From the first taste this light roast of Hospura has a cane sugar sweetness running through the whole cup. Strawberry, cranberry and red berries show first, followed by ripe pineapple and papaya, with subtle brown spice underneath. Candied lemon gives the medium acidity its structure, balanced by a clean, syrupy mouthfeel. The aftertaste is long with a return to the natural processing’s fruit compote profile along with hints of strewed apple.

The growers let elephants migrate through the farms, trampling a few coffee trees on the way. Their reasoning is plain: profitable coffee farms keep the native trees, plants and animals in place, and without them the forest gives way to other commercial activity that pays quickly and costs the land more in the long run.

With such a long heritage in coffee, India keeps its own cultivars in use. The S795 in this micro lot crosses Kent, which has Typica in its parentage, with S288, an Indian selection that is itself a hybrid of arabica and liberica.

This micro lot from Abrar’s farm is a modern anoxic natural. The estate harvests the cherry and holds it in airtight containers for three to four days, then dries it on raised beds. Natural processed beans carry more glucose and fructose than washed ones, and the anoxic process utilises these sugars during fermentation.