Gems of Araku - Lot 58
Gems of Araku - Lot 58
Gems of ARAKU
It’s an annual harvest festival curated by Naandi Foundation. Since 2009, it has brought together eminent coffee experts from across the globe, to recognise the gems among coffees produced in the entire Araku region of Andhra Pradesh. The event ensures thousands of tribal farmers have access to the global coffee market and expertise. In our pursuit of excellence, the farmers and our in-house experts have actively worked with international cuppers and coffee evangelists to improve the quality of the bean, year on year. We’re proud to share that Araku coffee has consistently won high scores, often as much as 94, from industry experts.There are three phases to Gems of Araku: Pre-selection, followed by national and international jury assessment, concluding with a live auction. In its 12th edition, 42 countries were registered as bidders via www.gemsofaraku.com
Lot 58
A micro lot with exquisite properties, Lot 58 ranked among the top 20 coffees scored and auctioned at Gems of Araku 2021. It’s the handiwork of 99 farmers from Hukumpeta, in Araku; each with an average plot of 1.5 to 2 acres between the elevations of 2,952 - 3,772 ft. The rich terroirs share strikingly similar characteristics. The coffee is 100% Arabica and high on sweetness (BRIX 22+). We owe this to our regenerative agricultural practices in line with Arakunomics principles, which was also recognised by The Rockefeller Foundation’s Food Vision 2050 Prize.Read More.
Lot 58 Harvest:
December 2020 - March 2021
Cupper’s Notes: Floral aromatics with flavour nuances of sapota, stone fruit, orange marmalade and apricot nectar. Silky body and a super sweet, long finish with clarity in the cup
Cupper’s Score: 86.42
Process: Washed Process
Roast Profile: Medium
About the Collaboration
Artwork Somnium Genero series [2021]
This exercise is a humble approach to illustrate the biodiversity of Araku, Andhra Pradesh (India). The composition enables one to think about the diverse terroir co-existing with the self-sustaining matter around. The harmonious eco-system makes us interrogate its origins, its past, while it posits visions of a more equitable, greener future. It’s rooted in Araku, where the tribal communities have worked in tandem with the Naandi Foundation over several years to restore its equilibrium. The intention is to narrate a shared dream.Foundation Thukral and Tagra has in the past used a multi/interdisciplinary approach to carry out interventions at ground zero that help spread awareness and bring alive the issues faced by farmers in India. In partnering with ARAKU, we are glad to work in a direction which amplifies the efforts of the Naandi Foundation.
-Thukral and Tagra
About Thukral and Tagra
Delhi-based artists, Jiten Thukral and Sumir Tagra, work collaboratively with a wide range of media including painting, sculpture, installations, interactive games, video, performance and design. Over the last fifteen years, they’ve worked on new formats of public engagement and attempt to expand the scope of what art can do. They break out of the mediated and disciplinary world and create multi-modal sensory and immersive environments. Their work has often dealt with tropes of migration and motifs of a globally manifested consumer culture. It has questioned the provenance of Indian identity and its various articulations. Their recent explorations include interpretations of Indian mythological narratives and symbols in ways that renew and enliven a largely pedantic and static area of cultural material.
Curated by Nature Morte
Thukral and Tagra oscillate primarily through design intervention, art practice, and visual communication. For them, being visual is a strength since it can transcend the differences created by languages and cultures. They see the images they carefully craft as vehicles for education, elucidation, and community building. They demonstrate the flexibility of their artistic practice by adapting new strategies to respond to new circumstances.
Naandi Foundation
Naandi, in Sanskrit, Kannada, Telugu and Marathi means ‘a new beginning’. Founded in 1998 as a Public Charitable Trust, it is one of the largest and fastest growing social sector organisations in India working to make poverty history. Born out of the idea of creating a professionally run organisation managed by eminent business leaders as Trustees, Naandi has so far impacted over 7 million lives.It ran one of the largest midday meal programs across India; educated and empowered half a million girls; and skilled over half a million unemployed youth and placed half of them in corporate jobs. Their most audacious work has been the transformation of over 1,000 villages in Araku. With tribal communities and global experts, Naandi developed a new framework around food: Arakunomics, which changed 100,000 tribal lives, created a globally-acclaimed coffee brand, and planted 30 million trees. Best described as “functional forests,” these trees offer economic, ecological and nutritional security. Today, Arakunomics is being replicated across India to reinvent a sustainable food system.
Expert Speak
“For the first time in 12 years, a top contender from Gems of Araku is being released in India. This is a celebration of Indian coffees, and how a collective of small farmers managed to put this large country on the global coffee map.”- Sherri Johns
ARAKU Coffee Mentor & Gems of Araku Head Judge