Background

Ratnagiri means "Pearl Mountain" — named for the dense silver oak trees that give the mountainside a silvery hue and provide shade cover for the coffee. The estate is a 117-hectare Arabica farm in Chikmagalur, Karnataka, founded in 1927 when Ashok Patre's grandfather bought densely forested land and spent 15 years clearing it and planting coffee. One of the few Indian coffee estates not planted by the British during the Raj.

Ashok Patre took over in 1989 and shifted toward specialty production in the early 2000s. The estate now produces 60% specialty grade coffee. Patre works with two microbiologists to track fermentation metrics, pioneering processing techniques rarely seen elsewhere in India. The estate is Rainforest Alliance certified, with 3 stories of shade and recorded populations of 48+ bird species, monkeys, leopards, and occasional elephants.

One strand of their experimentation is aromatic co-fermentation: 72-hour anaerobic naturals where coffee cherries are sealed in stainless steel tanks with selected yeast + lactic acid bacteria strains alongside fresh jasmine, rose, or lavender flowers. Roasters describe the same base process differently — Driftaway sells it as "Scoby Jasmine", Naivo as "Culture Naturals Jasmine", Slide Coffee (AU) labels another Ratnagiri lot "Co-Ferment Anaerobic Washed", while Grey Soul's Mogra just says "culture microbes" without mentioning the flowers. Worth knowing when reading tasting notes on any Ratnagiri lot: if the cup tastes overtly floral, it's probably a flower co-ferment rather than terroir.

Also carried by international roasters including Onyx Coffee Lab, Driftaway, and Covoya.