Mangaluru: Each year, when the southwest monsoon drenches Mangaluru, the coastal air turns spice-laden and lush with greenery. Alongside, it revives a maritime legacy — the famed Monsooned Malabar Coffee. This smooth, earthy brew was born not from deliberate craft, but from a 17th–18th century shipping fluke. Coffee beans from the Malabar coast, carried in slow wooden ships to Europe, spent months in humid sea air. This long voyage bleached the beans, softened their acidity, and gave them a rich, musty flavour loved by Europeans and Scandinavians.
With steamships and the Suez Canal shortening travel, the beans lost this signature taste. Refusing to let it disappear, Mangaluru’s coffee makers recreated the process on land, harnessing natural monsoon winds.
Today, the region is the largest producer, exporting nearly 7,000 tonnes yearly, while domestic consumption stays minimal. Both arabica and robusta varieties are used. The monsooning process — done entirely by hand — begins with careful selection and storage of beans before the rains. Spread in ventilated warehouses, they are turned regularly to absorb moisture. Later, loosely packed in gunny sacks, they’re arranged in “wind rows” for weeks until they swell, turn golden, and develop their mellow profile.
Once polished, graded, and sorted, the beans are packed for shipment. The result is a full-bodied coffee with low acidity, gentle sweetness, and distinctive depth — often compared to matured cheeses or peaty whiskies. In the global specialty market, it stands as a prized Indian export, celebrated for its uniqueness and blending excellence.