it’s no surprise that this full-bodied, wonderfully smooth and rich coffee is so popular, Monsoon Malabar is one of India’s most sought-after beans and we decided to buy a bag and offer it out to our customers.

It is one of the better-known coffees from India and is created by an unusual process called monsooning and it began completely by accident. During its export from India to Europe at the time of the British Raj, coffee was transported in wooden boxes and was, therefore subjected to the wet weather that came during the monsoon months. The raw coffee absorbed a great deal of moisture, which had a strong effect on the resulting cup of coffee.

The demand for this unusual coffee still remained so the process was recreated in factories along the west coast. Monsooning is only done with naturally processed coffees resulting in the bean being a pale yellow, in contrast to the usual green raw bean.

During the monsooning process, coffee usually loses its acidity, but often gains a pungent aroma differing from most coffee’s, it also gains wild flavours which is very popular.

We have taken this Indian Malabar to a dark roast, creating a powerful, strong, intense yet mellow flavour not unlike continental style coffee.