The Cupping Desk
Contour map of Biligiris, drawn from Copernicus elevation data

Lat 12.0835° NLon 77.1565° E

Sheet 47.2 × 26.5 km

Biligiris.

Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, India

Elevation on this sheet: 583–1,570 m

0510 km

Contours 50 m · index 250 m

At a glance

The Biligiri hills on the Karnataka–Tamil Nadu border. Coffee grows here at 1,500–2,000 m, the highest band in the Coffee Board's table, and it is arabica.1

Coffee grows at
1,500–2,000 m1
Rainfall
1,100–1,200 mm1
Coffee, mainly arabica
800 ha700–800 t a year1
GI tag
None

How it grows

  • All Indian coffee grows under shade, here under evergreen leguminous trees, in the biodiversity hotspots of the Ghats.12

Arabica varieties1

  • S.795
  • Sln.9
  • Cauvery

Grown alongside1

  • Orange
  • Banana
  • Pepper

Climate and harvest

Blossom and harvest months
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Arabicaharvest–blossomblossom––––––harvestharvest

Blossom showers1 Picking (hatched)3

  • 1,100–1,200 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.3

Processing

[TBC] Not yet sourced for this region.

History

[TBC] Not yet sourced for this region.

Sources

  1. Coffee Board of India: Coffee regions of India
  2. Coffee Board of India: Coffees of India
  3. StoneX: USDA attaché on India's 2023/24 coffee crop
  4. 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.
  5. Town positions: Biligiriranga Hills, Yelandur, Kollegal, Hanur (Wikipedia).
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