The 250 acre plantation has been in the Moosakutty family since 1960, and is named after Faiz’s mother. Faiz took over in 1990 and has since embarked on replanting the entire estate, aiming to create a model coffee farm. This process is now 98% complete and the Bibi Plantation produces some of the region’s finest coffee. Faiz lives on the farm with his wife, Sonia, and two children – Rihan and Tara.

 

Faiz does not cut corners and runs his farm in an environmentally and socially responsible way. The coffee is grown in the shade of indigenous silver oaks, jungle figs and rosewood trees, which provide habitat for a vast array of bird and insect life, and the occasional elephant from the nearby forest! While the estate is not officially certified organic, no chemical weed-killers are used; instead weeds are removed by hand so that the cut plants form a natural green compost. Micronutrients, manure and

compost produced from the skins of pulped coffee cherries are other important, organic fertilisers widely used on the estate.

 

Some 100 people work on the plantation, around half of whom live on site. The farm provides free electricity, free housing and free medical assistance. Faiz also offers interest free loans to assist with the education of workers’ children, and pay back schedules are kept flexible and worked out on a case by case basis. As Faiz told us on a recent visit to London, “It is a big responsibility – like looking after a family of 100 people!”

 

 

Coffee: Plantation A

Farm: Bibi Plantation

Varietal(s): Red Catucaí (known locally as HDT)

Processing: Fully washed, sun-dried on patios

Altitude: 600-800 metres above sea level

Owner: Faiz Moosakutty & family

City: Sunticoppa

Region: Karnataka State