Smoother /Softer/Tones of Berries
The Nilgiri district is located on the Western Ghats, considered one of the 18 biodiversity hotspots of the world.Perched on Western Ghats ,Nilgiri Mountains have elevation of 900 m to 1400 m from MSL and have rainfall of 1600 to 2600 mm.The term Nilgiris is the English equivalent of Nilagiri, Tamil for Blue Mountains. The strikingly blue colour of the hills is attributed to the clustered bloom of the mass-flowering species `Strobilanthes kunthiana', called `Neela kurinji' in Tamil on the hill-slopes.Nilgiris Coffee is known to have a distinct flavour because of the geography and climatic conditions of the Nilgiris slopes. The Irula and Kurumba communities have agricultural lands which are intercropped with coffee and trees like jack, orange, lime, banana, silver oak and pepper vines. The coffee grown in these areas is unique in that it is grown under a two-tier canopy of forest.Hence coffee cultivation is very much linked to forest health and biodiversity .The Coonoor and Kotagiri taluka grow coffee in sustainable traditional manner . Every indigenous household retains a certain volume of coffee beans.Almost all the process is still done manually and many traditional customs and religious ceremonies originate through this beverage.