Hassan (Manjarabad)

Hassan is Karnataka’s third coffee district, after Kodagu and Chikmagalur, and India’s fourth. The Coffee Board calls it the Manjarabad region, and its coffee grows around Sakleshpur, on gently sloping land cut by small streams. It grows both species, a little more robusta than arabica, and its washed robustas are among the best in India.

The short version

• 36,800 tonnes in 2023-24, about a tenth of India’s coffee.
• Robusta and arabica, at 900–1,100 metres.
• Washed robusta with chocolate, dried fruit and spice: the 2019 Fine Cup winner.
• Best robusta in India in the 2014 competition, too.
• Around Sakleshpur, with pepper, cardamom and arecanut.

What does Hassan coffee taste like?

The clearest picture comes from its robustas. In the Coffee Board’s 2019 Flavour of India Fine Cup Award, the top washed robusta came from Harley Estate, in the Manjarabad region:

Measure	Detail
Place	1st, robusta
Variety	Old Peridenia, washed
Altitude	3,100–3,400 ft
Score	81.36
Cup notes	Chocolaty, dried fruit, nutty, berry, spicy, with a lingering smooth aftertaste

Source: Coffee Board, Flavour of India Fine Cup Award 2019 e-auction brochure.

Hassan’s estates have a longer record in the competition. In 2014, Harley ‘B’ Estate in Sakleshpur taluk won best robusta with a washed Old Peridenia, and among arabicas Ubban Estate (Baghya division) was best of the Manjarabad region, with Kelagur second. For arabica, no official regional cup profile has been published.

Where and how high is it grown?

In Hassan district, around Sakleshpur taluk, whose economy runs on coffee, black pepper, cardamom, cinnamon and arecanut, Wikipedia says. Manjarabad Fort, which Tipu Sultan built in 1792, stands on the town’s outskirts. The Coffee Board’s profile of the region:

Measure	Figure
Altitude	900–1,100 m
Rainfall	1,000–2,500 mm
Coffee	Arabica and robusta
Arabica varieties	S.795, Sln.6, Sln.9, Cauvery
Robusta varieties	S.274, CxR
Main intercrops	Pepper, cardamom, orange, arecanut, banana

Source: Coffee Board, Coffee Regions – India.

The Board describes gentle slopes with small streams, home to the jungle fowl, the region’s emblem. Nationally, arabica’s blossom showers come in March and April and robusta’s in February and March, and arabica ripens from October and November.

How much coffee does Hassan grow?

The Coffee Board’s figures for 2023-24 (provisional):

	Arabica	Robusta	Total
Planted area	24,638 ha	16,983 ha	41,621 ha
Bearing area	23,307 ha	15,048 ha	38,355 ha
Production	15,850 t	20,950 t	36,800 t
Yield	680 kg/ha	1,392 kg/ha	959 kg/ha

Source: Coffee Board, Database on Coffee, July 2024.

That is 10.2% of India’s coffee, from 14,460 holdings, all but 390 of them under 10 hectares. Hassan is India’s third-largest arabica producer, after Chikkamagaluru and Kodagu. Most of its land is arabica, but robusta yields twice as much per hectare, so robusta makes up the larger part of the crop. The Board’s older regional profile gave 31,700 hectares of arabica and 9,400 of robusta.

	Arabica	Robusta	Total	Source
2022-23	15,750 t	21,100 t	36,850 t	Coffee Board database
2023-24	15,850 t	20,950 t	36,800 t	Coffee Board database
Long-run average	21,000 t	9,500 t	30,500 t	Coffee Board regional profile

The older regional profile and the latest database disagree on the balance between the species, as the table shows; the database figures are the newer ones.

Hassan and other Indian origins

• Coffee in India: the whole country, its regions and its history.
• Chikmagalur and the Bababudangiris: Karnataka’s second coffee district.
• Coorg (Kodagu): India’s biggest coffee district.