Perking up the coffee scene

Auroville Today: What caused your interest in coffee?

Marc: I have a strong emotional connection with this beverage. It’s a drink around which you get together with friends and family. I am passionate about it.

Have you special taste buds for coffee?

I have developed them. I am a licensed Q grader, a quality grader. This is known as the highest rank in coffee tasting. There are 40 Q graders in India, and about 7,000 in the world. To become a Q grader, you need to pass very strict exams, amongst which 19 sensory exams, about how you experience the drink put in front of you. The issuing authority is the Coffee Quality Institute in Portland in Oregon, USA, a world-wide institution which operates the Q-grading professional certification programme around the world. I have a license in Arabica coffee, and will soon get the same in Robusta coffee. You need to be trained separately, as these are two very different species of coffee.

Q grading means that you are trained to give a non-biased assessment of the quality of the coffee. If someone wants to buy a container load of coffee, they often hire a few Q graders to assess the coffee. They send samples to different Q Graders around the world, who then give their report and the buyer decides. Their assessment is based on issues such as fragrance, aroma, body acidity, after taste, sweetness, and uniformity. They are trained to find if a coffee has defects, or exceptional ‘notes’, and stands out and is worth the premium the seller asks.

But I am not working as a Q grader. I became one to better understand the product I am selling. I am applying my skills to ensure that my own coffee is of the highest possible quality.

Where do you buy your coffee?

I purchase coffee from all over India, from Orissa to Kerala. But before buying, I visit the coffee plantation. I look at the fruits, I smell the earth, I see if the coffee is grown in the shade or in the open, I discuss with the planter if he has been using herbicides, fungicides or pesticides, I check how he treats his employees and I try to get an idea of the motivation of the planter: is he growing coffee because it is an amazing product and is he willing to go the extra mile to improve it, or has he inherited the farm from his grandfather and has continued without much interest. If this is all ok, I take samples of the green beans and roast them in a special roaster.

I roast just 10 grams, and then I can tell you the story of this coffee. And if all that is good, we start the negotiations. In this way I have established many long-term relationships, both with well-known and unknown coffee planters. The well-known ones are usually progressive and will be trying to raise the bar. But I also like to visit lesser known regions.

You also advise on how to grow coffee?

Yes, I have become a consultant to the Coffee Planters Association of Palani Hills, advising them on how to produce the best possible coffee and helping them setup their own coffee processing units. I help with the soil analysis, in collaboration with a laboratory in Bangalore which has developed a technique to deduce from a small piece of paper put in the coffee all the polyphenols the coffee contains, including caffeine, chlorogenic acid, diterpenes and trigonelline, all the good stuff that coffee must have

I am even considering starting my own plantation. I have been offered some land, but as I, as a foreigner, cannot own agricultural land in India, it would need to be given on a long-term lease. Then I can become a member of the association.

How good is the quality of Indian coffee?

In general, Indian coffee is ok. It is a well-known coffee for blending; many of the large commercial European coffee brands use Indian coffee. But it doesn‘t stand out, unlike Colombian and Guatemalan coffees. The Indian coffee industry would need a humongous effort to improve the coffee quality and make it of international renown.

India could learn from Colombia. The Colombian government has realised that if they want to move from cocaine to caffeine, they need to invest millions of dollars to allow the planters to shift and produce high quality coffee. And they did so. They also embarked on a huge promotional campaign. It has become a very successful story and coffee is now one of their main export commodities.

Is coffee cultivation in the Auroville area feasible?

It’s already being done! In the 1980s, someone planted coffee in Revelation under a mango tree. I have been observing the plants over the years and last year we did a test: we harvested, dried and peeled the beans, then roasted them and made coffee. To everybody’s surprise, it was exceedingly good coffee. All my assumptions that coffee grown at sea level would never taste well proved wrong. As I was afraid that I might be biased, I gave the coffee to many people, who all agreed it was a fantastic brew.

I started wondering if this was the effect of that special energy in Auroville…

So this year I bought 200 Robusta plants from an expert breeder in Kerala. I have planted 120 trees in Auro Orchard, in fields that also have papaya, mango and other fruit trees, and the rest I’ve planted elsewhere. It will take 3 years for the plants to produce beans, so in 2025 I hope to be able to sell Auroville-grown organic coffee.

I have noticed that local cashew nut growers are also interested. They are looking for another cash crop that could replace cashew. Coffee would be eminently suitable.

You are also active in coffee education…

Very much so. There are three aspects to that: my own continuous education, that of my employees, and that of the public.I have just returned from Melbourne, Australia. I was invited to witness the jury proceedings as an observer at the World Barista Championship, an annual barista competition operated by World Coffee Events for the title of World Barista Champion. A barista is a person, usually a coffeehouse employee, who prepares and serves espresso-based coffee drinks. The participants , each one a winner of their country’s national barista championship, were judged on parameters such as knowledge, experience, presentation, attention to detail, taste and quality. There were four sensory judges, two technical judges, and one head judge. It was a great event and I learned a lot, which I now communicate to my employees in order to improve their skills. And to continue my own education, next year I intend to take the Post Graduate Certificate in Coffee Excellence from the ZHAW university in Zurich, Switzerland, because every year there are new discoveries.

The other aspect is that of educating the public. We have organized a few courses for people to learn about coffee.

One is called Know Your Coffee, a two-hour introduction, mostly held on Saturdays. The tourism department of Pondicherry and a few travel agencies have shown interest to promote this. So far, some very interesting people from all over the world have participated.

Another one is a holistic five-day course called Foundations of Specialty Coffee, where the participants get a good amount of general knowledge, learn the history of coffee, what coffee means in the world economy today, and then learn the various ways of drying, roasting, and brewing. We give a certificate at the end of the course.

Lastly, we do 9 months internships. These are very intense. The participants have to spend at least 1,200 hours on the job, do research, and learn all they can about coffee.

What about the lay person who just visits your coffee shop and has no idea what coffee to order?

We sell small 100 grams packets and we have published video tutorials on YouTube on how to brew each coffee variety. This has turned out to be very popular, and has also created an engagement with Marc’s Coffees and Auroville.

How many coffee varieties do you have?

Fourteen, each with its own distinct flavor. We categorize them by roast profile as customer preferences range from light, medium, to dark roast. We also have a section of international coffees in limited quantities for those connoisseurs looking for something unique and exclusive. We are roasting high-quality low-volume coffee for those who appreciate buying coffee roasted in small batches, by someone that you can reach and talk about it. Engaging personally with customers is the best way to connect with them and experience the coffee in its setting, and Marc’s Cafe has been the best marketing for us.

Marc’s Café recently moved to a large location.

We are very happy with our new establishment, which has become a place for people to come together in a quiet quality atmosphere. Many of the eateries along the Kuilyapalayam-Auroville road are purely commercial; they want to catch the tourists and earn money. We offer a place where really good conversations can happen, where many interesting people, including artists, writers and scientists, can come and interact while enjoying an excellent cup of coffee.

But the seating capacity is limited. I would like to expand to a larger place with an indoor and outdoor location, a garden area and a large parking. Felicity could be such a place. That’s a dream I have, and I have asked Auroville to allocate part of that area to me. If it doesn’t happen, I might find other possibilities outside Auroville, as I have a lot of invitations for collaboration.

Rumour has it that you have started a franchise in New Delhi.

That’s incorrect. We have started a collaboration with Fig, a high-end restaurant in Malcha Marg in the diplomatic enclave in New Delhi. This means that our coffee varieties, logo and brand name feature on their menu and we sell them our coffees. This place is frequented by all kinds of diplomats and I have already got enquiries and visits from people who have been there. We have started a similar collaboration with Hotel de L’Europe in Pondicherry and are looking to collaborate with other high-end restaurateurs. But there won’t be a second Marc’s Cafe – this will remain the name of our home base in Kuilapalayam.

Have recent actions of the Foundation office affected your business?

No, not really. Marc’s Café was also subjected to a special audit, and for a few weeks a number of auditors came and checked my accounts. But they never came back with any findings, which I regret as I am actually very keen to know if they found anything objectionable. If so, I would be the first one to rectify it. For I came to Auroville following a very strong call, and that call is still very much alive. That hasn’t changed because of the difficulties Auroville is experiencing today. I plan to grow and expand my business. That might change if there would be interference in my work. But until that time, I do not want to anticipate and waste my time on ‘what if’ scenarios.