11/10/2026
Some of you might have found the present Gundikhan Natural darker than earlier roasts. That’s neither a fault nor by chance. In fact, the roast temperature is a degree lower than that of previous lots!
Natural processed coffees vary from lot to lot. The fruit remaining on the beans during drying influences how their surfaces react during roasting. When a lot begins to caramelise early, I take it as good news, often a sign of the potential for greater sweetness and complexity.
Gundikhan Natural brings together successive lots from the same farm, microclimate and varietal, each dried separately. We could market every drying bed as a fancy nano lot, but we’d rather offer one drying bed after another, one amazing cup after another, without the hype.
We roast for flavour, not colour. Cutting development short just to keep the beans lighter would mean pulling out too soon. And you know that’s no fun! 😉 Incidentally, this lot was among the highest-scoring coffees on our cupping table.
Haven’t tried our new Gundikhan Washed yet? Do give it a go. It’s one of the cleanest, most flavourful Indian washed coffees we’ve had in a long time, brilliant in both Vibrant and Bold versions.
A brewing tip: go finer on the grind, use near-boiling water, and extract the hell out of our coffees. There’s nothing to leave behind or hide!
Finally, allow at least 10 days of rest after roasting; 14 days is ideal. Store your coffee properly, and it’ll keep rewarding you well beyond that.
So, before asking, “Why so dark?”, perhaps ask, “What’s in the cup?” ☕
