Gungegiri

Sangameshwar Coffee Estates is a group of 4 estates in the state of Karnataka. Established in the 19th century under British rule, they were bought by K.S. Vaidyanathan in the 1900s after independence.  

Today, these plantations in the Western Ghats region are making every effort to improve the environmental aspect of coffee production in India. They cover 2000 acres or more than 800 hectares at an altitude of between 950 and 1650 m. There are many shade trees such as silver oaks, jackfruit trees, cedars... many species of birds and wild animals, bison, elephants, panthers... 

The group takes great care to preserve this wilderness and plant diversity by using natural fertilisers to enrich the soil and feed the coffee trees. They use cherry pulp, coconut fibre, mulch, whole fish, cow dung... 

To harvest the cherries when they are perfectly ripe, the pickers make three passes over each tree. Harvested by hand, the cherries are crushed, fermented, washed twice and dried in the sun on African beds. The 200 employees follow a specific coffee processing program. The plantations produce both Robusta and Arabica, around 600,000 tonnes of Arabica and 150,000 tonnes of Robusta. 85% of the coffee is washed. Sangameshwar Coffee Estates also produces pepper, areca palm and oranges.