At Blue Tokai, our mission has always been simple: making sure the cup of coffee you drink is of the highest quality and introducing you to the estates that grow our carefully sourced coffee beans. With the Producer Series, launched last year, we take your experience of Indian coffee to the highest possible level by featuring producers that are setting new standards in specialty coffee.
Presenting Kerehaklu Estate’s Strangler Natural, by Ajoy and Pranoy Thipaiah.
This lot, named after the numerous Strangler Fig trees that grow on the farm, was processed using a method unique to the farm. First, ripe cherries were selectively handpicked, sorted and fermented to amplify the green beans’ original fruity and wine-like aromas. Post sorting, the cherries were fermented in ambient conditions indoors using barrels with one-way fermenting airlocks which controlled any oxygen from entering the fermenter. This controlled fermentation was finished by sun drying the cherries on raised beds with turning and raking every 45 minutes.
Our roasters profiled this coffee as a light roast to further bring out the bean’s inherent and delicate taste notes of grapefruit, passion fruit, raspberry and red guava.
Speaking about this lot, Pranoy Thipiah, Co-Owner and Producer at Kerehaklu Estate said, “We placed our best pickers in this block for selective harvesting and then for close sorting. The cherries post fermentation and at the time of removal were wrinkled, golden-bronze in colour with aromatic notes of passionfruit and white wine!“
In fact, Kerehaklu has always been known to pioneer practices and techniques for four generations since its inception in 1953. Spread across 275 acres, the farm sits at an altitude of roughly 1200 metres above sea level in Chikmagalur. It gets its name from the old Kannada words 'haklu' which means ‘the shelter’ and 'kere' which means ‘by the lake’. Arabica varieties Chandragiri, Selections 6, 9 and 795, Selection 9, Selection 6 as well as small amounts of Anokhi Liberica and Robusta are grown here as well. Coffee here grows alongside varieties of wild fig, jungle mango, avocado, jackfruit and pomelos.
This was also the first time the estate tried lengthy and controlled fermentations that helped bring out the tropical fruitiness of the cup. Our Head Roaster Shreyas Chitnis was excited about the flavour notes that came out during the roasting process. “I definitely wanted to amplify the clean fruit notes of berries and tropical fruits so I roasted this coffee with a short roast time but slightly extended development after first crack. This was done to caramelise just the right amount of sugar, creating a sweet flavour profile that highlighted the coffee’s inherent fruity sweetness without sacrificing its juicy acidity.”
You can enjoy the sparkling citric acidity that is complemented with the lingering aftertaste of summer berries especially when brewing it in as a Pour Over, in an Aeropress or a Channi.
If you want to get your hands on our limited edition Producer Series, click here.
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