known in the coffee industry for their precise attention to detail and a very strong focus on coffee innovation. Over the course of the last half-decade, Indian specialty coffee has become exponentially more popular for roasters in the western hemisphere. This is in a large part due to a greater focus from coffee importers and exporters on bringing India’s coffees to US and European markets, as well as farms like Ratnagiri growing and processing exceptional coffees.

This offering is an anaerobic washed Catuaí. The coffee was initially fermented (in cherry) for 46 hours, after which it was depulped and fermented again with a microbe-enriched mosto (a naturally occurring byproduct of fermenting coffee cherries) for 32 hours. The coffee is then rinsed and slowly dried in mechanical dryers for 37 hours.

Coffee Leaf Rust (CLR) is a disease that affects coffee production worldwide, leading to large portions of farms’ yields being wiped out. Luckily for coffee producers (and for you, reader!), there are a myriad of efforts that can decrease the likelihood of CLR interfering with production: these include varietal resistances and farmers’ varietal selections based on region, shade cover, tree pruning, and fungicides. Currently, there are over 50 known races of coffee leaf rust - India is affected by the majority of these races (which is not the case for most producing countries). Thankfully, there are companies/organizations that work to create new varietals; many with the goal of finding more resilient, higher yielding, and higher quality varieties. One such company is Central Coffee Research Institute (CCRI), who is responsible for making a series of coffee varieties (called ‘Selections’) that are incredibly common throughout India for their incredibly high resistance to CLR and good cup quality. Selection 9, in particular, is considered the “prized jewel of Karnataka”, and is a variety that Commonplace routinely looks for when purchasing Indian coffees.

Though we’ve just shared a lot of information about India’s borderline necessity for special varieties that combat the country’s oftentimes challenging growing environment, this coffee is a unique exception. Like we previously mentioned, this offering is a Catuaí, and this variety is wildly susceptible to CLR, Coffee Berry Disease, and nematodes (a microscopic roundworm that can lead to plant death). With all of this in mind, why would Ratnagiri Estate choose to grow such a risky varietal in India? Put simply, this coffee is a clear and impressive demonstration or their immense expertise in coffee cultivation, production and farm management! 

We selected this coffee to continue highlighting Ashok and Divya Patre’s outstanding work at Ratnagiri Estate. This coffee has a rich, earthy sweetness akin to browned butter and miso paste, a mellow acidity similar to that of a pear, a silky and full mouthfeel, and notes of black tea, sugar cane, and candied nuts.