London Grade Coffee | Albion | India
The Roaster
London Grade Coffee’s journey started with the ambition of creating the Italian coffee that they loved here in London. After researching the coffee in Italy they found that most of their beans come from India. So they set off Southern India to find a coffee estate which could supply them.
The coffee grown on the land in the lee of the Western Ghats was renowned for its sweetness and depth of flavour. The mountains prevent a heavy monsoon on the eastern side, and the thick forests shade the coffee plantations from the sun.
"They found an organic estate owned by a passionate third generation coffee producer, whose coffee cherries ripen under a canopy of silver oak, rosewood, mahogany, cardamom and orange trees."
They tasted the coffee from the roastery, and knew they had found what they sought.
Sandi Toksvig once described drinking a white wine as “like running through nettles in a shell suit”. She gently skewered the pretension of the wine industry. Wary of overcomplicating a simple drink, London Grade has found the most delicious coffee and most effective brewing equipment, and will deliver it to you efficiently at a fair price.
The Coffee
Shyam Mariwala is the third-generation coffee grower, producing coffee on his estate in Tamil Nadu, South India. The Nadanavan Estate is at 5000 feet in the hills south of Nilgiri; where the coffee bushes thrive under the canopy. The estate is unfenced, so the land is populated by elephant and bison.
Allowing them to roam costs the estate uprooted coffee bushes and damaged bamboo rooves, but the animals make the land, and the land makes the coffee.
London Grade Coffee deals with the estate directly and avoids going through wholesalers so that they get the fairest price for their coffee.
India is the sixth largest coffee producer in the World. While still producing Arabica coffee, the majority of coffee grown in India is Robusta. Although many speciality coffee roasters nowadays have steered away from espresso blends containing robusta coffee there is still a huge market at the premium end of the Robusta production, which India mainly occupies.
Synonymous with the term monsooning, this is a process that dates back to when the beans were transported in wooden crates and absorbed the aromas and moisture in transit. It produced a woody, earthy profile that was sought after at the time.
Although now, transportation has improved, the taste profile of monsooned coffee is still in demand so naturally processed coffee is left for 2-3 months in open sided warehouses on the coast recreating the monsooned effect.
Indian coffee is full of body and depth. Many roasters use it to add body and weight to espresso blends and is extremely popular amongst people who appreciate a more densely bodied coffee with smokey and earthy flavours.
The Review
Indian coffee doesn’t often grace the back bar of many speciality coffee shops. Although there has been an influx of specialty grade coffee on the cupping tables coffee roasters, it is still a long way from competing with the powerhouses of specialty coffee growers on the other side of the world.
Nevertheless, I am all about new coffees and new flavours and I have been surprised on many occasions with Indian coffee.
The Albion is a medium roast coffee that starts off with a complexity that I wouldn’t normally associate with Indian coffees. The fragrance is full to start but becomes layered and then dominated by sugary sweetness almost like cherry coke.
The coffee begins with richer notes and sits in the middle of your palate. A hint of that dark chocolate bitterness that is layered with vanilla and the pleasant sweet flavours that were in the fragrance.
As the coffee cools the darker notes become more prevalent. The dark chocolate carries on until the aftertaste. The Albion has an interesting mouthfeel and has a vague hint of smokiness about it.
The coffee was a hit and was an easy sipper. One that satisfies the taste buds of those that opt for slightly darker brews while also offering an element of complexity and sugary goodness that is sometimes lost in other full bodied coffees.
The Albion worked well through a paper filter such as V60 or Aeropress. For me though, the best brew was with my stovetop. The rich velvety cup profile complemented the Albion’s chocolatey notes.
