Shade-grown coffee, often among pepper and cardamom, with robusta making up roughly two-thirds of a crop that is mostly exported.
India is the world's seventh-largest coffee producer (2024), growing roughly 6.2 million 60 kg bags a year (USDA, marketing year 2024/25), about two-thirds robusta and one-third arabica. Nearly all of it is grown under a two-tier shade canopy in the Western and Eastern Ghats, regions the Coffee Board describes as ecologically sensitive biodiversity hotspots, and it is often intercropped with pepper, cardamom, vanilla, orange and banana. Coffee growing is traditionally credited to the Sufi saint Baba Budan, said to have brought seven coffee seeds from Yemen to the Chikmagalur hills in the early 17th century, and substantial British plantations followed from the 1820s. About 95% of the crop is exported, with Italy, Germany, Russia, Belgium and the UAE the main buyers, and green coffee about 64% of exports against about 36% instant.
The Coffee Board of India, set up under the Coffee Act of 1942, groups growing areas into the traditional south (Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu), non-traditional eastern areas (Andhra Pradesh, Odisha) and the Northeast (Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Tripura, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh). Its regional brand names include Chikmagalur, Coorg, Bababudangiris, Wayanad, Nilgiris, Pulneys, Sheveroys, Anamalais, Araku, Manjarabad, Biligiris, Brahmaputra and Travancore. The coffee GIs registered in 2018-19 are Coorg Arabica, Chikmagalur Arabica, Araku Valley Arabica, Bababudangiri Arabica and Wayanad Robusta, while the Monsooned Malabar Arabica and Robusta GIs date to 2007-08. South India's home-brewing culture centers on filter coffee, a coffee-chicory blend (typically 80-90% coffee) brewed in a two-chamber steel filter, and on the worker-run Indian Coffee House chain, whose first cooperative society opened in Bangalore on 19 August 1957 after the Coffee Board moved to close its coffee houses.
History
17th c. (traditionally c. 1670, though the Coffee Board's account says about 1600): the Baba Budan legend places coffee's arrival in the Chikmagalur hills. 1820s onward: substantial British plantations are established and spread across the southern hills. 1942: the Coffee Act creates the Coffee Board of India to regulate exports and protect small farmers. 1957: staff facing the closure of Coffee Board coffee houses form worker cooperatives, the first Indian Coffee House cooperative opening in Bangalore on 19 August. 2007-08: Monsooned Malabar Arabica and Robusta are registered as coffee GIs. 2018-19: Coorg, Chikmagalur, Wayanad, Araku Valley and Bababudangiri coffees are registered as GIs.
Field notes
- i
Legend holds that the Sufi saint Baba Budan smuggled seven coffee seeds out of the Yemeni port of Mokha and planted them in the Chikmagalur hills. The date is usually given as around 1670, though the Coffee Board's own account says about 1600.
- ii
India's coffee is grown almost entirely under a two-tier shade canopy shared with pepper, cardamom, vanilla, orange and banana, across Western and Eastern Ghats hills that the Coffee Board calls ecologically sensitive biodiversity hotspots.
- iii
About 95% of India's coffee crop is exported, and the country's own per-capita consumption, at roughly 0.07 kg a year, is far below the global average of about 1.3 kg.
- iv
Monsooned Malabar is a process rather than a place: coffee is exposed to monsoon winds and humidity on India's west coast for roughly 12-16 weeks, imitating the flavor beans once picked up on long sailing voyages around the Cape of Good Hope.
- v
The worker-run Indian Coffee House chain grew out of the Coffee Board's mid-1950s decision to close its coffee houses. Staff, encouraged by the communist leader A.K. Gopalan, formed worker cooperatives instead, the first in Bangalore on 19 August 1957.
Where it growsGrown in the Western and Eastern Ghats, well within the global coffee belt, mostly at moderate altitude (roughly 500-1,500 m).
In the cup, according to guides
- AcidityLessIndian coffee has a reputation for a less acidic, sweet character that suits European espresso blends, and Monsooned Malabar pushes this furthest.
- ChocolateOften notedDark chocolate and caramel are the notes most often reported for the Chikmagalur and Coorg lots that make up much of India's arabica.
Regions of India
-
Produces roughly 70% of India's coffee, mainly from the Chikmagalur, Kodagu and Hassan districts of the Western Ghats.
Chikmagalur · Kodagu · Hassan · Biligiris
-
India's second-largest coffee state, with roughly a fifth of national output and a crop dominated by robusta.
-
India's third-largest coffee state, with about 5% of national output, across the Nilgiris, Pulneys, Shevaroys and Anamalais.
-
A non-traditional coffee state, best known for the tribal-farmed Araku Valley in the Eastern Ghats.
-
The Coffee Board's other non-traditional coffee area, with coffee centered on Koraput in the Eastern Ghats.
-
Coffee here comes from hill districts such as Karbi Anglong and Dima Hasao, not the Brahmaputra plains.
-
One of the seven Northeastern coffee states, with lots from the Khasi Hills reported with black tea and citrus notes.
-
A small Northeastern coffee state, with arabica lots from around Kohima and Mokokchung reportedly scoring 84+.
-
A small Northeastern coffee state centered on the Jampui Hills, with natural-process lots at about 900-1,000 m.
-
Northeastern state with the largest planted coffee area in the region, about 1,435 ha, nearly all of it arabica.
-
Northeastern state with 222 ha of coffee planted in 2022-23, mostly arabica, and a very young crop with only 14 ha bearing.
-
Northeastern state whose small coffee area is almost all robusta, 525 of 527 ha planted in 2022-23.
Varietals grown here
How it is usually processed
Species
Sources · 10 Every sentence here was checked against a source we read. Taste notes are what guides describe, not promises about your bag. Last revised 2026-11-10.
- India: Coffee Semi-annual (Report IN2025-0062) · USDA Foreign Agricultural Service, Global Agricultural Information Network (New Delhi post)
- Coffee production in India · Wikimedia Foundation
- Coffee Board of India (official site, home page) · Coffee Board of India, Ministry of Commerce and Industry
- Indian Coffee House · Wikimedia Foundation
- Indian filter coffee · Wikimedia Foundation
- Geographical indications in India · Wikimedia Foundation
- Coffee Regions of India: A Complete Guide · Indian Coffee Beans (roaster/retailer)
- Indian Coffee Regions · Coffee Geography Magazine
- Monsooned Malabar · Wikimedia Foundation
- What is Monsooned Malabar Coffee? Process, Flavor & Grades · Indian Coffee Beans (roaster/retailer)