Curiously named ”Chikmagalur” was established by the local king as the “younger daughter’s city.” The elder daughter had her city in nearby “Hiremagalur”, whose thousand year old temple we visited. Now you know, too.
Our stay in Chikmagalur was educational and entertaining - and always accompanied by the aroma of coffee. A few highlights include trekking, learning the coffee business from bean to brew, and watching Avatar (in Hindi!) at the local movie theatre of our Rotarian friend – who also happens to be in the coffee business. It seemed almost all of the Rotarians we met here were involved in the coffee business. One might be a builder/contractor in town, for instance, and have a coffee plantation in the country.
We had the pleasure of visiting a few coffee plantations and found an adventure in trekking among the coffee forests of Rtn. Jayaram’s plantation, Lalithadri. Led by Jayaram, we jumped streams, climbed rugged stone steps, watched coffee pickers at work and took on the challenge of crawling through the brush like rabbits to emerge at a large outcropping from which we could survey the estate and catch sight of an ancient deity. Visits to the ABC coffee bean processing facility, Cafe Coffee Day New Products Research and Development, and furniture making factory (where the modern designs are made by hand to furnish the over 900 Cafe Coffee Day cafes throughout India and Europe) as well as the Coffee Museum made us almost experts. My teammates enjoyed copious cups of hot coffee, brewed with chicory and finished off with a good dose of milk and sugar – and got to taste-test a new product in development that is bound to be the ultimate iced frappuccino drink.
Another highlight was our climb to Mulliahana Giri, an ancient sacred site at the top of the highest mountain in this range of the Western Ghats. We also swung a golf club a few times each and enjoyed the posh Chikmagalur Golf Club surrounded by a scenic mountainscape.
THANK YOU, Chikmagalurians, for a very memorable visit!
