Catherine Ganapathy and Leo Soriano Jr. founded Howl & Kodama back in 2017. Since then they have been on a mission to introduce us to the tastes of Indian coffee and the flavours of Coorg region.
Shot in November 2019, this film shows Leo and Catherine reaching out to Coffee lovers at Chye Seng Huat Hardware with a tasting of Coorg Pepper and the Coffee that grows in its shade.
Since the beginning they have promoted the benefits of Shade Grown Coffee and Inter-Cropping, to both the communities that harvest the greens or pepper and the people in the public square, who support them by choosing something healthier.
Alilu Estate, is a case in point; a family-run farm with three generations of experience. Despite global demand pressures, Alilu continues to eschew the conventional agricultural methods that so often result in depleted yields, impacts the longevity of farm land and ultimately harms the livelihoods of whole communities.
The estate consistently employs community villagers to maintain and harvest coffee and other crops year-round. Blessed with perennial springs that supply the farm with fresh water, the farm grows not just coffee but also other crops such as figs, pepper, ginger and bird's eye chilli.
The intercropping of other produce increases biodiversity and stability of the land, with benefits like weed suppression and improved soil structure. The coffee is also shade-grown, under the cover of taller trees like coconut, jamun (a type of plum native to India), mango, jackfruit, fig, and avocado. All these make for a diverse environment, with over 40 bird species, and elephants, squirrels and tigers being frequent visitors.
Alilu means squirrel in the local language, and this squirrel in the photos has been a resident of the estate for years, if not decades. The grandmother of the family that runs the estate knows the squirrel well, and the workers watch the behaviour of the wildlife around the farm to tell whether the soil needs tending or the plants need water, staying in tune with the animal residents.
During harvest season, the workers go through 3 rounds of selective picking, choosing only the optimal ripeness. Cherries first enter a siphon tank, with the floaters removed. The outer skin of the cherries are then removed by the depulper, and then the mucilage. The pulp is collected and later used on the farm land. The coffee goes on to dry on top shade net, on terracotta then concrete courtyard, until it reaches an optimal moisture level of 11-13%. Before export, the dried parchment is sent to a dry mill nearby, to get rid of any defectives beans and undergo a final round of colour sorting.
The resulting cup is clean and high quality. With quality-focused farms such as Alilu Estate amongst those who lead the charge, it has impacted other producers in India to do the same, stepping up quality and introducing sustainable practices. We are glad to be part of this evolution of specialty coffee in India.
Find out more about PPP Coffee with the links below and keep watching us on YouTube, for podcasts, how toos and coffee hacks from planet coffee.
Find our coffees here: pppcoffee.com/collections/drink
And remember to check in on the Supernova range for specialty coffees for all seasons.
0:00 - Cupping Cat & Leo's Dream
0:13 - Black Pepper From Korg
0:42 - Shade Grown Coffee Helping Communities
1:00 - What Makes A Good Farm
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Additional Footage:
Howl & Kodama
Cottonbro Pexels.com
Grumpy Bird - Shah Jahan Pexels.com
