Club Mahindra is a major player in promoting coffee plantation tourism
Indian filter coffee was popularised by the India Coffee Houses run by the Coffee Board of India since mid-1940s
Chennai: Resorts in the lush-green hilly terrain of the Western Ghats where coffee is grown, are becoming popular. An early morning walk through a coffee plantation is an ideal way to study how coffee is grown on the hilly slopes. Most resorts which own plantations organise treks besides trips to waterfalls in the vicinity. The Stanmore bungalow in Valparai in the Anamalai hills in the state, for instance, boasts of a 7,500 square feet British built bungalow constructed in 1928.
Club Mahindra is a major player in promoting coffee plantation tourism way in the south. In fact, its little over one-year-old 32-acre property in Virajpet is touted as a “plantation hideaway”.Sunlight hardly penetrates the thick canopy of silver oaks, coffee trees, pepper and cardamom. “It has been designed especially to provide a rich experience of a serene sojourn at our coffee plantation where we grow aromatic Arabica and Robusta variety of coffee seeds,” says Biplab Banerjee.
“Ooty and Kodaikanal are becoming saturated owing to increased tourist activity. Hence, Virajpet and Madikeri are emerging as hot destinations. Plantation tourism is fast catching up. On an average, people book their accommodation three months in advance,” says R. Vijay Mohan, regional head, TN & Karnataka, Club Mahindra. The saga of Indian coffee cultivation commenced in 1600 AD in the Baba Budan Giris in Karnataka. It became a commercial crop in the 18th century when the British occupied hilly terrain in south India. Thereafter, it is a story of the Indian coffee industry making rapid strides to earn a unique identity.
“Although tea is not grown as extensively as coffee is, the tourism department has been conducting a tea festival every year. Taking into account the importance attached to coffee by south Indians, the department should come forward to organise a coffee festival in a big way,” says N. Ravi, CEO, TourBoss. Some key destinations in TN, Karnataka and Kerala as a CPT circuit:
Valparai is a hill station in Coimbatore district located 3,500 feet above sea level on the Anamalai hills range of the Western Ghats. The Tamil Nadu government is engaged in promoting infrastructure development for the hospitality sector.Yercaud in Salem district is also dominated by coffee plantations. Coonoor and Kodaikanal are other places in Tamil Nadu where coffee is grown.Tiruvannamalai is an emerging spot where coffee plants and pepper vines are being cultivated in the Jawadu hills.
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