THE FAMILY
Four generations on one hillside.
The Coorg highlands sit at the southern edge of the Western Ghats, where the altitude, the rainfall, and the canopy shade conspire to slow the cherry's development to a pace that commodity production cannot afford. The family that works this hillside has been doing so since the early twentieth century, planting shade trees between the coffee rows long before agroforestry became a selling point.
The farm is small by any commercial measure — fewer than forty acres under cultivation. That scale is deliberate. Every lot that leaves it has been picked by people who know the tree that bore it. There is no mechanical stripping here: pickers move through the rows three or four times over the course of the harvest window, selecting only cherries that have reached their full sugar development. The result is a consistency in raw-material quality that larger operations cannot achieve.
The current generation manages the drying and milling on-site, which is the moment in the chain that most determines final cup quality after picking. Raised beds, not ground-level patios. The drying takes between fourteen and twenty-one days depending on the year's humidity — a slower timeline than most, and one that builds the body and complexity the lot is known for.
Aseel's relationship with this farm began with a single conversation about freshness and provenance. We cup the lot before it ships, and we roast it in Dubai within the same quarter it arrives green. The details you see on the seal — the harvest month, the cupping score, the roast date — are not editorial choices. They are the record of what happened.
THE VARIETY
Bourbon. A variety that rewards patience.
Bourbon is one of the oldest arabica varieties in cultivation, descended from a mutation on the island of Réunion in the eighteenth century. It yields less than the commercial hybrids that replaced it in much of the world, which is why it disappeared from most farms. On the Coorg hillside, it was never replaced — partly because the family was conservative, and partly because the terroir suited it. At 1,180 metres, with the rainfall pattern the Ghats produce, Bourbon produces a cup with the density and the sugar development that modern varieties struggle to match. The cocoa and fig notes are not added; they are the variety on this ground.
THE PROCESS
From the tree to the bag, four steps.
Pickers move through the rows three to four times per harvest window, selecting only fully ripe red cherries. No mechanical stripping. The selectivity at this stage determines everything that follows.
Cherries are pulped within hours of picking and placed in fermentation tanks for 24–36 hours. The water table on the farm is clean and cold, which holds fermentation temperature steady — a variable that is easy to underestimate.
Washed parchment is spread on raised African beds and raked twice daily. The drying takes between fourteen and twenty-one days depending on that year's humidity. No mechanical drying is used — the slower timeline builds the body.
Parchment is milled on-site before export. The family runs the mill, which means they control the final step in raw material quality. Green coffee ships to Dubai within the quarter of harvest.
PAST HARVESTS
Every lot, on record.
Further harvests will be listed here as they complete and ship.
PRE-ORDER
Lot 001 is available now.
Alta Estate · Coorg, India · Bourbon · Washed · Medium · Q 87.5
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