Balanoor

Early in 1930’s Mr. K C Mammen Mappillai, acquired beautiful diverse coffee land from British Planters. Now, It’s been five generations that Balanoor group has come a long way since its inception. Production has increased five-fold and continues to expand with the adoption of modern technology in agricultural and manufacturing practices.

Amidst the rolling Sahyadri ranges of the Western Ghats, in the vicinity of Chickmagalur are the Coffee plantations belonging to Balanoor, extending over an area of 1500 acres. With almost 5000 feet altitude and, substantial rainfall rich deep soil and evergreen shade have helped nurture the coffees.

The annual production is increasing as our plantation family is systematically replanting old plants and filling in vacancies with better quality and high yielding varieties.

Conscious attention is paid to every aspect of picking, fermenting, washing, drying, and curing. At Balanoor, shade-grown Arabica and Robusta undergo natural fermentation. They have a modern, ‘State of the Art’ processing and curing facility for preparing quality coffees in an owned warehouse to maintain traceability.

Through the process of pulping, fermenting, and washing, care is taken to ensure that the surrounding environment is not damaged in any way as all our estates have efficient water treatment tanks.

Balanoor not only looks after the social aspect of life but also focuses on the environment as well. They strictly follow a policy that every acre should have at least 2 jungle trees besides mixed trees. These jungle trees will not be uprooted nor sold. Instead, they will add to the estate’s microorganism activities. The leaves that fall from the trees can decompose and then used as mulch in the fields. We have soil and water collecting pits dug through the estate and along the estate roads. This helps in soil and water conservation during the heavy monsoon periods. There are check dams, trenches, tanks, etc which are cut within the plantation which help in rainwater harvesting on the property. This helps in dramatically increasing the water table level.

The plantation is blessed with an abundant amount of wildlife. With strict, no hunting policy at the estate Balanoor family strives to ensure the safety and protection of the wild animals. The wildlife that is found here is The Indian Bison, Spotted Deer, Sambar, Fox, Wild Boar, Wild Goat, Peacock, Wild Fowl, Rabbit, Wood Pecker, Slender Loris, Snakes, Laggar Falcon, House Sparrow, Crows, Bulbul, Flower Pecker, Maina, Owl, Indian Parakeet, Pigeon, etc.

Balanoor is one of the few plantations adopting mixed crop cultivation. At Balanoor, both Orthodox and CTC tea is manufactured.

The Balanoor Tea Plantations comprises of two tea estates, Murgadhi and Yelemadalu, in Chikamagalur, producing about 625 Tons of tea per year. The tender tea leaves plucked are processed in the Tea Factory equipped with modern machinery.

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