Coorg as the top coffee producer and exporter of India.

Coorg is the heart of India's coffee country. Coffee is the world's most heavily traded comodity after crude oil. Coorg boasts a land area four times larger than Hong Kong and seven times the area of Singapore. Most of it is under tree cover because unlike tea plants, the coffee bush requires shade.

India is acknowledged as the producer of the finest mild coffees. Coorf and the neighbouring Chickmangalur districts in Karnataka have consistently produced and exoprted high quality coffee for over 150 years. The coffee output of these two districts accounts for 70 per cent of the total coffee produced in the country. Coorg coffee is valued for its blue colour, clean beans and fine liquoring qualities and hence is in demand in the international markets.

In March and April, the coffee blossom time in Coorg, when blossoms transform into berries, the bushes are cropped. The cherry-red fruit is then pulped; the seeds are seperated, dried and sent for curing. Coorg or Kodagu is the district which is one of the largest producers of pepper, cardamom and honey in the world.

Not much is known about the early history of Coorg. Recorded history is available only from 1600 A.D. onwards when Kodava rajas(kings) ruled over the region and established their capital at Mercara by constructing a mud-walled fort. The martial Kodavas troubled Hyder Ali and his son Tipe Sultan, who ruled the Mysore region in the 18th century, by way of sporadic rebellions. But in 1785, Tipu's large army marched into Kodagu and devastated the kingdom. Fourteen years later, with the help of the British, who defeated Tipu Sultan following the historic siege of Srirangapatana in 1799, Coorg regained independence and under the leadership of Raja(King) Veerarajendra rebuilt the capital. Later in 1834, the British exiled its ruler Chikkaveera Rajendra and assumed administrative charge of the district. The British left India in 1947, leaving behind a legacy of coffee plantattions, colonial buildings and well-planned road networks.

Give a try to this coffee. It is also so good.