Nandipura and Indravally: five generations of coffee since 1900

Nandipura and Indravally are two coffee estates in Mudigere taluk, Chikmagalur, farmed by the same family since 1900. Five generations have now worked the same ground at 3,400 feet. What follows is the short version of how the estate came to look the way it does.

Key takeaways

• Founded in 1900, two estates, one family, five generations.
• All Arabica until the 1980s, when the family planted some of the first Robusta in the area.
• A low crop in 1991-92 led to eight irrigation ponds, built from 1996.

An Arabica estate, until the 1980s

For most of its history Nandipura grew only Arabica. The shade over it was, and still is, the indigenous forest left standing from the old plantings: jackfruit, ficus, fig and Malabar plum, rather than the silver oak common on other estates. One block of Robusta on the estate today dates from the grandfather's time.

The decision to plant Robusta

In the 1980s two Arabica crops in a row came in low. Shricharan Jayaram's father had seen Robusta growing on a trip to Balehonnur, and on his return he planted it. It was one of the first Robusta plantings in this area. The Robusta on the estate now runs from two-year-old plants to blocks thirty-five to forty years old.

Water, after a bad year

The crop of 1991-92 was one of the lowest the estate had picked. The family concluded that Robusta at this scale needed irrigation, and from 1996 they put the investment into ponds. There are eight on the estate now. Solar covers part of the estate, not all of it, where the subsidy made it worth doing.

The walk through the Robusta blocks covers the pumps, the sprinklers and the pulper in detail.

What the estate holds to

• The owner in the field. A planter who filmed the estate in September said the difference between estates is whether the owner walks in among the plants and talks to the labour where they work. Those are his words, not ours.
• Replanting, not just tending. Shricharan Jayaram reckons a Robusta plant lasts around forty-five years if it is picked well, and replanting is how newer selections reach the estate. Part of the grandfather's block was replanted this season, and more is planned for next year.
• Its own planting material. Coffee and pepper seedlings are raised in the estate's own nursery.

What outsiders have said

The estate is a member of the Karnataka Planters' Association and holds a Certificate of Merit for its Robusta parchment. In an earlier blind cupping by CoffeeReview, two of the estate's coffees placed third and fourth among fifteen Indian coffees. What the tasters wrote, criticism included, is in the journal.

Who farms it now

The family members the estate names are N.M. Jayaram and Shricharan Jayaram. Shricharan answers for the estate in recent interviews. Visitors who want to meet the family and see the estate can arrange it; visits are by request.