Shankarābharanam

This washed coffee is amongst our all time favorites!

Located in the Thalanar region of the Valparai plateau, Greenland estate is spread over 200 acres and at an altitude of 1539- 1700m ASL, is one of the highest farms that we have sourced from.  We had featured the washed coffee from Greenland estate in our Anuswaram series and are very chuffed to have it as a yearly offering henceforth. 

 For this lot, Sln09, Cauvery (catimor) and San ramon cherries were picked picked ripe, pulped (i.e. skin was removed) and fermented for 18 hours. The coffee beans were  then washed  and dried slowly  for a fortnight on raised beds.

 The low temperatures(because  of the high altitude and unique microclimate) and the care taken during processing have made this coffee a layered revelation in the cup! There's a very prominent sugary sweetness, a partly apricot  like , partly strawberry-esque acidity and a whole bunch of Potpourri like florals; some of which we could triangulate and some which we couldn't. All this complexity is very reminiscent of African coffees and makes this a real banger of a coffee!

 The complexity  and effervescence of this washed coffee reminded our roaster of the rāga shankarābharanam; which is amongst the most iconic rāgas of Carnatic music.

 shankarābharanam the coffee demands a little patience in terms of rest times and is an absolute revelation in a v60 or an Aeropress 20 days post date of roast.  While this coffee can theoretically yield good espresso 30 days post date of roast , we honestly haven't bothered because the v60 brews of shankarābharanam have sratched all of our coffee itches and we haven't felt the need to brew it any other way.