Kamal Ghorui
Coffee enthusiast couple, Anjan Babu and Sanjana Sudarshan brews Liberica coffee at home, sourcing the beans from the roasters usually at Blue Tokai or Drip and Drop Coffee. Sanjana says the couple had their first Liberica coffee at the Ground Up Cafe. “We just fell in love with it the first time we had it. We got a packet of Liberica beans for home, and we’ve been enjoying it ever since. It has a jackfruit flavour to it,” she says.Bharath Raghavan, a product manager, began his journey into coffee over 10 years ago. He started with research on filter coffee, a popular variant in Bengaluru, before exploring other coffees and beans from his friend who runs a barista, the Dialogues Cafe. Bharath sources beans from different parts of India and the world during his travel. He says Liberica is slightly lesser-known in Bengaluru’s coffee scene. “I would say less than 5% of available beans are Liberica. It is very rare to find them in India. I came across Liberica first at Araku Estate,” he says.The ‘smoky’ coffeeLiberica is a strain that tends to polarise interest. Bharath says he likes a few things about it — Liberica has a slightly smoky flavour and more body, which is very specific to it. “I like my coffee to be full-bodied, jammy, and tart, so I started exploring coffees in that space.”Some of his friends who have similar tastes love Liberica for its body. “Others dislike it because the smokiness is too overwhelming for them. For Liberica, I personally use an Origami dripper and a pour-over method on a Hario V60. I’ve found that this gives me the best result for my palate. Liberica has such a heavy body, you need a more refined brewing method. I tried using a French press, but as that method adds more texture, it became too thick and difficult on my palate. A pour-over was more refined and worked really well,” says Bharath. “I think Liberica will pick up in Bengaluru because people who appreciate 100% Arabica are now starting to understand different brewing and grinding methods,” he says. Temperature and grind size changes play a big role with Liberica because it is a sensitive bean. Unlike Robusta, where you can usually get a decent cup regardless, Liberica’s profile varies quite a bit depending on the temperature and the press you use, he adds. A green coffee wave?Speaking about the growing trend of green coffee, Khyyum Khan, sales head, Benki Brewing Tools, says: “Compared to Arabica and Robusta, Liberica is much cleaner and has its own unique characteristics. When you consume or grind Liberica, it has intense flavours that pop out. We are not used to drinking it, so when I give you something very different, people catch onto it as an individual trend. That is how Liberica and Excelsa started trending.“Adhi Savla, senior manager for Coffee Community at Blue Tokai says a lot of people are aware of ‘climate-resilient Excelsa’. Sunalini Menon, president of Coffeelab, Bengaluru, notes that Liberica and Excelsa have been cultivated not only in countries like the Philippines, or Malaysia, but also in Sierra Leone where it was first discovered. “It has also been here in India for decades. It’s just that we were cultivating it not as coffee but as a plant to demarcate the boundary of one farm from another,” she says.Komal Sable, founder, South Indian Coffee Company (SICC), says though Arabica and Robusta are the main crops for any producers in India at the moment, there is a gradual growing demand for Excelsa. “We definitely do get requests from specialty coffee roasters specifically, who are looking into climate-resistant species. As you may know, there are 133 different coffee species.” Excelsa has a fruity profile in the cup. “It’s naturally low in acidity and quite sweet, which makes it a great entry point for people who don’t usually enjoy very acidic coffees,” she says.Khyyum Khan says Benki Brewing is considering discontinuing sale of Liberica. “The problem with Liberica is that it changes very fast. For us, the sweet spot for a regular cafe is somewhere between 30 to 45 days. For coffees like Liberica, we store it in a colder atmosphere in single servings, but they still change every single day. For a commercial setup, changing recipes and training staff often is very difficult,” he says.
