After wooing the world with its rich aromatic coffee flavour, Araku will soon house a world school to showcase its award-winning agro-economic model. Hyderabad’s Naandi Foundation that has been working with the tribals of Araku on a livelihood project is planning to establish the Araku World Coffee School in the valley.
Apart from making people understand the ‘integrated economic model that ensures profits for farmers and quality for consumers through regenerative agriculture’, the school will also guide in the understanding of cupping and grading coffee.
Speaking to The Hindu, Manoj Kumar, CEO of Naandi Foundation, said: “We plan to set it up by February 2021. The place of this school is finalised and will be next to our processing unit in Araku.” Naandi will also open Araku Coffee's first café and roastery in the country in Bengaluru later this year.
“A country which has over 60 years of history in coffee has sadly just five Q-graders today. This is the situation even when we have some of the best coffees being harvested in India. Today a majority of the Q-graders are from places like Japan and Korea. I want to bring about a change in this,” added Mr. Manoj. The Araku World Coffee School will have top international coffee experts as faculty.
Araku Coffee has consistently won ratings as high as 90 out of 100 from professional cuppers associated with the well-regarded Specialty Coffee Association of America. For its ‘Arakunomics’, Naandi Foundation was recently selected by the Rockefeller Foundation as one of the ‘Top 10 Visionaries’ in the world for the Food Vision 2050 Prize which was announced in New York on August 6.
The award recognised the application of ‘Arakunomics’ model in regions of Araku in Telangana, Wardha in Maharashtra and New Delhi, leading to the Food Vision 2050.
Food truck
Naandi is also contemplating starting an Araku Coffee food truck in Visakhapatnam. “It will be one of its kind designed to showcase not just Araku Coffee but the culture of the region.”