Coorg: A WILD ROAST

Back in another timber den of Karnataka, native wildlife and humble stories surprise Suhas Dwarkanath as he sips on a bold cup of robusta.

- Muskaan Gupta

Timber dens across the country’s southern part are drenched in lush foliage—think verdant acres of coconut palms in Wayanad, silver oak holds in Karnataka or woody spice groves under the sprawling green. the abundant native flora of the Western Ghats, seemingly exotic to the bypassers, invites planters, farmers, caretakers and curious travellers into its den. Following through, Suhas Dwarkanath cruises along with the hyundai tUcSON to his third destination—coorg—to add a chapter to India Coffee Stories.

Coorg’s plantations are different from chikkamagaluru’s, even though both are just over 140 kilometres apart in Karnataka. An amateur coffee drinker’s belief, such as mine, would be that this geographical difference would only bring in differences in production techniques, which, in turn, would lend the beans unique flavours. However, the contrast, as Dr Sujata Goel—a botanist and self-proclaimed farmer, also the mind behind Mojo Organic Plantations— discloses, is the soil. Neighbouring plants that share nutrients, species small and big, from cats and ducks to microbes feasting on roots, determine the transfer of flavour-altering molecules to give every plantation produce its own character.

Coorg’s plantations tend to be smaller in size as forests were converted into farms. chikkamagaluru, on the other hand, witnessed the development of barren lands into farms. the former naturally packs a rich variety of native species onto farms that magically enhance the final brew.