Coorg (Kodagu)

Coorg, now Kodagu, is India’s coffee heartland. This hill district on the slopes of the Western Ghats in Karnataka grows more coffee than any other in India, more than a third of the national crop. Most of it is robusta, but its arabica is the one with a protected name: Coorg Arabica, a GI since 2019. Coffee here grows under shade, among sacred groves and wildlife, in a district whose main community, the Kodavas, took it up as their own.

The short version

• India’s biggest coffee district: 132,620 t in 2023-24, 36.8% of the crop.
• Mostly robusta: 85% of output.
• Coorg Arabica, grown at 750–1,100 m, a GI since 2019.
• Intensely aromatic, full-bodied, light acidity, says the Coffee Board.
• About 44,000 holdings, almost all small.

What does Coorg coffee taste like?

The Coffee Board’s GI application describes Coorg Arabica as intensely aromatic, with full body and light acidity, and credits the district’s elevation, shade and Western Ghats landscape for its aroma and flavour. The same application notes that Starbucks sold a single-origin Coorg coffee in the US under its Reserve programme in 2016, as The Hindu reported.

Where and how high is it grown?

On the eastern and western slopes of the Western Ghats, in Kodagu district, the GI application says. The figures differ by source:

	Figure	Source
Altitude	750–1,100 m	Coorg Arabica GI specification; Coffee Board region profile
Rainfall	1,000–2,500 mm	Coffee Board region profile
Arabica area	26,000 ha (profile); 27,838 ha planted (2023-24)	Coffee Board
Robusta area	56,000 ha (profile); 79,883 ha planted (2023-24)	Coffee Board

The GI application’s own region panel prints 900–1,100 m, 20,000 ha and 3,100 tonnes, which are the figures the Coffee Board gives for Araku Valley, apparently copied in error. The soils are red laterites, rich in organic matter, the application says.

The main varieties are S.795, Selection 6, Selection 9 and Cauvery for arabica, and S.274 and CxR for robusta, with pepper, cardamom, orange, banana and arecanut grown among them, the Coffee Board says.

How much coffee does it grow?

More than anywhere else in India. The Coffee Board’s 2023-24 figures, which include neighbouring Chamarajanagar:

	Arabica	Robusta	Total
Planted area	27,838 ha	79,883 ha	107,721 ha
Production	19,220 t	113,400 t	132,620 t

That is 36.8% of India’s coffee. It comes from about 44,000 holdings: 22,516 in Madikeri and 21,417 in Virajpet, almost all under 10 hectares.

When is it harvested?

The arabica berries harden and turn yellow in October, then red as they ripen, the GI application says, and robusta follows about two months later, according to the Coffee Board’s Wayanad application. The weather has been erratic: Kodagu had 177% more rain than normal in January and February 2026, USDA reports.

Coffee and the Kodavas

Coffee is the backbone of Kodagu’s economy, and was taken up by the Kodavas, the district’s main community, the GI application says. Every village keeps at least one devarakadu, a sacred grove left in its natural state among the plantations, which shelters some of the region’s wildlife: elephants, tigers, bison, leopards and sambar deer. Coorg’s coffee exports grew steadily from 1857 to 1867, the application records.

Coorg and other Indian origins

• Coffee in India: the whole country, its harvest and its history.
• Chikmagalur: where Indian coffee began.
• Wayanad: Kerala’s robusta country, next door.