illycaffe attracts growers to its quality awards

The illycaffe Quality Awards has in its fourth year penetrated newer regions, attracting more growers.

According to illycaffè representatives, for this year's contest, in addition to the plantations from Karnataka, entries have come in from far off regions like Kodaikanal, Nilgiris, Palanis, Pandarimalai, Dindigul, Pattiveeranpatti, Pollachi (all from Tamil Nadu region), and Raygada (Orissa).

According to Sunalini Menon, head of the international jury that conducted the preliminary selections for the finalists, "The illycaffe contest has really expanded. This year, the participation has gone up by almost 50 per cent and nearly two-thirds of the entries are from new participants, plantations that have not been a part of the contest before."

The quality award recognises excellence in agronomic practices and quality of produce and reward growers of quality Arabica Plantation A coffee beans. The samples from the plantations selected have been sent to illycaffè's laboratories at Trieste in Italy for final evaluation.

"Our testing procedures in India showed Indian producers to be equal to some of the very best in quality that the world has to offer. We found the Indian growers to be well experienced and highly interested in producing high-quality coffees. We are delighted with the response of the growers for the Fourth India Coffee Quality Prize," said Andrea Illy, chairman and CEO of illycaffè.

In India, illycaffè has increased its engagement in recent years. Apart from the annual coffee quality contest, illycaffè has begun a series of training courses in different cities in India, both for the trade and consumers, to develop the market for gourmet coffee.

This is in addition to the work being conducted by illycaffè technologists with the Indian coffee growers' community to enable improvement in methods of harvesting, curing, processing and packaging.

In September 2005, illycaffe signed an agreement with the Chennai-based Fresh & Honest, of the Sterling Infotech Group, to foster the espresso coffee industry in India.

Under the partnership the two companies will be making investments of $15-20 million over the next five years to install coffee equipment to educate the trade and consumers on coffee culture and establish the illy brand in India.

Final winners are to be announced on October 28 in Bangalore. Following are the award finalists for coffee quality prize 2006: Yelliemadaloo Estate, Billeswara Estate, Kaskemane Estate, Annapurna Plantation, Doddendudda Estate-Mudigere, Chinenahalli Estate, Azad Estate, Nandaguni Estate, Netrakonda Estate-Koppa, Nagambika Estate all Chickmagalur.

Harley Estate and Tata Coffee Goorghully Estate from Hassan and St Joseph's Agri Farm-Dindigul and St Mary's Estate-Perumparai from Tamil Nadu.