Credits & sources

Photographs of Mokha Grove and the estate film belong to Mokha Grove. A few coffee photographs, used to explain the coffee year in Coorg, are by other photographers under open licences. The facts on our guide pages come from the published sources listed here.

Coffee photographs

• Clusters Flowers Coffee Suntikoppa Apr24 A7C 10765 by Timothy A. Gonsalves, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Resized for the web.
• Flowers Closeup Coffee Robusta Suntikoppa Apr24 A7C 10826 by Timothy A. Gonsalves, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Resized for the web.
• Flower Buds Coffee Robusta Coorg Feb24 D72 25939 by Timothy A. Gonsalves, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Resized for the web.
• New Coffee Seeds Robusta Coorg Jun24 A7CR 01453 by Timothy A. Gonsalves, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Resized for the web.
• Ripe Seeds Coffee Robusta Coorg Karnataka India Feb24 D72 25688 by Timothy A. Gonsalves, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Resized for the web.
• Beans Drying Coffee Robusta Balamuri Coorg Feb24 A7C 09491 by Timothy A. Gonsalves, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Resized for the web.
• Coffee Robusta Pepper Vines Shade Trees Balamuri Feb24 R16 07665 by Timothy A. Gonsalves, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Resized for the web.
• Filter-Coffee by Triv.rao, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Resized for the web.

Generated illustration

The coffee pour and the roasted beans in the home page's coffee section are illustrations generated with Google Flow (Veo and Nano Banana) for this site. They show coffee in general, not a specific cup at Mokha Grove.

Map data

The illustrated map of South Coorg draws its roads from OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL), routed with OSRM and simplified.

Sources: coffee in Coorg

The numbered notes on Coffee in Coorg point here. Checked in October 2026.

1. Coffee Board of India. Coffee Regions – India Used for: shade canopy and shade-tree count, intercrops, Arabica and Robusta growing conditions, blossom and backing showers, Coorg elevation and varieties, Baba Budan.
2. Boreux V., Vaast P., Madappa L. et al. (2016), Agronomy for Sustainable Development 36:42. Agroforestry coffee production increased by native shade trees, irrigation and liming Used for: native shade trees and berry production on 113 Kodagu farms.
3. Current Conservation (9 January 2019). The importance of bees and shade-grown trees in the coffee plantations of Kodagu Used for: the rock bee nesting in large native trees.
4. Mongabay India (December 2022). Making sense of rainfall changes in Karnataka's coffee estates through old records Used for: backing showers within about two weeks; drying time after picking (Kodagu growers).
5. Boreux V., Kushalappa C.G., Vaast P., Ghazoul J. (2013), PNAS 110(21):8387–8392. Interactive effects among ecosystem services and management practices on crop production: pollination in coffee agroforestry systems Used for: irrigation-triggered blossom in Kodagu.
6. Coffee Board of India. Coffee in India (history and seasons page) Used for: harvest months for Arabica and Robusta; history.
7. Coffee Board of India. Speciality coffee (processing and grades page) Used for: washed (parchment) and natural (cherry) coffee and their trade names.
8. Kerala Agricultural University. Pepper: harvesting Used for: pepper harvest months in the hills.
9. ICAR-CRIDA. District agriculture contingency plan: Kodagu Used for: normal onset and end of the south-west and north-east monsoons in Kodagu.
10. Karnataka Tourism. Coorg Used for: October to March as the best time to visit.
11. Coffee Board of India. Database on Coffee, July 2024 (tables 1.3, 1.5 and 1.10) Used for: Kodagu and India production 2023-24, Robusta share, planted area by zone (percentages are our arithmetic).
12. Intellectual Property India, GI Registry. Application No. 604: Coorg Arabica Coffee Used for: GI registration details.
13. SCC Online Blog (30 March 2019). Geographical Indication certification for five varieties of Indian coffee Used for: the five coffee GIs announced in 2019.
14. The Bombay Burmah Trading Corporation. Coffee in Coorg (company history page) Used for: first plantations in Madikeri (1854) and the Bamboo District, Pollibetta (1857); 1890s output.
15. Wikipedia. Pollibetta Used for: Pollibetta's company history, 1943–2000.
16. Tata Coffee. Pollibetta Estate (company blog) Used for: the neighbouring Pollibetta Estate: Robusta, pepper and a nine-hole golf course.
17. Krishnan S., Kushalappa C.G., Shaanker R.U., Ghazoul J. (2012), Basic and Applied Ecology 13:277–285. Status of pollinators and their efficiency in coffee fruit set in a fragmented landscape mosaic in South India Used for: bees as coffee-flower visitors in Kodagu; fruit set with and without bees.
18. Wikipedia. Swami Shambhavananda Used for: India's first beekeepers' co-operative, Virajpet, 1936.
19. Krishi Jagran (May 2018). Kodagu, valley of honey Used for: the Coorg Honey and Wax Producers' Co-operative Society, Virajpet, 1936.

Sources: exploring Coorg

The numbered notes on Exploring Coorg from Pollibetta point here. Checked in October 2026.

1. OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), routed with OSRM. Road distances and positions from the estate's map pin (12.2421667, 75.8877778), computed 7 October 2026 Used for: every road distance, the drive-time ranges (our estimate from the router's times) and the map positions.
2. The Bombay Burmah Trading Corporation. Coffee in Coorg (company history page) Used for: the first South Coorg coffee plantation, opened at Pollibetta in 1857.
3. Airbnb. Mokha Grove Retreat listing: location highlights Used for: “1-hour drive to Nagarahole Tiger Reserve”.
4. Karnataka Tourism. Coorg Used for: October to March as the best time to visit; the monsoon's greenery, waterfalls and heavy rain.
5. ICAR-CRIDA. District agriculture contingency plan: Kodagu Used for: normal onset and end of the south-west and north-east monsoons in Kodagu.
6. Wikipedia. Kodagu district Used for: average annual rainfall across the district.
7. Coffee Board of India. Coffee Regions – India Used for: blossom-shower months for Robusta and Arabica.
8. Coffee Board of India. Coffee in India (history and seasons page) Used for: harvest months for Arabica and Robusta.
9. Coffee Board of India. Database on Coffee, July 2024 (tables 1.5 and 1.10) Used for: Kodagu's share of India's coffee (our arithmetic) and the Robusta share of the Virajpet zone.
10. Team-BHP forum. Coorg recommendations (travellers' thread) Used for: travellers' reports of leeches on wet forest trails (anecdotal, not a survey).
11. Coorg Tourism Info. Culture: festivals Used for: Kailpodh and Puttari, and when they usually fall.
12. Karnataka Tourism. Events: Kaveri Sankramana Used for: Kaveri Sankramana at Talakaveri.
13. Deccan Herald. News report on Kailpodh Used for: Kailpodh as the festival that follows paddy transplanting.
14. Wikipedia. Swami Shambhavananda Used for: India's first beekeepers' co-operative, formed in Virajpet in 1936.
15. Krishi Jagran (May 2018). Kodagu, valley of honey Used for: the Coorg Honey and Wax Producers' Co-operative Society, Virajpet (1936).