This coffee undergoes a unique and fascinating process. The harvested beans are exposed to the monsoon winds and rains for up to four months, which makes the beans swell. These larger-than-average beans have a greatly-lowered acidity, resulting in a lusciously smooth brew. This coffee has protected status under India’s Geographical Indications of Goods Act, being produced only in the Malabar coast.
The story goes that in the past, when wooden vessels carried raw coffee from India to Europe, it was such a long journey in consistently humid conditions that the beans changed in size, texture, and appearance. Modern transportation brought an end to the long, humid journey the beans once had to undertake. The Europeans, however, noticed this coffee was now lacking the depth of flavour and character it once had. Upon discovering this huge difference they set about recreating these conditions on the Malabar coastal belt during the monsoon season. Thus was born the ritual called “monsooning.”