Good things come to those who wait.. an all that Jazz. Well, we've waited and now this good thing has arrived.
This special coffee comes from Ajoy & Pranoy Thipaiah and their Plantation and Eco-resort Kerehaklu in the Western Ghats. We connected with Pranoy in early 2023 through a mutual friend Lucia Solis. He then visited the UK for the London Coffee Festival and came down to Exeter and we held a public cupping of some of his Arabicas and a Robusta. They were all a step up from any Indian coffees we'd tasted before and at that moment we hoped one day we would be able to represent some of his coffees here in the UK. His family estate, Kerehaklu, has been growing coffee for decades and his father, Ajoy, is still in charge of the farm, but in 2020 Pranoy took over the post-harvest processing and started experimenting and using recent advancements in fermentation techniques.
On meeting Pranoy there's an energy and passion that fills the room, a reflection of his strong connection to the earth and the importance placed on the natural surroundings and biodiversity he was raised in. Coffee is clearly important and he's driven to put Indian specialty coffee firmly on the map as a key player.
Pranoy gave us more specific information about the coffee, environment and process than I think we've ever received before. Copied below for those interested in the minutiae:
Data for the Natural Lot 1:
Elevation: 3750 ft
Varietal: Arabica S6
Block: Huli Bande Patte / “Tiger Rock Block” (story behind the name - my great granddad saw two sleeping tigers on that rock) Block details:
High density of and gajje lemon and avocado trees in understory + cluster figs and Indian redcedar in canopy.
Soil: Red, rich in iron and humates, good microbial activity, dense soil
Process: Natural Fermentation: Sequential anoxic for 70 hours
Drying: 22 days in polyhouse Raking on raised beds: By hand every 30 mins
More on Kerehaklu (from their web-site):
Kerehaklu [kay - ray - huck - loo] - noun
Definition: the shelter (‘haklu’) by the lake (‘kere’)
Origin: 11th - 12th Century Kannada language
Run by father-son duo Ajoy and Pranoy Thipaiah, the farm is located in dense jungle, teeming with biodiversity. Tall coffea liberica and coffea excelsa trees tower amongst the hedgerows, while bison and elephants are regular visitors. Ajoy uses his 35+ years of experience and an encyclopaedic knowledge of agronomy to manage the coffee trees in a sustainable yet adaptive way that works in harmony with the local wildlife. Since taking over management of the processing five seasons ago, Pranoy has put his background in biology to good use by introducing carefully managed and meticulously controlled experiments to help push the boundaries and produce coffees that highlight his father’s work and the farm’s growing conditions - but have an added layer of complexity that traditionally processed Indian coffees simply can’t match.
Photos by: @Pranoy and @ David Stallings.