Parchment coffee drying on rows of raised tables at an estate in the Western Ghats

Indian Green Coffee · Global Export

From India. To the world.

Green coffee selected at origin in southern India, graded and prepared for roasters, importers and distributors across Europe and beyond.

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Indian coffee, in its simplest form.

India grows its coffee in the hill districts of the south, under tree shade rather than in open sun. Karnataka accounts for most of the crop, with Kerala and Andhra Pradesh supplying the rest of what we handle. Arabica sits on the higher slopes, Robusta below it, so both species come out of one origin and one harvest window. What leaves the country is green coffee, unroasted and sorted by screen size and grade.

COFICOM works between that supply and the buyers who need it. We select lots at origin, arrange curing and grading, prepare the export paperwork, and ship against an agreed specification. There is no retail side to the business. The point is a short chain between an Indian estate and your roastery.

  • Green coffee onlyUnroasted lots, prepared to export grade
  • B2B supplyRoasters, importers, distributors, private label
  • Samples firstApprove a sample before committing to volume
Workers hand-sorting parchment coffee on raised drying tables
Hand sorting on the drying tables

Our coffees

Ten grades across Arabica and Robusta, plus the monsooned lots. Availability shifts with the harvest, so ask what is currently in the warehouse.

  • Rainforest Alliance certified coffee across the catalogue
  • EUDR data pack with every lot
  • How this works
  • Pale, swollen monsooned coffee resting in a drying bed

    Monsooned

    Monsoon Malabar

    Process
    Monsooned
    Grade
    AA
    Origin
    Malabar coast, Karnataka and Kerala
    Best for
    Espresso base, body in a blend

    Selected cherry coffee is held in open warehouses on the coast through the southwest monsoon, raked and re-bagged as it takes up humidity. The beans swell, fade to a pale gold and shed almost all their acidity. Heavy, woody and faintly spiced. The name has been protected since 2007 and applies only to coffee monsooned between Mangalore and Kozhikode.

    Enquire about this grade
  • Workers hand-sorting washed Arabica on raised drying tables

    Arabica

    Arabica Plantation MNEB

    Process
    Washed
    Screen
    19 and above, 7.50 mm
    Origin
    Karnataka
    Best for
    Single origin, filter

    Mysore Nuggets Extra Bold sits at the top of India's washed Arabica ladder and has done since 1992. The grade allows no peaberry, no black beans and no bits, so what arrives is an unusually large and uniform bean. Clean and structured in the cup, with cocoa and a dry spice.

    Enquire about this grade
  • Washed Arabica drying on rows of raised tables

    Arabica

    Arabica Plantation A

    Process
    Washed
    Screen
    17, 6.65 mm
    Origin
    Karnataka and Kerala
    Best for
    Single origin and blends

    The grade most buyers mean when they ask for Indian Plantation. Screen 17, cleanly prepared, and consistent enough to write into a repeat specification. Dark cocoa with a dry, peppery edge, and acidity that sits behind the body rather than in front of it.

    Enquire about this grade
  • Shade-grown Arabica on an estate slope

    Arabica

    Arabica Plantation B

    Process
    Washed
    Screen
    15, 6.00 mm
    Origin
    Karnataka and Kerala
    Best for
    Blend component

    The same washed preparation as Plantation A on a smaller screen. The cup runs close to its larger sibling, which makes this a straightforward way to hold an Indian Arabica component in a blend without paying for bean size that will not show up in the roast.

    Enquire about this grade
  • Coffee drying in the fruit on a curing floor

    Arabica

    Arabica Cherry AA

    Process
    Natural, dried in the fruit
    Screen
    18, 7.10 mm
    Origin
    Karnataka
    Best for
    Espresso, darker roasts

    Cherry is the Indian term for natural coffee, dried whole in the fruit on patios and raised beds. At AA the bean is bold and the cup gains a layer of dried fruit over the usual cocoa and spice. Sweeter and heavier than the washed grades.

    Enquire about this grade
  • Picker stripping ripe cherry from an Arabica bush

    Arabica

    Arabica Cherry AB

    Process
    Natural, dried in the fruit
    Screen
    15 to 17, combined
    Origin
    Karnataka and Kerala
    Best for
    Espresso blends

    AB combines the A and B screens, so bean size varies more than in a single-screen grade while the preparation stays the same. Natural drying gives it much of the sweetness and body of Cherry AA at a working price.

    Enquire about this grade
  • Coffee spread across a curing yard for drying

    Arabica

    Arabica Peaberry

    Process
    Washed
    Screen
    Round sieve, PB
    Origin
    Karnataka
    Best for
    Filter, single origin

    A peaberry forms when only one of the two seeds in a cherry develops, leaving a single round bean. It occurs naturally in a small share of any harvest and is separated on round-hole sieves. Denser than a flat bean, and usually brighter and more concentrated in the cup.

    Enquire about this grade
  • Workers raking washed Robusta across the drying floor

    Robusta

    Robusta Kaapi Royale

    Process
    Washed, parchment A
    Screen
    17, 6.65 mm
    Origin
    Karnataka and Kerala
    Best for
    Espresso base

    Kaapi Royale is the Coffee Board's trade name for the top of India's washed Robusta range, graded at Parchment A and free of primary defects. Clean, neutral in its bitterness and full in body. This is the grade that keeps Indian Robusta on European blend sheets.

    Enquire about this grade
  • Washed Robusta drying on raised tables above the valley

    Robusta

    Robusta Parchment AB

    Process
    Washed
    Screen
    15 to 17, combined
    Origin
    Karnataka and Kerala
    Best for
    Espresso, soluble

    Parchment is the Indian term for washed Robusta. At AB the screen is combined rather than single, which keeps the price sensible while retaining the cleaner profile that washing gives the species. Crema, body and a low-acid base.

    Enquire about this grade
  • Ripening Robusta cherry in clusters on the branch

    Robusta

    Robusta Cherry AB

    Process
    Natural, dried in the fruit
    Screen
    15 to 17, combined
    Origin
    Karnataka and Kerala
    Best for
    Dark roast, cold brew

    Natural-dried Robusta on a combined screen. Drying in the fruit lays a molasses sweetness over the weight and crema the species is bought for, which is what separates a decent Indian Cherry from the flat, rubbery Robusta that gives it a bad name.

    Enquire about this grade

Grades follow the Coffee Board of India's classification, in which Plantation is washed Arabica, Cherry is natural Arabica or Robusta, and Parchment is washed Robusta. Screen retention percentages, moisture, defect counts and cup scores are confirmed lot by lot against the sample you receive.

Coffee across India.

Almost all of India's coffee comes off a narrow band of hill country in the south. Elevation is the variable that moves the cup furthest, and it also decides which species goes where: Arabica on the upper slopes, Robusta below. The ranges below are the Coffee Board's published figures for each district.

Elevation of the growing districts

  • Arabica
  • Arabica & Robusta
  • Robusta
  • BababudangirisKarnataka

  • NilgirisTamil Nadu

  • ChikmagalurKarnataka

  • CoorgKarnataka

  • Araku ValleyAndhra Pradesh

  • WayanadKerala

Swipe the chart to see all six districts.

State
Elevation
Rainfall
Species
Varieties
Interplanted

Malabar Coast

Karnataka and Kerala · coastal

Not a growing altitude but a processing zone. The Monsooned Malabar name is restricted to coffee monsooned on the coast between Mangalore and Kozhikode, and only AA grades and above are eligible. Arabica and Robusta each hold a separate registration, from 2007.

Season

Picking and processing windows

  • Arabica

  • Robusta

  • Monsooning

The belt

Where the districts sit

Bababudangiris Chikmagalur Coorg Malabar Coast Wayanad Araku Valley Nilgiris

Elevation, rainfall, variety and intercrop figures are as published by the Coffee Board of India for each region. They describe the district, not an individual lot, and lot figures are confirmed per shipment. Nilgiri coffee is sourced on request rather than held as a standing offer.

What makes it different.

01

Shade grown

Almost all Indian coffee grows beneath a two-tier canopy of native and planted trees, often interplanted with pepper and cardamom. Ripening is slower under shade. The result looks closer to managed forest than to open farmland.

02

Arabica and Robusta

Few origins supply both species at commercial scale and export quality. That means an Arabica programme and a Robusta programme can run out of one country, one harvest window and one set of paperwork.

03

A process of its own

Monsooned Malabar exists because of where the Malabar coast sits. Months of controlled monsoon exposure rebuild the bean, and the cup changes with it. No other origin reproduces the profile.

04

Distinct origins

Chikmagalur, Kodagu, Wayanad and Araku are separate growing environments, and they cup differently. Enough range, in practice, to source contrast inside a single origin instead of one profile repeated.

From origin to export.

Six stages sit between a cherry on an Indian hillside and a pallet on your dock. We keep the chain short and put the specification in writing.

  1. 01

    Origin

    We buy from estates and curing works in districts we already know, rather than off an anonymous list.

  2. 02

    Selection

    Lots are chosen against your brief: species, grade, process, cup profile and the volume you actually need.

  3. 03

    Processing

    Curing, hulling, grading and screen separation all happen at origin, before anything is committed to a bag.

  4. 04

    Quality

    Samples go to you first. Nothing ships until the lot in the warehouse matches the sample you approved.

  5. 05

    Export

    Bagging, marking and documentation are prepared for your port and its customs requirements.

  6. 06

    Delivery

    The shipment is booked and tracked on the agreed terms, with one point of contact from order to arrival.

Sustainability and compliance.

Every lot is prepared with the deforestation data an EU importer needs, and Rainforest Alliance certified coffee runs across the catalogue.

European Union emblem

EU Deforestation Regulation

Regulation (EU) 2023/1115

The due diligence statement is filed by the EU operator placing the coffee on the market, which is usually the importer rather than the exporter. What that operator needs from origin is data, and preparing it is our side of the job.

  • GeolocationPlot coordinates for the land each lot was grown on, at the precision the regulation asks for.
  • LegalityEvidence that production and export comply with the relevant Indian law.
  • TraceabilityHarvest and curing records that tie a numbered lot back to those plots.

India is classified low risk in the Commission's first country benchmarking. Operators sourcing from low-risk countries may use the simplified due diligence procedure and are not required to carry out the risk assessment and mitigation steps in Articles 10 and 11. Geolocation data is still required.

Rainforest Alliance certification seal

Rainforest Alliance certified

2020 Sustainable Agriculture Standard

Certification covers farm-level practice and the chain of custody that carries a certified claim through to your warehouse. Certified coffee runs across the catalogue rather than sitting in one corner of it.

  • Farm levelAudited against the 2020 standard, which covers forest and water protection, working conditions and record keeping.
  • Chain of custodyCertified volume is transacted on the Rainforest Alliance platform, so the claim reconciles on your certificate.
  • Per shipmentCertificate and licence details are quoted with the offer and repeated on the shipping documents.

Certified scope is confirmed per contract. Ask for it at enquiry stage and we will state on the offer which lots carry a certified claim.

How the export side works.

Green coffee

Unroasted lots only, prepared to export grade. Standard jute by default, or another packing if your line needs it.

Wholesale volumes

From evaluation samples up to container quantities. Tell us the requirement and we will confirm what is workable for the season.

Export documentation

Commercial and shipping paperwork prepared for the destination market. Buyer-specific documents are arranged in advance rather than at the port.

International logistics

Booking, consolidation and routing are arranged with our forwarding partners, to the port and Incoterms you already work on.

Customer enquiries

One point of contact, direct answers, and a written offer stating grade, price basis and shipment window.

Tell us the requirement.

Grade, volume, destination port and timing. Send what you have and we will come back with what is workable.

Discuss your requirements

Enquiries and samples.

Tell us what you are sourcing and we will reply with what we can offer.

Export office
Plot No. 22, Kudige Somwarpet,
Kushalnagar Post Industrial Area,
Kodagu District, Karnataka, India