Growing regions, Southern India
Two regions. Two centuries apart. One archive.
Theo sources from Chikmagalur in Karnataka and Yercaud in Tamil Nadu, the two southern-Indian coffee belts with the longest continuous cultivation records. Chikmagalur begins in 1670 with Baba Budan; Yercaud in 1820 with a Scotsman named David Cockburn. Both regions still ship coffee today.
Karnataka, Malnad, Western Ghats
Chikmagalur
The birthplace of Indian coffee, 350 years of continuous cultivation on the Baba Budan Giri range.
- Coffee since
- 1670
- Peak altitude
- 1,925 m Mullayanagiri
- Rainfall
- 1,000-5,000 mm across the district
- Cultivated area
- 85,465 hectares
- Theo estates
- 7
GI protected
Chikmagalur Arabica GI + Bababudangiris Arabica GI (2019, India's 355th GI-tagged product). Signature cultivar in the Bababudangiris GI is Selection 795.
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Tamil Nadu, Shevaroys, Eastern Ghats
Yercaud
The Shevaroy Hills, planted by David Cockburn in 1820, one of the earliest European coffee plantation belts in southern India outside Mysore.
- Coffee since
- 1820
- Town altitude
- 1,515 m Servarayan peak 1,628 m
- Rainfall
- 1,512 mm/yr, bimodal, Aug-Oct wet
- Taluk area
- 383 km² whole coffee zone in one taluk
- Theo estates
- 5
Regional designation
Referenced as Sheveroys in Flavour of India Fine Cup Award categorisation. Mistbelt microclimate. March blossom showers trigger uniform flowering.
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