In coffee country

From culture to nature, Chikmagalur offers it all within a 
radius of about 100 km, writes Sumitra Senapaty

COFFEE planters’ houses, dogs lolling on verandahs, coffee trails interspersed with pepper vines in the heart of India’s coffee country, this is Chikmagalur, a five-hour drive from Bangalore. Legend has it that a chieftain had two daughters. The part of land he gifted to the younger daughter came to be called Chikmagalur (chikka meaning small and magalu meaning daughter). This land is located at the foot of the Sahyadri range of hills, some 1,000 metres above sea level and has peaks surrounding it, which makes for perfect trekking.

It is best to get to this coffee-and-culture town by road. Break the five-hour trip from Bangalore to Chikmagalur by stopping at Shravanabelagola, 115 km away from Bangalore. One of the oldest and most important Jain pilgrimage centres, it houses the 57-foot-high statue of Lord Gomateswara, the Jain saint, said to be among the world’s tallest monolithic statues. The statue can only be glimpsed after climbing the 635 steps, which easily takes an hour (The temple gates are closed at 6pm).

Closer to Chikmagalur are the 900-year-old temples of Vishnu at Belur and Nataraja, the dancing Shiva, at Halebid. Here you can see some of the most detailed pieces of sculpted temple architecture India has to offer. According to historians, the splendour of the Belur-Halebid sculptural decorations, rival that of the temples of Khajuraho and Konark in North India.

Once in Chikmagalur, the forests are mesmerising. Next door to the 1,117AD monuments of Belur and Halebid, Chikmagalur’s hilltop Taj Garden Retreat interestingly reminds you of Malnad plantation houses with red-tiled sloping roofs in colonial style. One can enjoy long walks, or savour the spicy Malnad cuisine.

Lavish hospitality is Chikmagalur’s trademark, be it in the plantation or the coffee planter’s clubs. I recall the akki otti (chappati made with rice flour) and the fiery chicken curry that came with it.

The air here has a whiff of the coffee that Chikmagalur is famous for. Percolated in stainless steel percolator with a strainer, the coffee brews, and drips, drop by drop into a beaker beneath. Known as ‘decoction coffee’, this strong mixture is poured into boiling milk and sugar is added according to taste.

Tourists, who are game, can enjoy a walk through a private coffee estate. During the guided walk through the coffee garden, you will see, feel and smell the various stages of processing. Each stage has its unique visual beauty, smell, sense of touch, aroma and taste. The de-pulping of the ripe berries leaves a sweet smell in the air. You will also feel the heat produced by the mechanical dryer and the warmth and new smell of the dry beans. The aroma of coffee hangs in the air, while mounds of Arabica and Robusta coffee beans surround you.

The coffee tour culminates with the sunset view from atop the Sitalayagiri-Mullayanagiri ranges, which is acclaimed as one of the loftiest peaks after the Himalayas at a height of 6,329 feet.

But coffee has not always grown in these hills. According to a legend, in 1650 a Sufi mystic, Hazrat Dada Hayat Mir Khalander, travelled back from Arabia with seven beans of coffee taped to his belly. He planted them on the high ridges of the mountains that rise above Chikmagalur town, giving India her first coffee plantations. Revered as ‘Baba Budan’ for his healing powers, the mountain ranges were named after him. He planted these seeds in his garden and thus was born the coffee industry in India. British planters later did much to expand and intensify coffee cultivation in these parts.

Chikmagalur is a calm, serene town full of scenic surprises. Hills, valleys, streams and snow-white coffee blossoms are all here to woo. In and around Chikmagalur there are beautiful hill stations and places of picturesque beauty. The district is strewn with many holy spots and proliferates legends associated with stories from the epics of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata.

Daily at 6am and 3pm there is a jungle safari to nearby Muthodi, at Bhadra Wildlife Sanctuary, home to bison, tiger, gaur, bear and spotted deer, amongst other animals. The sanctuary is surrounded by hills and part of the Bhadra river flows through it. The bamboo was flowering during our visit. This was something special, as it happens only once in 60 years.

Apart from viewing wildlife, you can do a high altitude trek to Mullyanagiri, which departs daily at 7am. Or take a mountain drive to Kemmangudi, a beautiful hill station, 50 km from Chikmagalur, surrounded by thick evergreen forests and coffee estates. Just 8 km from Kemmangudi are the Hebbe falls, where water gushes down from a height of 168 metres amidst fascinating scenery.

From culture in form of temple architecture or history, myth, pristine nature in the form of forests, wildlife, hill stations, coffee plantations and the delights of coffee processing, Chikmagalur offers it all within a radius of about 100 km.

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