A Taste of Coorg

Go to this picturesque coffee-growing region with an appetite for a unique cuisine and distinctive experiences

- Riaan Jacob George

Driving just five hours down a smooth highway from Bengaluru, I spent a long weekend in Coorg, interacting with some of its local entrepreneurs, signing up for off-beat experiences and enjoying some of the most beautiful roads in the southern peninsula. Far from the tourist throngs, I spent the weekend finding unique things to do.

#NowTrending

Walking through lush green coffee plantations with retired serviceman Ganapathy, I received an articulate explanation on the farm-to-cup process. The swashbuckling Ganapathy's stately colonial mansion sits plum in the middle of a large family-run coffee estate, supplying beans to a larger chain of wholesalers and producers. For a coffee addict like me, this was a fascinating experience.

Later that morning, over a cup of freshly brewed Coorg filter coffee, I chatted with his daughter, Anjali, who runs the hugely popular Bengaluru-based Pigout Coorg Kitchen.

Kodava cuisine is unique and completely undiscovered in India, right from the ingredients and meat we use to the cooking styles, Anjali said. Through my food, our homestay and this coffee estate, we want to put Coorg on the map in the most experiential way possible.

As Anjali laid out a spread of her famous pandi (pork) curry, pumpkin curry and rice (akki) rotis, I realised that the Ganapathys' little universe is a destination on the verge of a major tourism revolution.