India 'Tiger Mountain' A Grade

Tasting notes:

Sweet juicy cup, with bright lemon acidity. The smooth body carries a nutty, cocoa and malt finish.

Importers Cup score: 83

The Tiger Mountain A Grade is a coffee exclusive to our importer, Bennetts. It has been specially selected by the Bennetts Quality-Assurance team for its varietal and altitude classifications.

The coffee funds a longstanding partnership with fundraising initiative 21st Century Tiger.

It is grown under shade trees in the Bababudan Giris region in India and comprises of SL795, SL9 and Cauvery varietals. Bababudan Giris is a range of mountains in the Western Ghats of the country.

The area is named after a 16th century Sufi poet, Baba Budan, to whom there is a dedicated shrine in the region that is frequently visited by both Muslim and Hindu pilgrims. Baba Budan is said to have been the first to introduce coffee to India after bringing the crop from Africa. All coffee in India is cultivated under a well-defined two-tier mixed shade canopy, comprising evergreen and leguminous trees.

Nearly 50 different types of shade trees are found in coffee plantations. Shade trees prevent soil erosion on a sloping terrain; they enrich the soil by recycling nutrients from deeper layers, protect the coffee plant from seasonal fluctuations in temperature, and play host to diverse flora and fauna.

For each bag of Tiger Mountain sold, Bennetts donate US$1 towards the conservation and research of Indian tigers in Kahna National Park in the Mandla and Balaghat regions of India. They are currently supporting an exciting new conservation project utilising state-of-the-art technology which will revolutionise the understanding of the behaviour and movement of tigers in the wild.