K Sorbhu's village, Girliguda, is tucked away in a quaint corner of the beautiful Araku valley in the Eastern Ghats of India. In this region, coffee is a catalyst for environmental regeneration, and improved opportunities for the communities that call Araku home. K Sorbhu uses regenerative, biodynamic, and organic practices to produce wonderfully healthy coffee trees resulting in some seriously delicious beans.

These techniques have become a cornerstone for the valley’s coffee farmers and are one part of an awesome story of transformation. This coffee offers the perfect introduction to Indian specialty, with its delicious yet approachable flavour profile.

Although coffee was initially introduced to India in the 1600’s, the Araku valley first received coffee for cultivation during the 1920’s from the British. This region of India had historically been naturally rich in biodiversity but also struggled with being an often-forgotten corner of the country. Prior to the year 2000, mounting levels of poverty, low levels of education and health care and acute environmental degradation left the valley at breaking point.

In the early 2000s, the Naandi Foundation, one of India’s largest non-profit organizations intervened. Over two decades of positively engaging with tribal farmers of Araku, Naandi is now working with 300,000 farmers across 1460 villages.

Coffee farmers in Araku are now working together as collaborative members of the Small and Marginal Tribal Farmers Mutually Aided Cooperative Society and the results are tangible. From creating biodiverse farms to building climate resilience and establishing sustainable avenues for long-term profits, the Araku Transformation journey is truly one-of-a-kind. The core notion here is that food agriculture CAN have a net positive on both the natural environment and the people that call it home and today in Araku, both ecological and financial poverty is a thing of the past.

The coffee farms here combine organic and biodynamic farming practices with cutting-edge science to measure improvements year on year. Tests are showing that as the soil and biodiversity improves so does the quality and concentration of flavour compounds within the coffee cherries. What's good for the environment is also great for flavour. A win-win!

We are so pleased to be showcasing a coffee from India that not only hits the mark in terms of quality (and deliciousness) but is also part of a wonderful feel-good story.

For this one, think flavours of thick dark chocolate & blackberry, with a unique sweetness and a subtle complexity. It makes for a delicious milk coffee or an equally tasty espresso.