Ranking the Indian Coffee Varieties

When Dr John  launched Josuma 25+ years ago, he focused our washed Arabica selections on single estate, single variety offerings. While SINGLE ESTATE offerings weren’t unusual at the time, SINGLE VARIETY offerings often were. 

Today, single estate, single variety seems to be the norm for so much of Specialty Coffee. Yet, when it comes to Indian beans, the generalist importers still bring 1990’s-style mixed-cultivar offerings. In part, this may be because India is often a low priority origin for them. Another reason may be that many American roasters wouldn’t even recognize the varieties grown in India. 

Most Indian varieties are unique to the country, which means that having a favorite Latin American or African variety is of little help to a roaster. The S-795, a part-Liberica cultivar (also known as Jember in Indonesia), is the only major Indian variety found elsewhere. 

For roasters needing a place to start, we share an internal ranking of the varieties that we maintain. Note that these are NOT our opinions on the beans. Rather, they reflect what we’ve observed and the feedback received from cuppings by industry professionals, sampling at the SCA Expo, and tastings by the coffee loving public. Below is where the varieties rank as of January 2021.

Note that we’ve also compiled TWO sets of rankings- one reflecting industry preferences and the other reflecting consumer preferences. We find this helps his given the disconnect between what the Specialty Coffee industry wants to serve and what Specialty Coffee customers want to drink. Some roasters tend to look for profiles that appeal to roasters and baristas; other roasters seek out consumer-friendly profiles.


More Information:

Quiz: How Well Do You Know the Major Indian Coffee Varieties?

Better Know a Coffee Cultivar: S-795

Better Know a Coffee Cultivar: Selection 9