INDUSTRA India Natural

Farmer Shreedev and his wife Sushmita run three family coffee farms – Chinnenahalli, Hulikere and Woodway. The family has been growing coffee for three generations and Chinnenahalli Farm is their home. Woodway Estate, a plantation established by the British in the 1880s, is one of the few coffee farms in the world to be certified Wildlife Friendly.

Farms are located in the Baba Budan Giri Hills growing area in the Western Ghats of India. The Western Ghats in India is one of the eight “most interesting” biodiversity hotspots in the world and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This mountain chain stretches along the west coast of India. Many South Indian rivers originate in these mountains. Coffee is grown on local farms in a traditional polycultural shady landscape with a high density and diversity of native and endemic shade tree species that support a wide variety of birds, butterflies and mammals. The plantations are home to endemic birds such as the Nilgiri woodpecker, Blyth’s starling and Malabar parrot, among others, as well as vulnerable mammals such as the sambar and flying squirrel, among many others.

The Chandragiri variety is processed using the natural method. The coffee is harvested and then dried in the sun for 15 days on raised beds under the natural shade of trees, without any additional treatment. During drying, the beans are turned every 2–3 hours to ensure uniform drying, and each evening the raised beds are covered to protect the coffee from dew. Naturally processed in this way, the coffee develops a fuller body with more fruity, fermented notes.