Wake up to the smell of coffee

Coffee education in India has a long way to go, believes Puducherry-based coffee expert, Marc Tormo. That’s in spite of the drink being a South Indian favourite!

Marc, who hails from Barcelona and is a darling of this country’s fledging coffee culture, held a workshop titled  Crop to Cup at the Old Kent Estates , Coorg, recently, to mark the start of the coffee harvesting season.

Explaining that his workshop helped educate people on coffee basics- from harvesting to roasting - the coffee connoisseur said he had also encouraged participants to don the hats of coffee tasters during the event. And for a coffee aficionado, the most valuable input would have been Marc’s tips on how to brew coffee at home.

Revealing some little-known facts about coffee, Marc says, “Coffee ‘beans’ is not the right term, they should be called seeds. And drinking three cups of black coffee a day reduces the risk of Alzheimer’s disease.”

He is against the instant coffee culture and waxes poetic when he describes the beautiful aroma of coffee flowers. “They smell just like the jasmine,” he says, adding that the coffee plant blooms once a year, in March. “Each flower yields a fruit, which contains two coffee seeds. If there is only one seed, it’s called peaberry.”

The coffee entrepreneur, who has 20 years of experience under his belt and has won several awards at the Indian Coffee Festival,recommends Balmaadi coffee for great taste.

Marc, whose coffee journey started at the age of 23, has travelled extensively across the Western Ghats, seeking to expand his knowledge on coffee. The founder of Coffee Ideas  currently runs Marc’s Café, Dreamer’s Café and Aura Café in Puducherry.