Coffee in India

India grows its coffee the slow way. Every bush is planted under shade, beneath two tiers of trees and among pepper, cardamom and oranges, and picked by hand on small farms in the hills of the south. It grows about 6 million bags a year, seventh in the world, most of it robusta and most of it in Karnataka, and sends most of it abroad. It also has a coffee all its own, Monsooned Malabar, and a legend for how coffee arrived. Here’s how much, where, when and how.

The short version

• About 6 million bags a year, seventh in the world.
• Mostly robusta: 72% of the 2023-24 crop.
• Karnataka grows about 71%; Kodagu (Coorg) is the biggest district.
• All grown under shade, among spices and fruit trees.
• Arabica harvest from about October–November; robusta to about February.
• Monsooned Malabar: beans aged in the monsoon winds.
• Five regional GIs, granted in 2019.

How much coffee does India grow?

About 6 million 60 kg bags a year. USDA’s figures, for a coffee year from October to September:

Coffee year	Arabica	Robusta	Total	Exports
2024/25	1.76 million	4.30 million	6.06 million	6.17 million
2025/26 (estimate)	1.73 million	4.70 million	6.43 million	6.03 million
2026/27 (forecast)	1.56 million	4.58 million	6.14 million	6.22 million

Source: USDA, May 2026.

The Coffee Board of India counted 360,500 tonnes in 2023-24, about 6 million bags: 101,500 tonnes of arabica and 259,000 of robusta. Exports can top production because India also imports about 1.3 million bags a year, and about 40% of its exports are instant coffee, USDA says.

Robusta’s share depends on the source:

Robusta’s share	Source
72% of production (2023-24)	Coffee Board
Over 75% of production (2026/27 forecast)	USDA’s figures
About two-thirds	USDA’s text

Where is coffee grown in India?

In three groups of regions, the Coffee Board says: the traditional hills of Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, in the Western Ghats; the non-traditional areas of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha, in the Eastern Ghats; and the North-East. The Coffee Board’s 2023-24 figures by district:

Region	State	Main coffee	Production, 2023-24
Kodagu (Coorg)	Karnataka	Robusta (85%), arabica	132,620 t
Chikkamagaluru	Karnataka	Robusta and arabica	85,155 t
Wayanad	Kerala	Robusta	61,950 t
Hassan (Manjarabad)	Karnataka	Robusta and arabica	36,800 t
Andhra Pradesh (Araku Valley)	Andhra Pradesh	Arabica	12,210 t
Travancore	Kerala	Robusta	9,050 t
Pulneys	Tamil Nadu	Arabica	8,440 t
Nilgiris	Tamil Nadu	Robusta and arabica	5,625 t
Shevaroys	Tamil Nadu	Arabica	3,925 t
Nelliampathy	Kerala	Robusta and arabica	2,750 t
Anamalais	Tamil Nadu	Arabica	1,350 t
Odisha	Odisha	Arabica	465 t
North-East	Seven states	Arabica and robusta	160 t

Source: Coffee Board, Database on Coffee, July 2024. Kodagu includes Chamarajanagar district.

By state, Karnataka grew 70.6%, Kerala 20.5% and Tamil Nadu 5.4%.

Grown under shade

All of it. The Coffee Board calls India the only country that grows all of its coffee under shade, beneath a two-tier canopy of evergreen and leguminous trees, with nearly 50 kinds of shade tree. The estates double as spice gardens: pepper, cardamom, vanilla, orange and banana grow among the coffee. The two species like different conditions:

	Arabica	Robusta
Elevation	1,000–1,500 m	500–1,000 m
Temperature	15–25 °C, cool	20–30 °C, hot and humid
Rainfall	1,600–2,500 mm	1,000–2,000 mm
Blossom showers	March–April	February–March

Source: Coffee Board. USDA puts most arabica lower, at 700–1,200 metres.

The main arabica varieties are S.795, released in the 1940s and still a favourite, Selection 9, Cauvery (a Catimor) and the old Kents, selected in the 1920s, the Coffee Board says.

When is coffee harvested in India?

From about October, depending on the species:

Stage	Arabica	Robusta	Source
Flowering to ripe fruit	8–9 months	10–11 months	USDA
Flowering to ripe fruit	About 7 months	About 9 months	Wikipedia
Harvest	Ripens from October–November	December–February, about two months after arabica	Coffee Board GI applications

Picking is selective and slow: a first fly picking of the earliest ripe cherries, then four or five rounds at 10- to 15-day intervals, and a final strip, USDA says.

Who grows Indian coffee?

Smallholders, mostly, though the count varies:

Count	Figure	Source
Holdings, 2023-24	440,748, of which 437,890 under 10 ha	Coffee Board
Coffee farmers, 2019	366,000, 98% small	Government of India, via PIB
Coffee growers	About 250,000, about 98% smallholders	USDA; Wikipedia

The government says smallholders grow about 70% of India’s coffee. Labour is the biggest cost, about 70% of the cost of production, USDA says.

Monsooned Malabar

India’s most famous speciality coffee is made by the weather. Dry-processed beans are stored at curing works on the coast, between Mangalore and Kozhikode, during the south-west monsoon, from June to September, when the air is saturated with moisture. The beans swell to almost double their size and turn from golden brown to pale yellow, and the coffee loses acidity, the Coffee Board says, giving good body, mild acidity and a sweet, mellow cup. The story goes that monsooning recreates what happened by accident to coffee in the holds of sailing ships bound for Europe. The government counts two speciality coffees among India’s GIs, including Monsooned Malabar Robusta, and the Coffee Board has also applied for Monsooned Malabar Arabica.

Where does Indian coffee go?

Mostly to Europe. The government says India exports to 128 countries, and earned a record US$1.8 billion in 2024-25, up 40%. Its top buyers were Italy (18.1%), Germany (11.0%), Belgium (7.5%), Russia (5.3%) and the UAE (5.1%). Italy uses about 60% of its Indian coffee at home, USDA says. About 61% of exports leave from Mangalore.

How much India exports depends on whom you ask: about 95% of production, USDA says, or about 70%, according to the government.

A short history

• 17th century: the Sufi saint Baba Budan is said to have brought seven coffee beans from Mocha in Yemen, hidden in his beard, and planted them in the hills of Chikmagalur now called the Bababudangiris. Sources date it differently: “around 1600”, the government says; “the beginning of the 17th century”, says Wikipedia; “about the 17th century”, says the old Mysore Gazetteer, quoted by the Coffee Board.
• 1820s: the first British plantations were set up near the Bababudangiris, Wikipedia says, and spread to Wayanad, the Shevaroys and the Nilgiris.
• 1870s: leaf rust devastated arabica, and many estates switched to tea; robusta and rust-tolerant arabicas followed.
• 1942: the Coffee Act set up the Coffee Board of India, which pooled growers’ coffee.
• 1993–1996: the market was liberalised; from September 1996 growers could sell anywhere.
• 2019: five regional coffees won Geographical Indications.

How do Indians drink their coffee?

Mostly as instant coffee at home, which makes up about 73% of household use, USDA says, but the south has its own classic: South Indian filter coffee, a sweet, milky coffee made with chicory, which became a commercial success in the 1940s, according to Wikipedia. Kerala adds chukku kaapi, brewed with dry ginger. India drinks about 1.58 million bags a year, USDA forecasts, and specialty cafés are spreading in Bengaluru, Mumbai and Jaipur. The Coffee Board itself runs 12 India Coffee Houses.

Indian coffee and other origins

• Coffee in Indonesia: another Asian robusta and arabica grower.
• Coffee in Vietnam: the world’s robusta giant.
• Coffee in Ethiopia: where arabica comes from.