Natābharanam

We have another natural from Ram estate after the smash hit that was kāmbhōji and we have gone over to the dark side for this one!

 Located in the village of Kamanur near  Thandigudi, Ram estate (called Rothaikadu by locals ) posseses a unique microclimate that is idealfor growing complex arabicas  and the folks there  have been processing top notch coffees from year one of their foray into the  speciality scene. The estate has also gone spray-free , with organic inputs being applied directly above the root system instead of being sprayed, helping to reduce runoff.

  This particular lot consists mainly of selectively picked SLN 09 and SLN 795. The cherries were fermented in a sealed barrel for 48 hours , before being slow dried on raised beds in their state of the art  polyhouse.

 We tried a light roast of this coffee initially but that wasn't quite working. Our roaster then tried upping the development time and end temperature for this bean(based on a hunch) and that really opened this coffee up!

 This is a dark roast that works well with milk but also retains a distinctly sweet and fruity aftertaste. We taste a Treacle like inital sweetness that becomes very cardamom-esqe as the coffee cools and a persistent pomegranate like mild acidity throughout. This coffee reminded us of the rare rāga natābharanam.

 Natābharanam the coffee is a delight across all manual brews at a temperature of 88-90 degrees C , 3 days post roast. It is also a revelation as an espresso.; both neat and with milk , 10 days post date of roast.