Balele sits in Kodagu, directly bordering the Nagarhole Tiger Reserve, a location that places coffee cultivation immediately adjacent to protected forest rather than at a remove from it. At 800 metres elevation, growing conditions here support a denser bean than lower-altitude commodity Robusta, cooler temperatures slowing cherry development and building structure into the finished coffee.

Peridinia is a heritage Robusta variety distinct from the commercial selections, such as CxR, that dominate most Indian Robusta production today. Introduced from Sri Lanka’s Royal Botanical Gardens at Peradeniya during the Coffee Leaf Rust crisis of the late 19th century, it offered growers a hardier alternative to failing Arabica while retaining a cup character distinct from later, yield-focused Robusta breeding. Old Peridinia trees like those at VPG, some up to 90 years old, are increasingly rare, most having been replaced by younger, higher-yielding commercial varieties elsewhere in Kodagu.

Natural, sun-dried processing involves drying the whole cherry in the sun rather than removing the skin and pulp first. As the cherry dries around the bean, sugars and other compounds from the fruit ferment into it, building body and sweetness that a washed process would strip away, a method that suits Robusta’s naturally lower acidity and benefits from the additional density older trees like these tend to produce.

The estate’s agroforestry system, intercropping coffee with pepper, cocoa, and native fruit trees, keeps the land functioning as an extension of the neighbouring tiger reserve.

Agronomy and growing conditions:

• Estate: VPG, Balele, Kodagu
• Elevation: 800 MASL
• Varietal: Old Peridinia, heritage Robusta
• Tree age: up to 90 years
• Process: Natural, sun-dried
• Intercropping: pepper, cocoa, and native fruit trees