The new Indian espresso: Can specialty coffee remake a chai nation’s palate?

WHEN MANOJ KUMAR, CEO, Naandi Foundation (which owns specialty coffee brand Araku Coffee), met coffee experts in France and Italy 15 years ago with the claim that his coffee was among the best in the world, all he got was a deaf ear. How can a country, which has been, for centuries, exporting to the world mass grade robusta beans (which typically goes into instant coffee) even dare to call its coffee specialty, was the vibe. After all, specialty coffee was all about fine arabica beans, processed and roasted in small batches with unique flavour notes. It was sold at a 40-50% premium world over.

Kumar’s claim that he produced the highest-quality arabica coffee, that too in the lesser-known Araku Valley in Andhra Pradesh, sounded outlandish to coffee aficionados. But he was obsessed about his coffee and wouldn’t give up — after a few meetings, he managed to convince roasters and green coffee bean buyers to visit Araku and see how they grew their coffee.