A Short History of Baba Budan

In the 17th century, Yemen had a pretty good grip on the coffee market. You could buy the beans. You could drink the coffee. But taking fertile seeds away and growing your own? Absolutely not!

Then one man allegedly smuggled seven of them out and kickstarted coffee production in India in the process.

This is the story of Baba Budan, seven beans and one seriously well-caffeinated act of contraband.

A very guarded secret...

16th - 17th Century

Before coffee was grown around the world, its cultivation was concentrated in one small corner of it: Arabia. Coffee cultivation really takes off in Yemen, where plants thrive in the country's mountainous growing regions. From the port of Mocha, coffee is shipped across the Middle East and increasingly onwards to Europe.

As demand grows, so does the value of controlling its supply. For generations, Yemen and the wider Arab coffee trade hold a near-monopoly. Coffee destined for export is processed so it can't germinate, preventing other countries from simply planting the beans and growing their own.

So although coffee travels, its cultivation doesn’t!

Enter Baba Budan

17th Century

Baba Budan isn’t a coffee merchant, farmer or wannabe plantation owner. He’s a Sufi Saint (a Muslim holy man and spiritual teacher from India) travelling to Mecca on a pilgrimage. Which makes what happens next all the more unexpected…

On his journey home, tradition says he encounters coffee in Yemen, is a big fan and decides he’d quite like to grow it back in India. 

But, there’s one small snag: taking fertile beans out of the county is forbidden. So, naturally, our pilgrim turns smuggler!

7 beans. 1 beard?

Around 1670

Legend has it that Baba Budan manages to secretly leave the port of Mocha with seven fertile coffee beans.Where did he hide them? Depending on the telling, they're strapped to his body, tucked into his clothing or, everyone’s favourite, even hidden in his beard. 

Why seven? The number holds religious significance in Islam. Although, like the beard itself, this is where history starts blending rather nicely with legend. Whether every detail is true or not, the story starts to take root.

Seven beans. One Beard. Zero export paperwork. And the start of wider, global coffee cultivation.

The beans take root

Late 17th Century

Baba Budan returns to India and plants his precious cargo in the hills of Karnataka, near present-day Chikmagalur. And, crucially, they grow.

The region turns out to be rather well suited to coffee. High elevations, plenty of rainfall and forest shade all help the plants thrive. What begins with a handful of beans gradually spreads. Coffee is cultivated around the surrounding hills and, over time, across more of southern India.

The hills themselves eventually become known as Baba Budangiri, preserving his connection to the story centuries later. Seven beans suddenly looks rather a lot...

From contraband to coffee country

18th Century - Today

Those seven beans don’t turn India into a coffee powerhouse overnight. For decades, coffee growing remains relatively small-scale. It’s during the 19th century, under British rule, that commercial plantations really begin expanding. From there, Indian coffee grows into an industry of its own, with Karnataka emerging as its heart.

Today, India is one of the world’s major coffee-producing countries, with an identity all of its own too… from shade-grown coffees to the distinctive Monsooned Malabar.

And Baba Budan? His name is still attached to the hills where the story began. Baba Budan certainly wasn’t the only person responsible for coffee’s great escape but not bad for seven beans which were never supposed to leave Yemen.