Once There Was A Coffee Bean

The story of how one of the world’s favourite beverages came to be grown in India is as fascinating as the place where it transforms from the bean to the cup. Set in the lap of nature and luxury, this is the home of coffee in India—Chikmagalur.

- Satarupa Paul

A long, long time ago, sometime in 1600 CE, an Indian Sufi saint named Baba Budan went on a pilgrimage to Mecca. On the way back, he made a halt at Mocha, a port city on the Red Sea coast of Yemen—one of the major centres of the early coffee trade and which gave the world the famous Mocha beans. Later, it’d also lend its name to the delicious American invention of caffé mocha. But this isn’t the story of what the Americans did, or as purists would say, undid, to coffee. This is the story of what happened when that Indian Sufi saint visited Mocha.

Apparently, while at Mocha, Baba Budan like all other guests to the city was served a dark liquid drink of coffee. He enjoyed the refreshing beverage so much that he wished to bring it back to his homeland and produce it here. The Arabs however, were very protective of their coffee, and quite understandably so! At the time, coffee was exported to other parts of the world only in roasted or baked form, so that nobody else could grow their own and everybody would be forced to buy this elixir from the Arabs alone. Baba Budan though, was resolute.

The accounts of what he did next vary. Some say he concealed them in his beard, others say he strapped them to his chest, still others recount how he hid them in his tunic. Whichever story you wish to believe, fact remains that Baba Budan secretly brought seven seeds of coffee to India. He then made his way to his hermitage in the Western Ghats of Karnataka. He planted the seven coffee seeds in his backyard, and those grew into the first coffee plants of India. For a considerable time, the plants remained a mere garden curiosity, spreading slowly to the neighbouring areas.