A tasting and a talk about modern Indian specialty coffee, focusing on the work of Kerehaklu one of India's leading coffee plantations.

India isn’t always the first country that comes to mind when people think about coffee but it’s actually one of the first places outside of the Gulf of Arabia to have it.

Coffee has been cultivated in the subcontinent since around 1670 brought there not by a colonial power but by a Sufi called Baba Budan. Coffee has been grown there since and is a big part of S.Indian culture, served rich sweet and milky and strong, served with idly or a dosa in many a roadside cafe or at home.

Today specialty coffee is a booming industry in India with roasters like Blue Tokai and Subko leading the way and Indian specialty in turn is growing internationally with producers like Ratnagiri and Kerehaklu gaining international recognition.

Will was lucky enough to meet Pranoy Thipaiah of Kerehaklu at London Coffee Festival in 2023 and went on to visit him at his farm in 2024 and again this year back in February. On that last trip he cupped coffees and bought them for Skylark.. We are hosting a cupping of those coffees and talking about Indian specialty coffee and the amazing work Pranoy and Ajoy Thipaiah do at Kerehaklu. The coffees we’ll be serving are 2 arabicas, 2 robustas and 1 excelsa and show a range of processing used at Kere. We hope this will be an eye opening tasting that shows people how amazing Indian coffee is as well as non arabica coffee. There are two options for tickets, one just to attend the event and one that includes coffee to take home after the event.

Coffee included with £25 ticket:

125g arabica washed

125g arabica natural

125g robusta washed

125g robusta natural

40g excelsa washed

Description supplied by the event organiser.