The Cup That Cheers: The Changing Taste of Coffee

Current Trends

Coffee in India has come a long way and has evolved from the days of mass produced, instant coffee to consumers preferring to savour their coffee the artisanal way. Today, coffee is expanding from specialty coffee to artisan coffee and even micro roasters akin to microbreweries, where customers are provided with a holistic and personalized coffee-savouring experience. Artisan coffee is the buzzword that employs sustainable cultivation methods, processing, drying and roasting techniques to create unique and distinct coffees. This means a focus on high quality beans, roasted in small batches to ensure that the freshness and aroma is retained and then brewed per customers’ preference. This includes single origin as well as micro lot coffee which literally means coffee grown in one geographical region (single farm) and the best of the estate respectively.

Since customers are ready to experiment and even pay a premium for specialty coffee, brands are offering exclusive flavour profiles which apart from offering a choice of light, medium or dark roast also offers hints of varied elements like chocolate, orange, vanilla, coconut, honey dew and spices. There are brands that even offer coffee beans that are aged in whiskey barrels. Apart from specialized roasting and grinding methods, even the brews are changing with nitro brews and cold brews taking centre stage. The latter refers to the addition of nitrogen to the cold brew to give coffee a rich, creamy consistency. There are also brewing methodologies like French press, Moka pot and AeroPress that are changing coffee consumption.

Coorg Coffees for Connoisseurs

Coorg is known for its superlative coffee which is exclusive in more ways than one. In fact, the region produces the most expensive coffee in the world which is known as civet coffee. This involves the coffee berries being consumed by wild civet cats which is then excreted. The beans are then picked and processed. The micro lot coffee produced by yet another estate travelled seven seas and has found itself perched on the shelves of the Starbucks stores in Seattle. The hill station has perfect weather for growing coffee and today, with over 270 varieties of shaded trees, Coorg cultivates all its coffee under a two-tier mixed shade canopy. While the bigger trees include varieties like jackfruit, fig and the like, the second layer includes spices like cardamom, vanilla, and pepper. Today the regions’ coffee finds its way not only in your daily cuppa but also in desserts, infusions, chocolates as well as cosmetics. Coffee inspired spa treatments are in fact very popular.

Trivia

• The word ‘coffee’ originates from the Arabic word 'qahwa' which is a type of wine.
• Coffee is the 2nd most traded commodity in the world next only to crude oil.
• Brazil is the world's largest coffee producer.
• Finland is the world's largest coffee consumer.
• Starbucks is the largest coffee company and chain in the world while Tata coffee is the largest in India.
• Consumption of coffee helps lower the risk of several conditions like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease and is also believed to boost longevity.