India Peredinia Sethuraman Estate

The Royal Botanical Gardens in Peradeniya, Sri Lanka, were established by King Wickramabahu III in 1371 before being better developed in the latter half of the 1700’s by King Kirti Sri Rajasinhe. By the time the 1800’s came round, the British had arrived and expanded their colonial impact on the island where the future Governor of Ceylon Edward Barnes introduced coffee cultivation to the area that would later become the Royal Garden and botanical centre.

Old Robusta, as Peredinia is synonymously known, was introduced to India from the island of Ceylon in the early 19th century. The timing for growth of the varietal was perfect. With coffee being ripped up in Ceylon following the emergence of Hemileia vastatrix and the British further colonializing India in the coffee growing areas, robusta became the solution that didn’t involve growing tea, and Robusta from Ceylon took on a nomenclature already seen in Arabica, with a varietal being named after the place it was from.

Peredinya is picked at 22+ Brix, by hand, before entering a mechanical siphon where the dirt and any twigs, leaves etc are removed. Floaters are also taken out and the coffee then progresses to the pulper to remove the cherry from the mucilage. Cherries are then sent to enclosed fermentation tanks where they are constantly raked whilst undergoing a 24-36 fermentation. The coffee is then washed, and stored under water for 2 hours, washed by hand and then spread out on brick lined patios to dry. This takes a week, when the coffee is then moved in to IJIRA gunny bags (a food-grade double-warp jute bag)where it is stored for a minimum of 3 weeks to rest before going to the dry mill.