Araku Valley

Araku Valley is Indian coffee’s new frontier. In the hills of the Eastern Ghats, far from the old estates of the south-west, tribal farmers grow arabica on small plots, mostly without chemicals, and their coffee has travelled as far as a café in Paris. Andhra Pradesh now has more coffee holdings than any other state, and since 2019 Araku Valley Arabica has been a protected name.

The short version

• Arabica from the Eastern Ghats, at about 900–1,100 m.
• Grown by tribal smallholders, largely organically.
• Citrus, medium to sharp acidity and a spicy tinge.
• 12,210 tonnes in Andhra Pradesh in 2023-24, almost all arabica.
• A GI since 2019.

What does Araku Valley coffee taste like?

The Coffee Board’s GI application describes the cup as having medium body, medium to sharp acidity and citrus flavour, in a complex combination with an intense aroma and a spicy tinge.

Where and how high is it grown?

In the hills of Visakhapatnam district in Andhra Pradesh and the neighbouring region of Odisha, the GI application says. Coffee grows under thick shade, in dry deciduous forest of wild mango, jamun, jack and rosewood, which shelters it through the long dry season from November to May. The sources give different conditions:

	Figure	Source
Altitude	900–1,100 m	Coffee Board region profile; GI specification
Altitude	3,000–5,300 ft (about 900–1,600 m)	GI application’s text
Rainfall	1,000–1,200 mm	Coffee Board region profile
Rainfall	1,250–1,500 mm	GI application’s text
Varieties	S.795, Selection 4, Selection 5, Cauvery	Coffee Board

How much coffee does it grow?

The Coffee Board counts Andhra Pradesh’s coffee in three zones. Its 2023-24 figures:

Zone	Planted area	Holdings
Minumuluru	46,089 ha	119,638
Chintapalli (East and West)	42,104 ha	79,261
Araku Valley	19,169 ha	46,898
Andhra Pradesh	107,363 ha	245,797

Andhra Pradesh grew 12,210 tonnes, 12,170 of it arabica: 3.4% of India’s coffee, but 12% of its arabica. Its yields are low: about 145 kg a bearing hectare, against about 810 for India as a whole, by our calculation from the Coffee Board’s figures. Neighbouring Odisha grew another 465 tonnes on 5,343 hectares. The Coffee Board’s older region profile gives Araku Valley 20,000 hectares and an average of 3,100 tonnes.

Tribal coffee

Coffee here is a development story. Andhra Pradesh’s forest department planted 1,296 hectares of coffee in forest areas between 1960 and 1978, and from 1976 the Integrated Tribal Development Agency encouraged tribal farmers to plant coffee on their podu (shifting cultivation) land, giving them rights to it, the GI application says. The area grew from barely 700 hectares in 1975–85 to 18,466 hectares in 2002, 14,140 of them tribal. Today almost all of Andhra Pradesh’s holdings are under 10 hectares.

The tribal growers farm organically, the application says, using organic manures, green manuring and organic pest control, largely because they lack access to chemicals. With the Naandi Foundation, their coffee has reached Paris: a café-store called Araku opened there, and the coffee is sold at the upmarket grocery La Grande Épicerie.

A short history

• 1898: a Briton, Bordie, first grew coffee in Andhra Pradesh, in the Pumuleru valley of East Godavari.
• 1920: coffee arrived again with zamindars, revenue officers and tribal growers, and spread to Anantagiri, Minumuluru and Chintapalli.
• 1930: the Maharaja of Jeypore introduced coffee to Koraput, in Odisha.
• 1950s: the Coffee Board surveyed the region for coffee.
• 1958: Odisha planted coffee in the Machkund basin to stop soil erosion.
• 1976: coffee became a tribal development programme.

Source: Araku Valley Arabica GI application. Odisha’s Koraput Coffee won two Fine Cup Awards in 2024, for washed and natural coffees, the government reports.

Araku Valley and other Indian origins

• Coffee in India: the whole country, its harvest and its history.
• Chikmagalur: where Indian coffee began.
• Coorg (Kodagu): India’s biggest coffee district.