India Periyar Tiger Reserve RFA

India Periyar Tiger Reserve Rain Forest Alliance

Grade	Periyar Tiger Reserve AB
Region	Kerala
Growing Altitude	1100 meters
Arabica Variety	SLN10
Harvest Period	December through March
Milling Process	Washed, sundried
Aroma	Earth and spice
Flavor	Sweet Pepper, Coconut
Body	Winey and Clean

Situated at an altitude of 1,100 meters, the estate was first developed by JJ Murphy, often refered to as the pioneer of planters in India. The Pambadampara Estate has the reputation of being the first organized cardamom plantation in India. Changing hands in 1946, it has since rested with the MSP family. Coffee was introduced to the estate as early as 1965. It has now spread to almost 1,000 acres of prolific coffee plantation interspersed with forest trees. It lies adjacent to the Periyar Tiger Reserve, the richest biodiversity spot of the Western Ghats.

The estate’s washed Arabica Indian coffee beans have won the Regional Fine Cup Award, instituted by the Indian Coffee Board, for the past 8 years. It is also the proud recipient of premium certifications issued by UTZ and Rainforest Alliance. The estate is now run by S. B. Prabhakar, a 4th generation planter, who is steadily making valuable additions to enrich the estate.

SLN.9, which is a highly acclaimed Arabica strain, is predominantly planted on this estate and well-nurtured junglewood trees provide a good canopy of shade. High quality washed Arabica Indian coffee beans produced by the Pambadampara Estate is well-accepted by the world’s leading roasters.

The Process
Day 1 - Ripe Arabica fruits are carefully handpicked, sorted, pulped and fermented. (5 rounds of handpicking)

Day 2 - Coffee washed mechanically and manually in a tank in clean stream water

Next 15 Days - Sun-dried for the next 15 days to enhance the taste and fragrance of the coffee

Later - packaged and dispatched to processing mills.

Well-ripened Arabica berries are handpicked by experts who remove unripe berries. After hand-sorting, the coffee is processed in aqua pulpers the evening of the same day, and washed with a large amount of fresh stream water to help discard the outer skin completely. Thereafter pulped coffee is fermented overnight to loosen the mucilage bacterially and to gain delicate flavour.

This is just the beginning of a well-articulated estate-process that goes on to define the finer attributes of the perfect cup cherished by coffee connoisseurs worldwide. Naturally grown estate coffee from this region has agelessly been the first choice of world’s leading coffee roasters. Pambadampara Estate has been a regular recipient of Regional Fine Cup Awards instituted by Indian Coffee Board.

Cup Characteristics
sweet pepper, coconut, bright citrus, earthy, winey, cedar, balanced, very clean, consistent