India Sethuraman Estate Liberica

Sethuraman Estate, Chickmangalur, has been in Nishant Ramesh Gurjer’s family for 6 generations, and under his direct ownership for the last 20. His coffee is grown organically, which means going over and above what a certificate requires in his view, with coffee plants rowing under native shade, cover crops used to control weeds, and secondary crops grown as a continuation of what was already there.

More commonly associated with his prize winning robusta, his innovative and curious business does not stop there. Coffee in India has a long history, and some of that includes species that are not the typically seen. Coffea Liberica originated in the low lying areas of West Africa but predominantly now is found in Asian countries such as Malaysia and the Philippines. With its strong resistance to rust, it gained popularity as a replacement for arabica and robusta plants in outbreaks throughout the years, though of the three species has the lowest caffeine concentration.

Liberica is a large tree (used by people on the estate for fence poles), and has large leaves and cherries too. With a higher proportion of the fruit being fleshy, the drying times can be affected, as is the flavour of the coffee from additional fermentation.

This coffee is honey processed, so the flesh has a longer contact time with the cherry. Once the initial cleaning of harvested cherries is done, the pulping starts and removes the skin from the bean. Mucilage covered beans then go to raised beds where they are dried for around 1 week until 11% moisture is reached. Beans are then rested for a further 3 weeks in gunny bags before processing at the dry mill.