Coffee blend by tribal farmers of Araku Valley wins gold medal at Paris
Araku, which competed with popular coffee blend varieties from Sumatra and Colombo, is the first Indian coffee blend to have won the prestigious Prix Epicures OR 2018 Award.
Hankering for some Kopi Luwak or Blue Mountain coffee? We suggest that you start shopping for your morning jolt of java closer home soon. At Araku Valley in Andhra Pradesh. For an Indian coffee blend called Araku, produced by tribal youth in Andhra Pradesh, has won a gold medal at the Prix Epicures OR 2018 Award in Paris, France.
Araku is the first Indian coffee blend to have won the prestigious award. The blend competed with popular coffee blend varieties from Sumatra, Colombo, and other regions. The coffee, which debuted in Paris, is not available in India as yet.
The win has trained the spotlight on the tribal population of the Visakhapatnam region. A News18 report said the coffee brand was formed in “an attempt to give the tribal youth in the Araku Valley of the state more employment opportunities”.
From Araku Valley to Paris, the blend has made quite a journey. Araku now has its own store in the trendy upper Maraise neighbourhood of Paris. It is also sold in La Grande Epicerie, a grocery store.
The initiative to take this blend overseas was spearheaded by the Naandi Foundation, which is backed by Anand Mahindra and his company.
Also read: How Araku Valley's nurse-midwives have brought down maternal mortality rate to zero
In 1956, the Andhra Pradesh government had established the Girijan Co-operative Corporation (GCC) to provide dignified livelihoods to the tribals of Araku Valley by engaging them in coffee cultivation and production, says The Better India.
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