A Short History Of Monsooning

Before freshness was everything, coffee spent months at sea.

And sometimes, it didn’t arrive as intended. But what the heck even is ‘monsooned’ coffee?!

Back to basics

Before we get into the history, let’s start with what makes monsooned coffee different!

Coffee is typically dried, stored and shipped to preserve freshness and flavour… but monsooned beans fly in the face of tradition.

It’s coffee that has been deliberately exposed to the elements. The result is a coffee that’s lower in acidity, heavier in body and softer in flavour. This process isn’t about preserving pristine coffee; it’s about transforming it.

Where it all began

17th - 18th Century

When coffee first sets sail it leaves India and Yemen bound for Europe on long sea voyages around the Cape of Good Hope. Beans sit in wooden ships, exposed to humid air, salt winds and shifting temperatures. Monsoon-like conditions, some might say.

The journey takes months and something unexpected happens. The beans absorb moisture, they swell, fade in colour and lose acidity. By the time they arrive, the coffee is changed completely. Not fresh… but certainly not ruined either!.

From accident to process

19th Century

For years, this is the coffee much of Europe knows and loves. Lower acidity. More body. Less brightness.

So when faster steamships take to the seas and begin delivering fresher coffee, something surprising happens. People don’t like it as much. A taste for the ‘monsooned’ coffee, which gradually gains a cult following in the years to come, has already formed.

Dodgy by design

Late 19th - early 20th Century

What the Victorian-European coffee connoisseurs want, they get… so savvy suppliers start recreating the older shipping effect. Specifically, producers in India begin deliberately exposing coffee to monsoon winds on land.

Beans are spread out in open-sided warehouses along the Malabar Coast, and exposed to monsoon winds and humid air for weeks.

What was once accidental becomes intentional. The process becomes known as, surprise - surprise, monsooning. And Monsooned Malabar was born.…

Why don't you see it everywhere?

Today

Monsooned coffee is still produced along India’s Malabar Coast (no ships required). But it’s a difficult process to control and produces a divisive cup to boot. Too much exposure and the coffee turns a little funky. Too little, and it doesn’t work at all.

It’s at its best in espresso blends: adding body, reducing acidity and softening sharper flavours. But, for some, it lacks clarity and can taste a little flat or musty. And that’s probably why it’s never gone totally mainstream.

A niche coffee shaped by accident, but kept alive on purpose.