Bababudangiris.

At a glance

The Chandragiri hills in the centre of Chikmagalur district. Coffee in India is said to have started on these slopes, and Bababudangiris Arabica carries a GI tag.¹²

Coffee grows at

1,000–1,500 m¹

Rainfall

1,750–2,200 mm¹

Coffee, mainly arabica

15,000 ha10,500 t a year¹

GI tag

Bababudangiris Arabicasince 2019²

How it grows

• All Indian coffee grows under shade, here under evergreen leguminous trees, in the biodiversity hotspots of the Ghats.¹³
• Known as high-grown coffee: the cherries ripen slowly in the mild climate.²

Climate and harvest

Blossom showers¹ Picking (hatched)⁴

• 1,750–2,200 mm of rain a year.¹
• Arabica flowers after the blossom showers of March–April (25–40 mm), followed by backing showers in April–May.¹
• Arabica is picked from November to January.⁴

Processing

• Cherries are hand-picked and processed by natural fermentation. The cup has acidity, a mild flavour and a chocolate note.²

History

• The saint Baba Budan is said to have brought seven seeds of Mocha from Yemen and planted them here around 1600.³¹

Sources

1. Coffee Board of India: Coffee regions of India
2. Drishti IAS: Five coffee varieties got GI tag (30 Mar 2019)
3. Coffee Board of India: Coffees of India
4. StoneX: USDA attaché on India's 2023/24 coffee crop
5. Copernicus DEM GLO-30 (elevation data for the map). Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data, processed by ESA; © DLR e.V. 2010–2014 and © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH 2014–2018, provided under COPERNICUS by the European Union and ESA.
6. Town positions: Baba Budangiri, Kemmangundi, Chikmagalur (Wikipedia).