Flavours from all over the world tingle taste buds at museum in Araku
Wish to relish freshly brewed Araku Coffee where it is grown? The Coffee Museum at Araku is the place to be. It’s no surprise that coffee connoisseurs drive down all the way from Vizag city, 120 km away, just to relish its rich taste!
Come ‘Aashadam’ (the month when traditionally newly married bride and her mother-in-law are not allowed to stay under the same roof) young couples come in droves to the museum to spend the day exchanging sweet nothings.
The museum had been catering to discerning palates for over six decades now, say its organisers. The buzz around ‘Araku Coffee’ has been growing after it bagged awards at international competitions during the last few years. Araku Coffee once again grabbed headlines when it tickled the taste buds of Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the International Fleet Review (IFR) in Visakhapatnam.
Located right behind the Tribal Museum here, the Coffee Museum provides a wide array of coffee flavours from different parts of the globe. At first glance, visitors and tourists may dismiss it as just another museum to promote coffee consumption. They are sure to be bowled over by the rich aroma, the taste of a wide range of freshly brewed coffee varieties.
The coffee-based confectionaries are sure to leave a lingering taste of coffee in one’s mouth.
One can visualise the journey of coffee down the ages through the dioramas, photographs, and charts from ancient literature as they relish the piping hot coffee along with coffee-based snacks. Video and audio presentations on the subject add pep to the scenario.
Coffee chocolates in different flavours, concept-based chocolates with a mix of various spices, chocolate truffles, chocolate-covered coffee beans, liquid coffee-filling chocolates and baked coffee snacks can be had in the concept-based ‘Gourmet Coffee House’ section.
“We use high-quality local ingredients with international formula,” says A.S. Prakasa Rao, one of the organisers of the museum.
History of coffee
Can you hazard a guess as to who discovered coffee? You might not have, perhaps, imagined even in your wildest of dreams that coffee beans were first discovered (eaten) by goats in Ethiopia in the 7th Century AD.
A shepherd became curious on seeing his goats becoming hyperactive after eating the berries of wild plants on the hill slopes. At first he thought that they must have gone crazy. But, after observing them over a period of time, he realised there was something in the wild berries, which was giving them the kick. He carried some of the berries to the monastery and shared them with the monks. That’s how goats first discovered coffee in Ethiopia! Arab traders from Yemen carried the seeds home and were the first to cultivate the plants. The Arabs had closely guarded the secret and allowed only the roasted beans to be exported.
“Instant coffee was first introduced for Army jawans in 1901. Blended coffee (coffee/chicory mix) was introduced in 1958 only in India and France, while at other places of the world only pure coffee is used,” says Mr. Rao.
“An Indian Muslim managed to smuggle some coffee seeds and planted them at Chikmagalur in Karnataka. The Maharaja of Jeypore in Odisha was the first to introduce coffee at Araku during the 1890s. However, commercial cultivation at Araku in a big way started only during 1970s by the ITDA, Coffee Board, and AP Forest Development Corporation Limited mainly to wean away tribals from ‘podu’ (shifting) cultivation,” says Mr. Rao, who has an in-depth knowledge of various aspects of the subject.
Heritage status
The Coffee Museum at Araku is claimed to be India’s first thematic coffee museum. The museum should have acquired heritage status by now as it is being run for over six decades.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Visakhapatnam / by B. Madhu Gopal / Araku(Visakhapatnam District) – May 04th, 2016
