Story
Chikmagalur
Situated in the hills of the Western Ghats, Chikmagalur in Karnataka is famous for its coffee plantations. Legend has it that back in the 1600s, a saint named Baba Budan brought coffee seeds from Mecca and planted them on a hill where he lived. The hill eventually became known as Baba Budan Giri, and from there, coffee cultivation spread throughout the area.
Fast forward to today, and Chikmagalur is one of India’s top coffee producers, with its culture and lifestyle deeply intertwined with this rich agricultural heritage.
Ashok & Divya Patre
The Patre family has been in the specialty coffee and fine pepper business for almost a century! Ashok Patre, now in his third generation on the family farm, works alongside his wife, Divya, to ensure that the Ratnagiri farm continues to thrive. He knows that India’s unique soil and coffee varieties can create exceptional flavours. Through lots of research and using proven techniques, Ashok has developed processing methods that enhance the coffee's flavours through controlled fermentation, resulting in something truly special.
Processing
For this batch, the coffee cherries were picked when they reached 23.9 brix. They were then floated to sort them out and placed in a stainless steel fermentation tank. The cherries fermented for about 60 hours before being dried on raised beds for up to 30 days.