India

Although India is generally associated with tea consumption, historical records indicate that coffee arrived here in the first half of the 1600s, well over two centuries before tea.

Islamic regions played a significant part in the spread of coffee around the world: when Sufi Muslims discovered that ground green coffee beans combined with boiling water helped them stay awake and concentrate during night prayers, coffee trade accelerated. Dealers from the Arabian Peninsula eventually exported it throughout the Middle East and Western Europe.

India is particularly known for Monsoon Malabar, an extremely popular variety in Europe since the 18th century. The flavors of the Monsoon Malabar variety were born by chance: before the advent of modern means of transport, the journey from India to Europe took about 6 months. The coffee, transported in a ship’s hold, absorbed the humidity of the sea and of the winds. The beans swelled, taking on a light brown color and giving the coffee a softer, fuller taste.

As shipping methods evolved, producers set out to replicate the beans' desirable properties in other ways. Today, the humidity of the annual monsoon winds give the coffee its unique characteristics.