The Story
Chikmagalur is where coffee began in India, with the first seeds planted about 350 years ago on the slopes of the Baba Budan Giri hills by a Sufi saint who smuggled seven seeds out of Yemen. The region has been producing arabica continuously since, and today it remains India's most storied specialty coffee district. Ratnagiri Estate is a product of that legacy. The Patre family has worked this land for nearly a century, and Ashok, the third generation to do so, runs the farm alongside his wife Divya with a focus on specialty quality and processing innovation that stands out not just in India but globally.
Ashok understands that Indian terroir and varieties produce coffee of a particular character, and rather than fight that, he has developed processing methods that work with it. The Hydro Honey is one of those methods. After harvest, intact cherries are placed on shaded raised beds to partially dry, then submerged in water tanks for a rehydration stage before depulping. From there, the wet parchment dries on raised beds for 31 days with most of its mucilage still attached, similar to a honey process but with an added step that gives Ashok more control over fermentation and final cup character. The result is remarkably clean for a process this involved.
