Pulneys (Palani Hills)

The Pulneys, or Palani Hills, are Tamil Nadu’s biggest coffee region, a range around the hill town of Kodaikanal. Farms grow high arabica under shade, among pepper vines, oranges and bananas, and in 2026 a Pulneys farm won India’s national award for washed arabica.

The short version

• Tamil Nadu’s largest coffee region: 8,440 tonnes in 2023-24.
• 600–2,000 metres, around Kodaikanal; many farms at 1,250–1,500 m.
• Brown sugar, apple, plum and honey, by an importer’s cupping.
• 2026 winner of the Fine Cup Award for washed arabica.
• The Kurinji flower, which blooms once every 12 years.

What does Pulneys coffee taste like?

Clean, sweet and gently fruity. In 2022 the US importer Royal Coffee bought Palani Hills coffees assembled from smallholders and estates around Kodaikanal, and published its team’s notes:

Coffee	Notes
AA and AB blends, from seven farms	Clean and somewhat simple; brown sugar sweetness, apple and lime, nutty, tea-like, savoury and spicy
Periyamalai microlot, Kanalkadu	Clean, like a fresh s’more, with spice and a little brightness; chamomile, light herbs, English tea
Poopalang Kodaikanal Estate microlot	Elegantly sweet and slightly juicy: plum, mild citrus, honey, lemon, caramelised sugars, good body

Source: Royal Coffee. Its product listing for the Poopalang lot gives apple juice, peanut butter, caramel and rum cake. An Indian roaster, Bloom, sells a washed Pulney coffee from Laks Farm in Pachalur, at 4,920 feet, with nutmeg, cherry and citrus.

In the Coffee Board’s Flavour of India Fine Cup Award, the 2026 washed arabica winner was Pramila Mahesh of the Natural Farmer Coffee Farm in Pattiveeranpatti. In 2014, Regis Estate was the best of the Pulneys region and St. Joseph Estate second, both from Pattiveeranpatti.

Where and how is it grown?

The Coffee Board’s profile of the region:

Measure	Figure
Altitude	600–2,000 m
Rainfall	1,000–1,600 mm
Coffee	Arabica
Main varieties	S.795, Sln.5B, Sln.9, Sln.10, Cauvery

Source: Coffee Board, Coffee Regions – India. The Board’s emblem for the region is the bluebell-like Kurinji flower, which appears once every 12 years.

Royal Coffee’s farms lie within about 15 miles of Kodaikanal, on the south-eastern edge of the Western Ghats, at 1,375 to 1,500 metres, on 3.2 to 8.9 hectares each; they also grow avocado, areca nut, bananas, oranges and pepper under shade. Poopalang Kodaikanal Estate, run by Uma Kataria, covers 49 hectares at 1,250 metres, where the shade trees also carry pepper vines; its lot was harvested in November, fully washed and sun-dried. Nationally, arabica ripens from October and November, the Coffee Board’s GI application for Chikmagalur says.

How much coffee do the Pulneys grow?

The Coffee Board’s figures for 2023-24 (provisional), for the Pulneys and the Bodi hills together:

	Arabica	Robusta	Total
Planted area	16,312 ha	882 ha	17,194 ha
Bearing area	15,063 ha	862 ha	15,925 ha
Production (Pulneys)	7,950 t	490 t	8,440 t

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

That is about 2.3% of India’s coffee and more than any other Tamil Nadu region, from 8,375 holdings, nearly all under 10 hectares. Production rose from 7,830 tonnes the year before. The Board’s older regional profile gave 14,000 hectares and an average of 7,500 tonnes.

The Pulneys and other Indian origins

• Coffee in India: the whole country, its regions and its history.
• Shevaroys: Tamil Nadu’s other prize-winning arabica hills.
• Nilgiris: the Tamil Nadu region of Kents arabica.