Description
About Robusta and DRWakefield (importers)
Specialty robusta, or canephora as it is also known, has become a core component of the DRWakefield offer. At World of Coffee in Copenhagen this year, they hosted a cupping to showcase some of the incredible robusta partners they are working with in Vietnam, Brazil, Guatemala and India. Roasters, buyers and producers were impressed by the diversity of profiles on offer. Slowly, people’s perceptions of what robusta is, and what robusta can be, are changing. Critical to this shift are the producers that push boundaries in the search of quality.
Harley Estate is a great example of just this. They have been working with them for over a decade, sourcing specialty robusta for an exclusive relationship in the UK. However, in 2017, Harley purchased their second farm, Raxidi Estate. Historically, this heritage robusta estate focused on a commercial offer of conventional coffees. But Harley had a new vision: to combine the history and beauty of Raxidi Estate with their expertise in specialty robusta production. We caught up with Tapaswini Purnesh, the Marketing Director, to hear about the changes they have made.
Infrastructure Development
Raxidi Estate is nestled in the picturesque region of Manjarabad, Southern India. The farm has a remarkable coffee history stretching back 180 years. The 81-hectares of land are populated almost exclusively by Old Peridinia robusta trees and many of the coffee trees are over 100 years old. The canopy of native fauna sits imposingly above the coffee crop, home to a diverse array of wildlife.
We have seen a rise in demand for specialty Robusta both in the Indian and global market in the last 3 years. Good Indian robustas have great inherent flavours, but sometimes have a bad reputation in the market as being a coffee of a lower quality. We wanted to change that perspective and bring out notes that you perhaps wouldn’t associate with a robusta.
Tapa explains that infrastructure has been key to making the transition from commercial to specialty robustas. There is now an onsite Q grader at Raxidi that is constantly cupping different sections of the farm to monitor quality progression. This has happened in conjunction with a new on farm processing unit to give the quality department more control over post-harvest processing. The farm can produce up to 2,000 bags/annum in a good year, so efficient and detailed QC is imperative to monitor quality development.
In collaboration with the SCAI (speciality coffee association of India), Raxidi have also introduced a small coffee research institute attached to the estate.
The coffee community in India has collectively been working very hard over the last couple of years with organisations like SCAI and the Coffee board of India to ensure that coffee cultivation is of the highest global standards.
Replanting & Harvesting
To compliment the vast array of Old Peridinia on the estate, Raxidi has recently introduced younger trees to the farm in what they call ‘Kadri’ sections. These younger trees, defined as being less than 10 years old, now make up 5% of the estate. The plan is to continue introducing seedlings to increase this diversity and enable a more structured approach to crop management available in the future.
Old Peridinia will remain the dominant variety at Raxidi Estate and the story of this variety is a fascinating one, named after the Royal Botanical Gardens of Peradeniya in Sri Lanka. To find out more, Jamie Treby has written a fascinating article about the history of leaf rust, the birth of Robusta and the legacy of Ceylon.
As well as planting, there has been a major shift in harvest processes at Raxidi Estate. Historically, the farm was harvested in one sweep with most of the crop processed as naturals. Today, the harvest runs from January – March, with pickers passing through the crop over the course of 3 months to ensure only ripe cherries are chosen for harvest. Post harvest, 80% of the farm is processed as washed coffee, mostly Kaapi Royale quality. The remaining 20% is processed as a combination of natural and experimental methods conducted on site.
Information and pictures sourced from DRWakefield specialty coffee
How to store coffee at home
To keep your coffee as fresh as possible, you need to protect your coffee from air, sunlight, heat, and moisture. These all will contribute to making it stale and lose flavour.
We suggest keeping your coffee in an airtight container, in a cool, dry cupboard. Our bags all have a de-gassing valve, to let out CO2 that the beans produce once roasted, it’s not just there to sniff the coffee, and a reusable ziplock. So if you don’t have a fancy coffee jar just push the air out the bag, zip the lock and give the bag another squeeze to get any remaining air out.
Do not store your coffee in the fridge. Roasted coffee absorbs moisture from the air (hygroscopic) and will also take up surrounding aromas. The aromas and moisture levels in the fridge will react with the coffee and delicate flavours will deteriorate.
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