Guides / Origins & estates

From cherry to cup: a year on an Indian estate

6 min read

An Indian coffee year starts with blossom showers early in the year, when the plants flower. Cherries ripen through the monsoon and are picked by hand, mostly from around November to February. They are processed and dried on the estate, then hulled and graded at a curing works before a roaster buys, rests and roasts them.

The estate year

Season	What happens
Early in the year	Blossom showers trigger a burst of white, jasmine-scented flowers
Spring and summer	Cherries form; estates prune, weed and tend shade trees
Monsoon	Heavy rain swells the cherries; the season also brings pest and disease work
Late year to early next year	Harvest: arabica first, then robusta

From branch to green bean

Pickers hand-pick ripe cherries, often in several rounds as they ripen unevenly.
Cherries are sorted to remove under-ripe and damaged fruit.
For washed coffee, cherries are pulped and fermented, then washed clean.
For natural coffee, whole cherries go straight to drying.
Coffee dries on patios or raised beds for days to weeks, turned often.
Dried coffee rests, then goes to a curing works to be hulled, graded by size and sorted.
Green beans are bagged and sold to exporters or Indian roasters.

At the roastery

A roaster tastes samples, buys a lot, and builds a roast profile for it. After roasting, coffee needs a few days to rest before it brews well. Then it is packed, dated and shipped to you.

Shade trees, pepper vines and cardamom are part of the estate year too.
Picking is the most labour-intensive step and the biggest driver of quality.
Most Indian coffee is graded by size and type, like Plantation AA or Robusta Cherry.

Tip: The roast date on your bag is the last step in this long chain. Buy recently roasted coffee to taste the work that went into it.

Learn Indian coffee grades →