Nishant Gurjer of Sethuraman Estate and Kaapi Royale Coffee in India was featured earlier this week in the Hindu Business Line about his success at estate branding and robusta sales within the U.S. market.
Washed robusta coffee has begun to get a toehold in the lucrative US market. Earlier, Indian robusta faced an uphill task to get the US roasters’ attention. Due to this, only sporadic amounts of coffee were being exported.
“We entered the US market in 2006 by participating in the Specialty Coffee Association of America event. Then we exported two containers (36 tonnes), again in 2008 we doubled it to four containers (72 tonnes). Today in 2010, we have reached 7.5 containers level (135 tonnes), said Mr Nishant R Gurjer, Managing Partner, Sethuraman Estates.
Mr. Gurjer credits participation at Specialty Coffee Association of America exhibitions as being a key driver of specialty coffee sales. Estate branding is a topic of particular interest within India’s coffee market, as that country only relatively recently opened its coffee industry to direct trade. Furthermore, branding allows for premium pricing of specialty coffee when associated with an estate delivering consistently high quality coffees with uniquely desirable characteristics.
Read the article in the Hindu BusinessLine