June 28, 2014

Coorg Coffee: The most recommended shopping item from Coorg

Coorg apart from being famous for its scenic beauty, brave warriors and hospitality, is also famous for its Coorg Coffee. After Chikmanglur district in Karnataka, Kodagu is the second largest coffee production area in India. It is also referred as the "Coffee cup of India". Some of the world's best variety of coffee is grown in Coorg. Two famous ones are :
1. Arabica
2. Robusta
Coorg coffee
Hot cup of Coffee

If you are on a trip to Coorg, one of the most important thing on your shopping list should be Coorg Coffee. Its worth trying. You cannot afford to miss this one if you are in Kodagu.

While you go to the market in Madikeri or other towns in Coorg, you'll find plenty of Coorg coffee shops. There are a plenty of brands available in the market. You can choose either of them or you can get it from the estates as well.

 Mostly, you will get the filter coffee powder in the market. This filter coffee powder is coarsely ground coffee powder mixed with a coffee substitute called Chichory in ratios ranging for 60:40 to 80:20.

Here are a few brands of Coorg coffee you might see in the markets:


Brands of Corrg coffee
A few brands of Coorg Coffee

Chicory is a herbaceous plant whose roots are baked and used as coffee substitute. Chicory is also called poor man's coffee. It tastes almost similar to coffee and unlike coffee which has high caffeine cotent, Chicory does not contains caffeine. Thus, if mixed with coffee powder it reduces the overall caffeine content of your cup of coffee.

If you are those 100% coffee lover types, you can get the 100% Coorg filter coffee powder too in the market. Mostly people use filter coffee powders because they donot require much of processing but just in case you are one of those hard core coffee lovers, you would prefer to buy the roasted coffee beans.

Its guaranteed, later when you go home and brew a fresh cup of Coffee you'll miss Coorg and your trip to the Coffee land :-)

This is not all, you can also take home the green coffee beans. But then you'll have to roast them, grind them and then brew a fresh cup of filter coffee.

Varieties of Coorg Coffee

 
Coorg coffee is mostly of 2 varities, Robusta and Arabica. The flavour, caffeine content, acidity and aroma of coffee is largely dependant on the environment of the coffee cultivation region. Coorg is the "monsoon fed" coffee cultivation region. Coffee cultivation in Coorg is mostly done under shade.

Robusta Coffee Beans

 
Robusta coffee is the most common varity of Coffee found in Coorg. Almost 30% of the the coffee production in the world is of the Robusta varity. It gives a good yield and is easy to take care of. Robusta is a strong coffee but is a little high on bitterness. Its considered as the harsher species of Coffee. If you like a strong cup of coffee, Robusta coffee would be an ideal choice. The cost of Robusta is also a little lesser than the other species. Below is an image showing the Robusta coffee beans:


Roasted Robusta Coffee Beans
Roasted Robusta Coffee Beans


Arabica Coffee Beans

 
Arabica coffee accounts for 75 to 80% of the world's coffee production. Generally, Arabica variety is considered better than Robusta because it is the less harsher one i.e the caffeine content in Arabica coffee beans is lesser. Caffeine mainly accounts for the bitterness of the coffee and since Arabica coffee is less on caffeine, it is less bitter. You would notice price of the Arabica coffee beans/powder would be slightly more than the Robusta variety. Following image is of the Arabica Coffee beans:

Roasted Arabica Coffee Beans
Roasted Arabica Coffee Beans
 

Probably you might not be able to distinguish between the two just by having a look. But then the shop keeper would help you with it.

Just in case, you miss/missed buying Coffee in Coorg you can now purchase it online too. There are 3 - 4 websites that are offering Coorg coffee at reasonable rates(though they would be more than what you'll get in Coorg). They have Coffee Beans(roasted & green) as well as Coorg Fillter Coffee powder. You can easily order it there and get it delivered right to your doorsteps.

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