Category Archives: Business & Economy

Honey with coffee reinforces climate resilience: Kodagu coffee estates’ bee farms

Agriculture, Business & Economy, Green Initiatives / Environment, Nature

The famed Kodagu coffee estates are experimenting with bee farms to add to incomes so that the forested landscape of this biodiversity hotspot is better able to sequester carbon.

The forested landscape of Kodagu provides ecosystem services. (Photo by S Gopikrishna Warrier)
The forested landscape of Kodagu provides ecosystem services. (Photo by S Gopikrishna Warrier)

While honey can sweeten coffee for the drinker, coffee farmers of Kodagu district of Karnataka are realising that raising bees for honey in the farms can sweeten their economic returns. It is one of the innovative methods being tried out in the district to provide additional financial incentives to coffee farmers so that they conserve the landscape they have inherited.

The concept of payment for ecosystem services (PES) is evolving from eco-certified coffee to that of landscape labelling of Kodagu. If the forests, coffee agro-forestry, rice fields, sacred groves, rivers and streams of Kodagu together provide ecosystem services and climate resilience to the communities living in the hills and the plains, why should not there be payment for sustaining these services?

According to a report on PES prepared by the College of Forestry at Ponnampet, Kodagu, the district has been identified as a micro-hotspot of biodiversity under the larger Western Ghats region. There is tree cover across as much as 81% of the district.

Natural forest ecosystems cover an area of 46% of the total area of the district. This includes evergreen, semi-evergreen, moist deciduous, dry deciduous and scrub forest types. Evergreen forests also include the high-altitude shola forests along with grasslands.

Key ecosystem services

Biodiversity, carbon sequestration and water regulation are the key ecosystem services from the Kodagu landscape. In addition to the economic benefit, there are also provisional, regulating, cultural and supporting services from the landscape. Thus, while eco-certification of coffee can help individual farmers, landscape labelling can benefit the district in its entirety, giving incentive to the communities to plan their development sustainably.

Charulata Somal, chief executive officer of the Kodagu Zilla Panchayat (district council), says that if PES can help channel money for the communities to conserve their landscape, there is a possibility of meeting the genuine aspirations of the people without compromising on the environment. “We plan to take the concept of PES through the elected representatives from the district.”

The PES report from the College of Forestry estimates the economic value of the various ecosystem services in Kodagu. The nutrient recycled has a value between INR 237 and INR 1167 per hectare, with a mean value of INR 700 per ha. The economic value of timber is between INR 530 and INR 8340 per ha. The recreational value of biodiversity is estimated as INR 27,000 per ha.

High sequestration

Carbon sequestration, according to the report, varies from 77 tonnes per ha to 207 tonnes per ha. Even at 90 tonnes per ha and an assumed price for carbon at USD 10 per tonne, the economic valuation is INR 40,500 per hectare.

The project for promoting bee farming (apiculture) in coffee estates was started after a study found the strong economic impact of pollination services of bees from sacred groves adjacent to the coffee farms. Kodagu has 1,214 sacred groves under community management, covering 2,550 hectares interspersed with coffee estates.

Rice paddies in Kodagu. (Photo by S Gopikrishna Warrier)
Rice paddies in Kodagu. (Photo by S Gopikrishna Warrier)

While Arabica coffee is self-pollinated, Robusta is cross-pollinated. “We researched the interaction between bees in the sacred groves and Robusta coffee to understand what the pollination impact is,” said C.G. Kushalappa, university head for forestry and environment sciences at the College of Forestry in Ponnampet. “Our research proved that in Robusta close to 31% of productivity could be increased if there is sufficient population of honeybees around the farm.”

This research, implemented by the College of Forestry under the Managing Trade-Offs in Coffee Agroforestry (MOCA) project in partnership with ETH University at Zurich, Switzerland, opened the possibility of increasing income for coffee farmers by integrating apiculture into coffee systems.

A premium for honey

“Kodagu honey has a premium in the market because it comes from the flowers of multiple species,” said R.N. Kencharaddi, assistant professor of agricultural entomology at the College of Forestry. “Honey collected from bee keeping in coffee agro-forestry system can get the premium price.”

The college introduced bee boxes in 40 farmers’ fields in 2015 at a density of four to five colonies (bee boxes) per acre, so that they can grow their own bees and produce honey. The team has been researching to select bee colonies that have the most desirable traits for propagation.

“We are looking for bees that do not abscond from their colonies and do not divide into new colonies before the hive is fully built,” said Kencharaddi. “We also check whether the bees are efficient at collecting honey and have disease resistance. Most important, we check on their ferocity, for we do not want the bees to attack the farmers.”

Apis cerana indica or the Indian honeybee is the species that the college is using for propagation. Though the college has not yet done any research on the subject, beehives have been successfully used in East Africa to protect farms from ravaging elephant herds. If this is experimented with and found successful then it could also serve as an additional benefit for Kodagu farmers, who are tired of elephant herds destroying their crops.

“There are elephant herds in Kodagu in which calves and young adults have not seen the forests,” explained M.C. Cushalappa, a coffee farmer from Siddhapura. “These herds have moved out of natural forests years ago and not returned since. They move from farms to villages, without returning to their natural habitat.”

The species of bees used in East Africa and that used in Kodagu are different, according to Kencharaddi. The specie of the African bees that scare elephants is Apis mellifera caucasica, which are more ferocious than their Indian counterparts. The African bees also come out during the night, whereas the ones that the college is working with are active only during daylight.

With bees feeding on the flowers of multiple trees to give premium quality honey, there would be a greater incentive for coffee farmers for protecting their landscape, according to Kushalappa. “This is how we are evolving into the concept of getting landscape labelling for produce from Kodagu’s coffee agro-forestry systems — coffee, honey, pepper and cardamom. Once we can get a brand presence for the Kodagu landscape, the farmers can market multiple produce. Depending on the prices the farmer can move the appropriate produce to the market.”

With the CEO of the Kodagu Zilla Panchayat committing to get elected representatives oriented to the concept of PES and landscape labelling, this method of promoting produce from Kodagu even while conserving the environment is likely to grow wings in near future. Honey with coffee could become the trigger for this.

(This piece was originally published on India Climate Dialogue and has been reproduced here with permission.)

source: http://www.thenewsminute.com / The News Minute / Home / by S. Gopikrishna Warrier / Monday -November 07th, 2016

True South: Filter Coffee WIth A Twist

Business & Economy, Coffee News, Coffee, Kodagu (Coorg)

true-southkf01nov16

Are you a coffee lover who needs your cup of steaming, hot coffee as soon as you wake up? But the morning rush leaves you with just about enough time to grab a cup of instant coffee, and head out. There’s a solution to that. Meet true south and their life saving projuct, filter coffee in a pouch! Skeptical? We were too.

truesouth01kf01nov2016

SKIM

Being true coffee lovers, we headed over to try some of the coffee at true south, and we were very surprised. The coffee is strong, aromatic, and tastes like it was just brewed!

TRUE SOUTH: FOR EVERY COFFEE LOVER

True south is ready-made coffee decoction available in pouches. All you’ve got to do to enjoy a cup of fresh authentic tasting filter coffee is empty the contents of the pouch, add milk and sugar, and stir! Voila, your hot cuppa is ready in minutes.

The idea started when the folks at True South, who are coffee planters, wanted to make good coffee available easily. The coffee comes from Coorg and Chikmagalur, so it’s from some of the best coffee-growing regions in India. The decoction comes in two varieties: classic and royal, which vary slightly in the percentage of coffee and chicory they contain {the classic blend has 80 per cent coffee and 20 per cent chicory, while the royal variety has 75 per cent coffee and 25 per cent chicory}. They advise that you add one part decoction to five parts hot milk for a typical cup of filter coffee.

truesouth02kf01nov2016


WHERE CAN YOU GET YOUR HANDS ON SOME?

Whether you have no time to make decoction every morning, or are unable to find the perfect blend that works for you, True South coffee is the perfect solution. You can order the coffee pouches online, or pick them up from the store located on Richmond Road.

And the perfect part is that you can use them for 15 days after opened, or store them for upto five months!

Wake up and smell the coffee!

source: http://www.hungryforever.com / HungryForever.com / Home / by Aditi Sriprasad / October 31st, 2016

KPA urges centre to amend Rule 7B of Income Tax Act

Agriculture, Business & Economy, Coffee, Kodagu (Coorg)

The Karnataka Planters Association (KPA) on Thursday urged the Centre for an amendment in Rule 7B of Income Tax Rules.

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According to KPA Chairman Baba P S Bedi, “In Rule 7B of Income Tax Rules, they consider ‘Coffee Curing’ as value-addition. If you cure coffee, you can’t drink it. However, you can drink it, only once it is roasted and powdered. How can they treat it as value-addition?”

KPA will submit a memorandum routed through The United Planters’ Association of Southern India (UPASI) to the central government to amend Rule 7B R/w Section 2 (1A) of Income Tax Act so as to give effect to the changes in the ruling to cover ‘Coffee Curing’ is within the meaning of ‘Coffee Grown’.

The Government of India is keen to introduce the Goods and Services Tax (GST) from April 1, 2017. Bedi said, “If coffee is made taxable under GST, input tax paid by the agriculturist on inputs used or consumed by the agriculturist in growing this product should be allowed to be set off.”

Appointment of chairman

A full-term chairman of Coffee Board has not been appointed yet.

“We have requested the Ministry of Commerce and Industry to appoint a full-time chairman to the board. The former chairman Jawaid Akthar’s tenure came to an end on May 11, 2015,” a statement from KPA said.

However, Leena Nair, a 1982 batch IAS officer from Tamil Nadu cadre, was given the additional charge of Chairman, Coffee Board.

Currently, the 1997 batch IAS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre, M K Shanmuga Sundaram, has been accorded with the additional charge of the post of Chairman in the Coffee Board, Bengaluru, under the Department of Commerce.

source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> Business / DHNS – Bengaluru, October 14th, 2016

Mushrooming enclaves hit Cauvery flow

About Kodagu / Coorg, Agriculture, Business & Economy, Green Initiatives / Environment

Bengaluru :

Near Ponnapet in Virajpet taluk, Kodagu district, the sight that greets the visitor is one of lush paddy fields extending till the very edge of the horizon. However, a wide stretch of land leaden with construction material with a tiny makeshift office, is a blemish on Kodagu’s otherwise pristine landscape.

White boards reading Converted Site For Sale and pointing, rather ironically, towards verdant green fields is a common sight across the district. Interestingly, some of these plots cost more than a flat in the heart of Bengaluru.

Reflecting on the sharp spurt in the price of land in the district in the past decade, president of the Coorg Wildlife Society, Colonel CP Muthanna said, “Ten years ago, an acre cost Rs 7 lakh. Now, it is almost Rs 1 crore, and many layouts have cropped up in the last five years.” The many residential enclaves that have cropped up, mostly on wetlands and agricultural fields, might have resulted in the land prices shoot up, but they have had a disastrous effect on the flow of rain water into the many streams and brooks that feed the Cauvery River, which originates in the district. A school built on paddy fields near Gonikoppa in Virajpet is faced with the problem of flooding almost annually.

However, it is those who practise agriculture who have to bear the brunt of these ill-thought out development projects. Gopakumar M, who has been studying otters in the Cauvery River, said, “Paddy was the primary crop that was grown by farmers here. Now, cultivation has come down by 50%, since many have abandoned it because of labour costs, irregular rainfall pattern and lack of business.”

However, Muthanna laid the blame at the government’s feet, for its failure to encourage cultivation of indigenous varieties of paddy. “Sellers are saying that they are giving up because of high labour costs and rainfall patterns; they aren’t good enough reasons. Most sell them for the money,” he said.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City News> Bangalore / Aditi Sequeira / TNN / October 15th, 2016

From the lap of nature

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Business & Economy, Famous Personalities of Kodagu / Coorg, Green Initiatives / Environment, Nature

walkingstickskf21oct2016

In 2014, when a Coorgi village tribal gave Bheemaiah K K a rattan vine stick for his off-road activities, he contemplated starting a venture selling ‘all-purpose’ sticks. “That was in June-July, the beginning of my journey,” says the founder of Bheem Styx, now with a store on Indiranagar’s 12th Main. After three months of driving between Coorg, his hometown, and Bengaluru, where he lives, with the stick in his vehicle, he decided to act on the idea.

“I often travelled through forests and coffee estates,” says Bheemaiah — Bheem for short — from a family of coffee growers. “I realised then it didn’t make sense to ‘climb a tree to cut a branch’, and that sticks were strewn across roads and paths. You only had to see them and pick them up.” So every summer he goes hunting for sticks, fallen branches and trees, even keeps a look out for landslides along the Western Ghats. “Now that people know what I do, they alert me about fallen trees or about the civic bodies pruning trees,” he says.

He also makes the most of monsoon tree-felling gusts of wind in the city and elephants that uproot trees in the forests and, in all, about 400 sticks find their way into the drying room at his Coorg homestead, where they remain for a few months to a year.

“I seal the ends with wires to prevent cracking. Even so, some crack, some others are already eaten by insects or are rotten from inside,” he admits. But except for these 80 to 100, the rest, he says, turn out strong.

“They are mostly from hardwood trees whose names I know only in Kodava,” says the journalism graduate who moved to the city in 1997 for his schooling. “Some of these, my father tells me, are said to last for 80 to 100 years.” Others sticks come from boughs and branches of coffee plants or fruit trees, also grown abundantly in the Kodagu belt.

Once dried and hardened, these sticks are cleaned, sandpapered and transported to the garage store in the city, where they are painted. Bheem has dipped into his friends circle for this. “Some are artists, but most are students, entrepreneurs in their own right or art enthusiasts with day jobs,” he adds.

From deep-river-walking sticks and hook sticks, which can be used to pull down branches, and catapult sticks, whose ‘Y’ can either fling stones at fruits or work as an armrest, to home decor, fashion and city-walking sticks, there are several options on offer. Smaller bits of wood become keychains. They are priced between Rs 500 and Rs 12,000, with customised ones selling for not less than Rs 6,000.

Bheem reasons: “Collecting sticks is a sweaty, dirty job. I’ve got bitten by leeches, and once by a snake, though it wasn’t venomous. Caterpillars and thorns abound the wooded areas, so you hardly come back without a scratch or rash.”

The going is slow too, he adds. “At a time, one person can’t carry more than four to six sticks, given that often there are no walkways,” he explains. “Some are heavier than the rest, like the jungle palm felled by elephants. Carrying one five-foot-long, half-foot-wide piece of those is a difficult task.” But passion keeps him going back year after year, he muses.

source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> Supplements> MetroLife / Chetana Divya Vasudev / DHNS – October 18th, 2016

India makes bid to host 2020 ICO world conference

Business & Economy, Coffee News, World Opinion

Bengaluru :

India has made a pitch to host the International Coffee Organisation’s (ICO) fifth World Coffee Conference in the country’s coffee capital Bengaluru in 2020.

ICO, the main inter-governmental organisation for the coffee producing and consuming countries, is keen that India host the next conference.

A formal decision from the apex body of the coffee producing and consuming nations is likely to be expected in March 2017, said MK Shanmuga Sundaram, Chairman, Coffee Board, confirming India’s bid to host the global meet.

Every four years, ICO holds the high-level World Coffee Conference to enable discussion around critical topics for the global coffee sector. Previously the conferences have been held in England in 2001, Brazil in 2005, Guatemala in 2010 and in Ethiopia in 2016.

ICO, which is working to strengthen the global coffee sector and promote its sustainable expansion in a market-based environment, has member governments representing 98 per cent of the world coffee production and 83 per cent of world consumption.

source: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com / Business Line / Home> Economy> Agri Business / The Hindu Bureau / Bengaluru – October 14th, 2016

TUMMY TRAVELS – Is there a best Indian restaurant?

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Business & Economy

The aptly named Folksy Food in Madikeri proves that often canteens serve genuine local fare

Although I’ve written about Indian food for 20 years, I’ve never been on a jury to crown the best restaurant in India. Perhaps that is a good thing. For if I were to put together a top list, it’d be full of no-frills joints that other food critics would look down their noses at.

Café Military would be in my top 10 — down the road from the Bombay Stock Exchange, a place where one spots brokers hogging comfort food such as dhansak or brain at the end of a bad market day. Also Yaseen Hotel on the corner just south of the Jama Masjid in old Delhi: their sign ‘good taste, cheap and best, all Mughlai dishes are served by hygienic environment’ says all that needs to be said.

My list of 10 would include homely places that consciously promote local food such as Kewpie’s, started by a Bengali cookbook author in Kolkata, Dalema in Bhubaneswar that dishes up Odisha for you, Gateway Paradise’s Assamese thali in Guwahati, the fish biryani at old Paris Hotel in Thalassery, and the seafood thali at Anantashram in Margao which is far from the touristy beaches of Goa.

As for best veg, any khanavali in Dharwad would qualify for its robust and hearty jolada roti with delicious badanekaayi yennegai — eggplant curry. The top list cannot ignore drinking dens like the surprisingly unknown Mangalorean bar Royal Garden on the Outer Ring Road in Bengaluru (near Hebbal Flyover), which never fails to amaze with its spicy fresh crabs and creative snacks like tandoori mushrooms stuffed with Amul cheese.

But at the top of my list, I’d put the aptly named Folksy Food in Kodagu, because having visited time and again for my regular fix of Kodava cooking, I’ve never once felt disappointed at the end of a meal.

It’s a tiny place in a nondescript shopping complex in Madikeri town — and with four tables it serves at the most 16 people at a time, typically office-goers in need of affordable lunches. Unlike restaurants patronised by tourists that showcase ‘foods of Coorg’ where chilli and oil are ladled on to satisfy undiscerning palates, here the fare feels 100 per cent wholesome and satisfyingly ‘tasty’.

Also, the menu isn’t pretentious or long-winded — in fact there is no printed menu at all. Apart from the basic veg meal, there are just four non-veg items subject to availability: mutton, chicken, fish and, of course, pork (the Kodava national dish).

Meaty role: Pork curry at Folksy Food comes in a peppery semi-gravy, with the local black vinegar kachampuli giving it a distinctive tang. Photo: Zac O'Yeah
Meaty role: Pork curry at Folksy Food comes in a peppery semi-gravy, with the local black vinegar kachampuli giving it a distinctive tang. Photo: Zac O’Yeah

Yesterday, I shared a meal with my wife and we polished off two bowls of rice; a house speciality called koot curry which is a local dish similar to sambar, but milder and loaded with succulent veggies of the season such as Mangalore cucumber; the loveliest of rasams with the right amount of jaggery in it to offset the pungency; a dry dish of curried bhindi; fried fish; pork (half plate); and chicken (half plate), which altogether totalled ₹300.

The rice at Folksy Food is always light and fragrant, freshly steamed, and the veggies are delicately prepared — nothing like the greasy mushes and dry rice that are all too frequently passed off as vegetarian cookery in budget restaurants — while the tender pork morsels, with a few chunks of the fatty stuff mixed in, are fried in a peppery semi-gravy, the local black vinegar kachampuli giving it a distinctive tang. The chicken is another speciality; richly coated in a pungent masala, the meat simply falls off the bone. The plump mackerel, the most favoured fish locally, has a crispy outside with a hint of coconut oil, and each bite melts in the mouth. Any day at lunchtime (closed on Sundays and public holidays) there are a large number of eager eaters, so it isn’t much of a place to linger on at. Also, there are no desserts, coffee or brandy that might make you want to loiter after you’ve licked off the last specks of gravy from your plate. But the family who owns it are chatty and cheerful folks, so it isn’t one of those brusque eat-and-go affairs either. More likely it is the envious face of some guest-in-waiting — hoping to score a table — that eventually makes you stop licking plates.

It must be added for the protocol that I’ve nothing against five-stars and never say no to a lavish repast (especially if somebody else is footing the bill). But thanks to my peripatetic lifestyle, I’ve found that the best canteens showcase genuine local cuisine, as close to home-cooking as it gets — and the simpler the eatery, the more dependable the eating experience, and vice versa.

So if Folksy Food was in, say, France and did exactly the same thing and as consistently as it does but in French, it would be written about in guidebooks and perhaps have a Michelin star. But despite being located in a popular tourist area, Folksy has stayed off the foodie radar.

It is perhaps for the better as such a tiny eatery couldn’t handle an onslaught of gourmets flying in from across the globe. Maybe I am making a mistake by writing about it, but I trust you to keep the secret. Further, if you know of a fantastic but largely unknown canteen devoted to homely food anywhere in India, please share all details with me.

Zac O’Yeah is a part-time travel writer and part-time detective novelist; zacnet@email.com

source: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com / Business Line / Home> BLINK> Tummy Travels / by Zac O’Yeah / October 07th, 2016

International Coffee Day celebrated in Kodagu

Agriculture, Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Business & Economy, Coffee News, Coffee, Kodagu (Coorg), World Opinion

Madikeri :

International Coffee Day was celebrated in Kodagu by giving piping hot coffee to tourists at Dubare elephant camp.

Representatives of 77 nations are members of the International Coffee Association and the Coffee Day is celebrated worldwide to promote coffee sales on par with prouction.

Woman folk took the lead in coffee awareness programme. Kodagu deputy commissioner R V D’souza inaugurated the coffee show. He said Kodagu produces the best quality coffee while stressing the need for better marketing.

Madikeri DFO Edukondalu opined that such awareness campaigns will help increase coffee consumption.

Senior scientist from Appangala Research Station Dr. Ankegowda said coffee is a healthy drink and many researches have proved it.

Convener of the women team of coffee awareness campaign Chitra Subbaiah announced that more and more awareness campaigns will be conducted in coming days. She appealed to the tourism department to provide Kodagu coffee to tourists who visit the district.

Several coffee products were exhibited during the coffee festival. In Madikeri also several organizations served coffee to tourists at Raja Seat.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City News> Mysore / TNN / October 03rd, 2016

Street plays, brewing demo to mark ‘International Coffee Day’ on Oct 1

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Business & Economy, Coffee News, World Opinion

Bengaluru :

Coffee Board of India will mark ‘International Coffee Day’ on October 1 by organising CAFFEST in partnership with coffee growers, industry stakeholders and consumers.

The International Coffee Organisation (ICO) declared October 1 as ‘International Coffee Day’ in 2015. “This year we will be celebrating the second International Coffee Day at the Coffee Board headquarters in Bengaluru,” said the Coffee Board’s Finance Director.

The day presenets an opportunity to promote and celebrate coffee as a beverage, with events organised across the world.

As part of CAFFEST, the Coffee Board is planning to provide a platform to showcase the best Indian coffees wherein young coffee entrepreneurs and Self Help Groups (SHGs) will showcase their products. A brewing demonstration will also be organised for the benefit of the pubic to educate them on the positive aspects of coffee drinking.

On the occasion, a street play and a skit on the theme coffee will be enacted by the well-known TV/stage artist from Prathibha Art Foundation, Bengaluru, in two sessions – at 11 am and 4 pm. A poster designing competition on the theme of coffee will also be organised.

source: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com / Business Line / Home> Economy> Agri Business / by Anil Urs / Bengaluru – September 28th, 2016

Flying Squirrel perks a plan to serve artisan coffee

Business & Economy, Coffee, Kodagu (Coorg), World Opinion

Bengaluru-based firm plans to take its product from online to roastery-cum-cafés

Flying Squirrel core team: (clockwise from top right) Sreeram G, Tej Thammaiah, Laeeq Ali, Ravi D’Abreo and Ashish D’Abreo
Flying Squirrel core team: (clockwise from top right) Sreeram G, Tej Thammaiah, Laeeq Ali, Ravi D’Abreo and Ashish D’Abreo

Mumbai :

Artisan roasted gourmet coffee might not grab you attention. But when it is named Flying Squirrel it does stir up some interest, especially when one shares a cup with Ashish D’Abreo, hardcore filter coffee drinker and founder of Flying Squirrel, who is more than happy to spill the beans on the growing coffee market.

A Creative Director with Origami, an advertising firm in Bengaluru, for 15 years, Ashish noticed how the coffee being served to the clients in the firm repeatedly came in for high accolades. Personally, Ashish dreamt of having different variants of filter coffee every day of the week. He decided to team up with his college friend Tej Thammaiah.

“Tej is a third-generation coffee farmer and owns a coffee estate (Nellikad Estate) at Pollibetta in Coorg; so a no-brainer. Since college days, we used to have his coffee in our house every morning. Some three years ago, we thought: ‘Why not bring this coffee in the open, why not have a lot more people experience the joy of a personalised and creatively cultivated brand of coffee,” says D’Abreo.

And so started the research and development process on Tej’s coffee estate, “to develop the beans and experiment with the growing and the drying processes, so as to arrive at certain points we were proud of,” says D’Abreo. The two-year-long R&D process netted six different variants of coffee, but “there was no one in the mail-order coffee business at that time to take this ahead.”

Working with an advertising firm helped, given its expertise in branding, design, digital marketing and advertising. Three other partners in the advertising firm, “who saw value in the idea” pitched in.

Since one of the most frequent visitors on the coffee estate was the Malabar flying squirrel, the team decided naming the company Flying Squirrel.

“Our coffee was launched two-and-a-half years ago. We partnered with logisitics company GoJavas, (which shut operations last week), at the outset, due to which we managed deliveries across India from day one 1,” reminisces D’Abreo.

He went on to add that initially, roasting of the coffee beans would be done only once a week. “We now do it thrice a week, given the jump in orders. Depending on customer orders, we collate and roast the beans either in medium roast, dark roast, or fine grind. Each pack is customised.”

Shelf life
The company does not have any huge machinery. “We roast the coffee 15 minutes before sealing each pack,” says D’Abreo, who believes in the dictum that exclusivity of freshly ground coffee goes to waste when coffee products are stored in shelves for an extended period of time.

“Not many people know, but coffee is a perishable product. Filter coffee, especially, should be consumed within a month of roasting. There is no harsh taste, no aroma, no flavour left afterwards, and the notes have all but vanished. We set out to solve this problem. We have hardly any retail shelf life.”

Flying Squirrel is currently available online. Its “exclusive personalised roasting” ensures a better coffee experience for avid filter coffee drinkers, affirms D’Abreo, who quit his post at Origami three months ago, to devote himself full-time to the coffee business.

The next chapter is to get into the cafe business. “We would like to bring this experience to a coffee drinker at the ground level, apart from online sales. So we decided to start a roastery, do the roasting in-house and run a roastery-cum-café.”

The first of such cafés has opened shop at Koramangala in Bengaluru. The plan is to have multiple such cafés in Bengaluru and Goa. Most of the coffee beans are sourced from Thammaiah’s estate.