Monsooned Malabar
Not a single brand or estate, but a distinctive way of conditioning coffee in the monsoon air of India’s Malabar coast.
Monsooned Malabar is a processing style, not a coffee variety or a company. The name refers to the Malabar coast and to the monsooning process. The coffee itself is grown in the coffee-growing regions of southern India, and the monsooning is carried out in warehouses along the coast.
In monsooning, dried coffee is spread and raked in ventilated warehouses during the south-west monsoon, from about June to September, so that it takes up moisture from the humid air. A Coffee Board filing describes the whole process as taking around 12 to 16 weeks. The beans swell and turn a pale golden colour, and the process is reported to lower their acidity.
The usual account of its origin is a story about sailing ships. Coffee shipped from India to Europe on long sea voyages arrived changed by months of humid sea air, and the altered flavour found its admirers; the effect was later recreated on land. The Coffee Board filing says monsooning began “quite by accident”. This is the traditional explanation rather than a fully documented history, and details vary between tellers.
Monsooned Malabar is generally described as heavy-bodied and low in acidity, with chocolatey, spicy and nutty notes.
- Type
- A processing style, not a single brand
- Monsooning
- Warehouses along the Malabar coast, Mangalore to Kozhikode
- Season
- South-west monsoon, about June to September
- Duration
- About 12 to 16 weeks (Coffee Board filing)
Editor’s Selection is an editorial choice by Sunjae Sharmah. Names and marks belong to their owners; no affiliation with, or endorsement by, the brand is implied.
Added October 2026