Monsooned Malabar

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A cup of Monsooned Malabar and a packet of grounds

Monsooned Malabar is a particularly famous variety of high-roast Arabica coffee bean that is produced in Malabar region in Kerala, Southern India, and partially spoilt through exposure to damp atmosphere during the monsoon season, giving rise to the name. It has a very rich, smooth flavour, and particularly strong aroma. Some coffee purists consider Monsooned Malabar to not be a proper coffee blend, as it has been spoilt.

Monsooned coffee beans are pale gold in colour and more than 7.2 mm in size (about 90% more than a normal bean). The moisture content is 13-14%. It has a soft, mellow, full bodied character and pleasant spicy flavour. It is also versatile and can be used by itself or to create blends. Because of its low acidity it is widely used to blend with other coffee from Central America and Africa, provide a strong base and accentuating flavours of the latter.

The Monsooned coffee originated through accident, when, during the months that the beans were transported by sea from India to Europe, the high humidity and battering of the sea wind would combine to cause the coffee to ripen from the fresh green to a more aged pale yellow.The pale coffee beans yielded the coffee with distinct, mellow taste, low on acidity and created a rage in the market place, especially in Scandinavia. After the invention of faster forms of transport, the beans started being ripened through being left out in trays in the open during the monsoon season (June to August), effecting a similar change in the beans. The coffee is regularly raked and turned so as to evenly expose the beans, collected after a few days, and then dried for two months.

The coffee is somewhat hard to get hold of. In the UK at least, only two supermarket chains (Waitrose and Sainsbury's) are known to stock it, however it can be ordered quite cheaply via the Internet and mail order. As can be most "green" or un-roasted, coffees.

Whittard's (in the UK) also stock Monsoon Malabar beans, and will grind to your specification.

A similar coffee is known as "Mysore Nuggets", from a different area of Kerala.