KOCHI: Plantation and logistics major Aspinwall & Company Limited is planning to launch its own brand of Monsoon Malabar coffee under the brand name ‘Aspinwall Mellows’. Monsoon Malabar is a highly sought after premium coffee in Europe.
Aspinwall is the largest exporter of Malabar Monsoon coffee, a premium variety of coffee. Monsoon Malabar is unique to the Malabar coast of Karnataka and Kerala and has Geographical Indication (GI) and hence cannot be produced anywhere else. The process involves coffee beans being exposed to the monsoon rain and winds for three to four months, causing the beans to swell and lose the original acidity, resulting in a flavour profile with a practically neutral pH balance.
While Aspinwall has no plans to enter the domestic retail market, packing of the product will be done here. “At present, we have no plans to launch Malabar Monsoon in the domestic market, because specialty coffee is not popular in India. We now export 50 kg bags of Monsoon Malabar coffee. We are still analysing the retail market for coffee in Europe and the product is likely to be launched in 2018,” Venkitraman Anand, executive director of the company, told Express. Fifty per cent of the company’s income is from coffee exports.
The firm, which is celebrating its 150 the anniversary, is targeting to double its turnover by 2020 from the current Rs 250 crore by sharpening focus on value-added products. The firm will soon open offices in Atlanta in the US, said K N R Menon, chairman of Aspinwall.