Bettadamalali Estate Washed (India)

A three generation, family owned, and operated coffee estate in Chickmagalur producing amongst India’s finest shade-grown, hand-picked, and sun-dried coffee.

The estate, in addition to the many accolades it has received over time, is also a two time winner of the Illy Coffee Quality Prize for Espresso.

Quality and sustainability being our prime focus, we ensure that we produce the best quality beans with zero impact on the environment.

There are checks and measures at several points in the production cycle to maintain traceability, keep our quality consistent, preserve the sanctity of the environment, and the safety of the people working for us.

Each lot of coffee upon harvest is given a unique number. Each lot number can be corresponded to date and location of harvest, the variety of the plant, the processing method, the moisture content of the lot after drying, and the grade percentage of the beans.

Every single coffee cherry is hand-picked on our estate. This method of harvesting guarantees that only the ripe, crimson-red cherries are picked from the plant, consequently ensuring a clean cup of coffee that is free from any off taste produced as a result of picking green and un-ripe cherries.

The harvest season begins by the end of November and progresses up tomid-March. Arabica is harvested first followed by Robusta.

Fully washed – our fully washed coffee is produced by first pulping the cherries to separate the pulp from the beans. The beans are then naturally fermented and once the fermentation is complete, they are washed in clean water before being sun-dried in our drying yards.

Other processing methods – we are exploring the production of naturals and honey coffee (pulp sun- dried). Experimental lots produced during the last season (2019-20) have shown promising results and we intend on expanding on these techniques this season as well.

Our coffee is one-hundred percent shade-grown under a mix of planted and native trees. The shade and the high altitude on our estate make the coffee bean mature slower than coffee grown in the lower altitudes, thus producing a well-rounded cup of coffee.

There are several varieties of arabica coffee grown on our estate. Cultivars from the yester years like Sln.795, Sln.9, andSln. 5B occupy much of the area. Other recently introduced varieties such as Chandragiri, Hemavathy, Sachimore, Cutwai are also being planted in newer blocks. All the robusta we grown belongs to the Sln. 274 variety.