India Gundikhan Washed

About This Coffee

For our third year roasting coffees from India, we're all-in with Gundikhan! Saif Ulla's natural was the coffee that really convinced us to leap into Indian coffees a few years back, but this year, we're excited to also showcase his washed process alongside it for the first time! Coffees from India are still a relative rarity on US specialty roasters' menus, but coffee in India has a storied history, tracing back further than any country besides Ethiopia and Yemen. Indian coffee dates to the late 1600s when, according to legend, a Sufi pilgrim named Baba Budan smuggled coffee seeds from the Arabian Peninsula, planting them in the Western Ghat mountain range. Despite the long history, we haven't always associated Indian coffees with the qualities we seek out at Huck, and had always steered clear of coffees from mainland Asia. But producers in India, China, and Myanmar, to name a few countries, have raised the bar on the continent, and thanks to some lovely coffees and persistent ear-bending by our friend David at Osito Coffee, we've had to reconsider those preconceived notions. Insert trite reference...traveling to the far east...opening one's mind...in this case about coffee. Saif Ulla's farm, Gundikhan Estate, sits in the same mountains where Baba Budan planted India's first coffee seeds centuries ago, and he's equally passionate about preserving the area's biodiversity as he is its coffee heritage. Saif is a founding member of KaadKaapi Collective, a group of environmentally-conscious farmers aiming to preserve habitats and migration corridors for native animal species. Extremely dense shade cover and the occasional downed tree - courtesy roaming elephants and Gaur (Indian Bison) - make for significantly lower productivity and higher costs, offset by pursuing quality and earning higher prices.  We highly recommend giving both Gundhikans a spin side-by-side. And while the natural is definitely a fruitbomb, Saif’s washed process is a much calmer, approachable affair. There’s a throughnote of baking spice and pastry in both coffees, but the fruit here is much more subtle. Go ahead, add milk if you want. But also, no need. Delicious spice cake, a touch of cardamom, with soft red apple and golden raisin to round out a very comforting cup of coffee. This coffee was subject to a tariff upon import. The higher pricing on this product reflects added tariff costs for both the unroasted coffee and our packaging, while striving to maintain profit margins for wholesale partners who match our retail prices, in their businesses.