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Macaca Coffee: part deux

By: Santosh :+: Under: Business, Q&A
On: ⋅ July 25, 2008 ⋅  Email this post ⋅  Print this post ⋅ Post a comment
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Continued from …

*This is the concluding post of a two post series. We will have a short Q&A with the man who introduced this coffee to the world, R. Miguel Meza. We will talk about the lack of Indian coffee blends in major American coffee producers like Starbucks and Folgers and also briefly delve on how “Monkey Parchment Coffee” is doing its bit in helping the local economy of Chikmagular*

No “kaapi” at your local Starbucks?
img: via Flickr

A few quick blurbs:
-”Monkey parchment coffee” is one of the most expensive blends of coffee in the world produced in Chikmagular near Bangalore in India.
-The coffee is made from beans chewed up and spit out by those sneaky macacas.
-Making use of these beans which were essentially considered a loss earlier, has not only cut down on losses but started a whole new mode of employment for the locals.
-The reason you don’t find any Indian coffee in your local Starbucks or elsewhere in the US - lack of awareness of Indian coffee in the West and the watered down quality because of concentration on mass production.
-With the improving economy and the shifting of labor to urban areas, the Indian coffee industry seems to be in a crisis mode in terms of labor.

Thanks to R. Miguel Meza of R. Miguel Coffee for taking the times to answer our questions.

UD: Most of our readers are very familiar with India, and most of us have never heard of this particular method of producing coffee even in folklore. How did you discover it?

Meza: I first heard of this coffee from the India coffee board while I was in India earlier this year. Later through the India coffee board’s assistance I was able to obtain some from a grower who had produced 50 lbs of it from Jan-Feb.

UD: At $250 per pound, we’re guessing it won’t be available at our local Starbucks anytime soon. Who is your target audience for this brand of coffee and where can they buy this coffee?

Meza: Currently this coffee can be purchased only through our website. Our target market is customers who are interested in trying the best and most unique coffees. Those who wish to taste the cutting edge of coffee production and a glimpse of what the future of coffee may hold. production of all the coffees we work with is very limited. Most were produced in qty less than 100 lbs. less than what a Starbucks store would go through in a week so don’t expect to see similar coffees to these anytime soon.

UD: Can you briefly speak about how this venture being beneficial to the locals of Chikmagular?

Meza: In particular to coffee estates in the region this (venture) offers a new way to earn additional income through coffee that would have otherwise been lost or wasted due to the monkeys stealing the cherries as they please. It also requires trained workers to collect the spit out beans from the forest floor throughout the estates which could potentially create additional jobs for the production of this coffee type.

UD: We don’t get to see blends from India in major chains like Starbucks. Why is that? Is it because of a general lack of awareness about Indian blends? As a Roastmaster and entrepreneur in this field, what is your view about the global perception of Indian coffee blends?

Meza: Indian coffees are used heavily in many blends but have never penetrated the market as a single origin coffee. Part is lack of awareness, part is quality. Not only of most of what is produced but more importantly the quality of the coffee that goes to the export market, particularly the united states.

Almost without exception the Indian coffees that we see in the US are mediocre at best, and because of this most roasters or consumers who have tried it may not pay it much mind. There is world class coffee being produced in India but because there is no demand for Indian coffees and most importers and roasters have never experienced these coffees no one is searching them out or working with growers to improve quality further as is done in often in other countries.

The main reason for these less than spectacular experiences people have had with Indian coffee is due to bulk of the coffee produced. Most is of the robusta species which in the specialty coffee scene, the us in particular is usually avoided. Although India does with out a doubt produce the best robusta coffees. Even the arabica species, the preferred coffee of the specialty industry is generally of less than great quality because of widespread planting of high yield, disease resistant varietals that produce a less flavorful cup than those grown from more traditional cultivators. Very little of the area where arabica is grown provides an ideal environment for producing top quality arabicas. Largely the altitudes are too low but some areas around Chikmagular and in particular around the baba budan giris and possibly other areas are capable of producing great arabia coffee.

Much of the production of coffee seems geared toward the commercial market and not the specialty market and this is largely reflected in harvesting and processing of most of the coffee. With careful harvesting and creative processing even the hybrid varietals can be far more intriguing coffees. The Monkey Parchment provides a good example of this as do other coffees i have tried in the past year. Of course better attention to harvesting and processing requires more labor costs which necessitates the coffee sell for a higher price, at the moment difficult to command for most when there is currently little interest in Indian coffee in the specialty market. Hopefully though this will change in the future and both price and quality will spiral upwards for Indian coffee. Which I certainly hope happens otherwise Indian coffee could be in jeopardy in the future. Already labor is getting harder and harder to find to harvest coffee as most of the younger generation moves to cities like Bangalore to take better paying jobs. Unless the prices go up and growers are able to pay higher wages coffee may no longer be economically sustainable.

UD: Any future plans to import other exotic Indian coffee blends?

Meza: Yes. India is one of the growing areas i intend to focus much of my attention on in the near future as there exists still a lot of untapped potential. India also has small amounts of two other species of coffee Liberica and excelsa which haven’t been of much commercial significance for the past century largely due to their low yields and being difficult to harvest, but taste radically different from the arabica and robusta and once processing techniques are optimized for these species could be interesting future treat for consumers to try.

I hope next winter to travel again to India and oversee the production of some coffees that are harvested perfectly ripe from heirloom varieties like kents and the better quality hybrid varietal called Sl9 which is sparsely planted across the country. hopefully by focusing on the estates that have these varietals and and the ideal environment for arabica coupled with differing processing methods and modern packaging and faster delivery we will be able to introduce some Indian coffees to the Us market that surpass anything that has been seen here or elsewhere before.

Producing unique exemplary coffees that will delight customers and can demand prices that justify their further production I think is the first step in helping India establish a solid presence in the specialty coffee market.

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