India
This honey-processed coffee from the Ratnagiri estate is fresh, fruity and bursting with sweetness. The Patre family run this biodynamic estate atop a mountain in the Western Ghats of India.
Monkeys running through the trees. Dappled sunlight falling through the silver oaks that provide shade cover. Forty-eight recorded bird populations fluttering through the branches and singing as the sun rises.
Ratnagiri has been farmed and run by the Patre family since the 1920’s, and Ashok is the third generation to steward the land. They don’t just steward the land but also the people, as this estate grows a lot of coffee, which means a big team of pickers, sorters and processors. The occasional elephant too, as well as wild boars and leopards.
To all intents and purposes, Ratnagiri, which means “Pearl Mountain”, is an organic and biodynamic farm. The attention to detail includes importing Scottish seaweed for fertiliser, which is testament to the lengths to which the family will go in order to maintain the balance between the environment, the farming and the team. This detail is evident in the cup. Expect plenty of honeycomb sweetness, caramel biscuits and blood orange.
We love it on filter & pourer brewers, but lends itself to espresso, mokapot, AeroPress and cafetière too.
