India Kaapi Royale Robusta AA Scr 17 2023

India Robusta Coffee | Kaapi Royale

Indian Kaapi Royale Robusta coffee is an international favorite for espresso blends – for good reasons. The Kaapi Royale grade of specialty Robusta is one of the highest quality Robusta coffees in the world and is celebrated for its uniformity, clean cup profile, and screen size 17 consistency.

In the 1992/1993 crop year, India introduced the Kaapi Royale grade to demonstrate the country’s commitment to specialty coffee production. Meticulous growing practices and sorting methods leave the coffee free from the bitterness and defects typically associated with Robusta coffee. Smallholders throughout Karnataka make high-quality AA lots like this possible and showcase the potential of luxury Robusta coffee from India.

The baker’s chocolate flavor profile of this coffee is augmented by hints of vanilla and toast notes, creating a deliciously sweet and aromatic cup with low levels of bitterness.

Robusta Green Coffee

India is a pioneer for washed Robusta coffee. Coffea canephora originated in Central and West Africa and makes up around 40% of the world’s coffee production volume today. Vietnam is the world’s leading producer of Robusta with nearly 30 million bags a year.

When you compare Arabica vs. Robusta coffee, Robusta trees are easier to cultivate, can thrive in low altitudes and warmer climates, and are often very productive plants in terms of coffee volume. The higher caffeine content in Robusta coffee lends to the species’ robustness due to caffeine’s role as a natural pest repellant. That increased caffeine also leads to higher bitterness levels in Robusta coffee beans.

Robusta coffee is often used in espresso blends for its added value in flavor, aroma, and pronounced crema. The composition of Robusta coffee gives the crema more body and structure, resulting in a denser crema in the cup compared to Arabica coffee.

India Green Coffee

Although India is more widely known as a tea-drinking and producing country, coffee has grown there for over two centuries longer than tea. Seeds smuggled from Arabia were first planted in Karnataka, but when coffee leaf rust decimated crops in the 1800s, many farms switched to Robusta or hybrid plants instead.

Monsoon Malabar is a unique coffee from India that originated as a byproduct of shipping methods from India to Europe in the eighteenth century. Indian green coffee was exposed to humid sea winds on the six-month voyage, resulting in a pale brown color with smoother, softer, fuller cup profiles. The monsoon conditions are now recreated with the annual monsoon winds for the same effect.

Today, India's coffee is grown primarily by smallholders in the south, at altitudes between 700 and 1,200masl. Coffee plants are usually intercropped with shade-giving spice and fruit trees.