VPG Estate
VPG Estate is a heritage Robusta coffee farm in Kodagu, India, located close to the Nagarhole Forest. With deep roots in sustainable agroforestry, the estate is known for cultivating shade-grown coffee under native trees, producing beans that reflect the richness of Kodagu’s biodiversity.
Location
Balele, Kodagu, Karnataka
Crop
Robusta, Excelsa,Peridinia
Farming Model
Agroforestry
Heritage
Three Generation Family Estate
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About VPG Estate
VPG Estate sits in Balele, Kodagu, on the edge of the Nagarhole Tiger Reserve, sharing a direct boundary with the protected forest. The estate is owned by Priya Belliappa’s family, planted by her grandfather Malachira Subbaiah and continued today by her father, Sharnoo Belliappa, the second generation to farm this land, with the family now into a third generation of involvement.
The estate spans 50 acres at 800 metres above sea level, growing three coffee species side by side: Robusta, Excelsa, and heritage Peridinia. Some of the estate’s trees are as old as 90 years, planted well before most commercial Robusta selections existed and still bearing cherry today. Coffee grows intercropped with pepper, cocoa, and other fruit trees within a wider agroforestry system of native forest species, land managed as an extension of the forest it borders rather than as land cleared apart from it.
Key facts:
- Estate: VPG, Balele, Kodagu
- Founded by: Malachira Subbaiah
- Current custodian: Sharnoo Belliappa
- Size: 50 acres
- Elevation: 800 MASL
- Crops: Robusta, Excelsa, and Peridinia, intercropped with pepper, cocoa, and fruit trees.
The Story of VPG Estate
Malachira Subbaiah planted the first coffee at VPG Estate on land bordering what is now the Nagarhole Tiger Reserve, establishing a farm shaped from its earliest days by proximity to protected forest rather than distance from it. His daughter’s family, the Belliappas, have continued the estate since, with Sharnoo Belliappa farming the land today.
Some of the estate’s coffee trees, among them old Robusta and Peridinia stock, are as old as 90 years, planted long before most of the commercial varieties grown across Kodagu today existed. Alongside these older plantings, the estate also grows Excelsa, a less common species gaining renewed attention in specialty coffee for its resilience and distinct character.
The estate’s location, sharing a boundary with Nagarhole, also made it the setting for Frayed Lines, a documentary film observing landscape, labour, and daily life on a South Indian coffee estate.
India Coffee Company sources green coffee directly from the Belliappa family at VPG Estate, making this three-generation, tiger-reserve-boundary Kodagu producer available to North American specialty roasters.
Interested in sourcing from this estate?
Have questions first? Get in touch
Why Roasters Choose Coffee from VPG Estate
VPG Estate offers roasters a rare combination: three coffee species grown side by side on one estate, Robusta, Excelsa, and heritage Peridinia, some from trees as old as 90 years, planted well before the commercial selections that dominate most of Kodagu’s coffee today.
Sharing a direct boundary with the Nagarhole Tiger Reserve, the estate’s growing conditions are shaped by continuous proximity to protected forest rather than a managed buffer around it. This positioning, combined with the estate’s agroforestry system of pepper, cocoa, and native fruit trees intercropped among the coffee, produces beans grown under conditions few commercial operations of comparable scale can replicate.
The estate’s coffee is processed naturally, and its combination of old-growth trees, multi-species range, and forest-boundary terroir gives it a character distinct from single-species Robusta lots elsewhere in the region.
VPG Estate Processing Innovation
Coffee at VPG Estate is processed naturally, with the whole cherry sun-dried rather than pulped before drying. As the fruit dries around the bean, sugars and compounds from the cherry ferment into it, building sweetness and body, a process that draws out added complexity from the estate’s older Robusta and Peridinia trees in particular, where lower yields are traditionally associated with denser, more concentrated beans.
Growing three species side by side, Robusta, Excelsa, and Peridinia, on the same estate under the same natural process gives each lot a shared processing foundation while still expressing the distinct character each species brings to the cup.
Coffee from this estate is made available as part of India Coffee Company's Coorg sourcing programme, which also includes:
Coorg Arabica, Natural, Herb Fermented, Sandalkad Estate
- Arabica (Mixed)
- Herb Fermented, Natural
- 1,000 - 1,200 MASL
- Kodagu (Coorg), Karnataka
- Cardamom, Coconut, Passion Fruit, Lavender, Orange, Cinnamon
Coorg Robusta, Washed, Fermented, Sandalkad Estate
- CxR (Canephora x Congensis)
- Washed, Fermented
- 800 - 1,000 MASL
- Kodagu (Coorg), Karnataka
- Dark Chocolate, Warm Spice
Coorg Peridinia Robusta, Red Honey, Riverside Estate
- Old Peridinia (Robusta)
- Anaerobic Red Honey
- 800 - 1,000 MASL
- Kodagu (Coorg), Karnataka
- Stone Fruit, Peach, Dark Chocolate
Coorg Robusta, Washed AA, Pambukal Estate
- Robusta
- Washed
- 700 - 900 MASL
- Kodagu (Coorg), Karnataka
- Cola, Black Pepper, Walnut, Cedar
Coorg Peridinia Robusta, Natural, VPG Estate
- Old Peridinia (Robusta)
- Natural, Sun-dried
- 700 - 900 MASL
- Kodagu (Coorg), Karnataka
- Cocoa, Popcorn, Tobacco, Cedar
