Saturday, February 07, 2009

Indian Coffee

Today was Indian food/music day in Jutan land. I went to Blue Bottle coffee today and got one of the last bags of "Balmadi Estate: Bindi" coffee beans they had there, from India. It smells awesome and they told me some cool stuff about how they grow and harvest the coffee, sounds crazy! Anyway it smells awesome and I am excited to try it out.

As well as this tasty coffee, I got the Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack today, and MAN IT IS AMAZING. It's by the Indian composer "A.R. Rahman", who is very well known in India and also is obviously gonna win an Academy Award for this soundtrack - it's absolutely amazing and matches the portrayal of Mumbai in the movie SO well. That movie was reallllllly good, and the music play a really key role in the movie, too.

From http://www.elanorganic.com/India_Balmadi.asp: (looks like this place in San Diego also imports it from India)
India Balmadi Estate: Ramanand & Bindi
Elan Organic Coffees imports a beautiful award winning coffee from the Balmadi Estate, situated in the Blue Mountains of Southern India, the Nilgiris District of the state of Tamil Nadu. It is part of the O'Valley group of plantations that were developed over 150 years ago by an enterprising Scotsman, John Ouchterloney. These plantations are also home to the mysterious Toda tribes.
Elan will be the first to import these coffees into North America! The Ramanand is washed and the Bindi is natural processed, both from the Balmadi Estate.
The Estate produces one of the highest grown coffees in India. Their coffee is nurtured by native shade trees, called Sholas. The producer plants according to bio-dynamics, learned from Rudolf Steiner of Germany. This agriculture method depends not only on the quality of the soil, but also the cosmos-movements of the sun, moon and planets. To maximize the effect of their inputs, the producer follows a bio-dynamic calendar for planting, harvesting and applying natural fertilizers. The Estate is surrounded by a forest in which sambhar, bison, deer, elephants, panther and monkeys roam freely. Every year, the producer plants more shade cover and adds many new varieties of trees, increasing biodiversity and sustainability.
The coffee has won the Flavour of India, Fine Cup Award 2004. for India's best Arabica coffee.

Altitude: 3600-5400 feet
Variety: Kent and Selection 795
Processing Method: Washed & Natural
Grade: Strictly Hard Bean
Species: Arabica
Harvest: November to January

Cup
Characteristics: full rich body, sweet acidity, citrus, caramel, apricot tones with a pleasant lingering aftertaste

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