Coffee Planting

The drinking of coffee was popular in England as early as the 1600s. The first coffee house was opened in Oxford in 1650 and London’s first coffee house was opened in 1652.

There is a legend that coffee arrived in India about this same time when Baba Budan smuggled seven coffee seeds into the country after his pilgrimage to Yemen. This gave rise to the cultivation of coffee in Chikmagalur in the, now Baba Budangiri, hills of southern India.

The coffee industry has remained centred in the hills of Southern India. The early nineteenth century saw an increased growth in coffee planting – the activity having spread to the Shevaroy Hills (notably at Yercaud) and the Niligiris (Kotagiri and Coonoor). This was not long after the first coffee house in India had opened in Calcutta which was followed by others – thus increasing its popularity as a fashionable drink.

It is noted that Catherine Falls near Kotagiri is named after the wife of M D Cockburn, district collector of Salem, who is said to be the person responsible for introducing the coffee plant to Yercaud in 1820. In 1843 he established the first coffee estate in Kotagiri.

External links

• Indian Filter Coffee - wikipedia article giving an interesting account of coffee drinking habits with topical quotes.
• A Handbook to coffee drinking in Southern India by John Short - Particularly useful for its list of coffee planters on the Shevaroy and Niligiri Hills and descriptions of these estates. (pages 164-176)
• M D Cockburn – wikipedia