This coffee comes from the Poobalang Kodaikanal Estate in the Western Ghats mountain range. The area is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the most biologically diverse places in the world. It is home to over 5,000 species of flowering plants (to include the Neelakurinji that blooms every 12 yrs.) and over 500 species of birds. It is also believed to be where coffee was first cultivated in India in the 17th century. In the 17th century, Yemen was under the rule of the Ottoman Turks. Yemen is the first place, and at the time only place, where coffee was cultivated outside of Ethiopia. Coffee was a very important export for the empire and it was forbidden to remove any coffee plants, fruit, or seeds from Yemen. Legend has it that a Sufi saint on pilgrimage to Mecca by the name of “Brother Baba Budan” smuggled seven seeds out of Yemen and successfully cultivated them in the Western Ghat mountain range. The very place where this coffee is from!