This short induction is to let you know why we thought it was important to visit Coffee Museum in Chikmaglur. We visited the museum in the evening around 4, which was just 6 kilometers from our hotel. It was very easy to navigate the place on GPS. Fortunately it was Friday. We tell you why. The center is closed on weekends, both Saturday and Sunday. Most people would have missed visiting this place for the same reason. It would attract great number of tourists if it is open to public on weekends. It also houses the office of deputy director of coffee board. This museum was initiated by the Coffee Board, Karnataka. There is a coffee quality evaluation and training center in the same campus. Well-maintained greenery around is lush and charming.
The ticket office is situated at the lower level so is the museum. The lady at the counter informed us about the guided tour, which is going to be started in 5 minutes. The tour was informative and educative. She explained briefly about the Indian and World coffee history and eminent people who were instrumental in establishing coffee industry. The narration also involved the pre-harvesting, harvesting, and post-harvesting of coffee plant. Here we learned about the two main variety of coffee, Arabica and Robusta.
Coffee World Story: Circa 850 BC in the Ethiopian highlands, there was shepherd named Kaldi. One day his goats became hyper and lost sleep after eating berries from a certain shrub. These magical berries were then delivered to the monk of a local monastery, who made a drink and discovered the stimulating effects of the berries. That is how coffee was invented for the first time.
Coffee Indian History: Baba Budan, a sufi saint from India went to Mecca on a pilgrimage. On his return journey, in Mocha, a port city of Yemen he was served a beverage called "Qahwa" literal meaning is 'that which prevents sleep'. Baba enjoyed the drink and wanted to bring it back home. Those days coffee was rare and the Arabs were vigilant about its production, movement, and trade. They exported coffee to the rest of the world only in roasted and baked form, which can not be used for cultivation. It was illegal to carry green seeds out of Arabia. So, Baba decided to smuggle the beans as he cannot carry them legally. He hid 7 beans in his beard and brought it to his homeland without getting caught. He planted the seeds in the courtyard of his hermitage on the Chandragiri hills of Karnataka. For a considerable period, the plants remained in garden and spread slowly and vastly into plantation what we see today.
In a short while we were presented with a 20-minute documentary video on origin and growth of coffee in different states of India, which was neither informative nor interesting. The concept was ancient and outdated, the documentary must be too. We just endured the suffering as a respect to fellow audiences. It is high time they upgrade the documentary with better content.
The gallery displays descriptive pictures of coffee botanic, coffee improvement, coffee pests, coffee disease, and Indian coffee grades. There were few jars on exhibit containing Arabica fruit cluster, Robusta fruit cluster, infected stem, infected seedling, and rusted leaf.
On the next level there were array of equipments used to process the coffee such as grinder and roaster. Sadly there was no staff to demonstrate the process for better understanding. However, there were samples of Arabica cherry and parchment; Robusta cherry and parchment; monkey parchment; green coffee beans, roasted beans; and coffee powder.
Did you know about the Civet coffee? The Asian palm civet eats ripe coffee cherries. After a digestion process of around 24 hours, the undigested coffee beans are excreted in the civet's poop. Those beans are collected and washed. At this time any remnants from the coffee cherries are removed. The beans are then dried, roasted, ground, and brewed. Gross right? It is one of the most expensive coffees in the world with price ranging between 550 to 700 USD (40,000 to 52,000) per kilogram.
We learnt many more interesting stories like this. Probably it is better we do a separate post on that. We will leave you with a quote from R.K. Narayanan.
"The origin of Indian coffee is Saintly. It was not an empire, builder, or buccaneer who brought coffee to India, but a saint, one who knew what was good for humanity"
Tips
Timings: 10:00 AM-6:00 PM
Open: Monday to Friday
Close: Saturday and Sunday
Entry Fee: INR 20
Guided Tour Language: Kannada and English
Time Needed: 1-2 hours
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