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OFFTRACK: BANGALORE,
KARNATAKA
Perfect Blend
India's only woman coffee taster is now an international
consultant
By Stephen David
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BEAN THERE, DONE THAT: Menon tests coffee for levels of intensity,
acidity and flavour
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Like all children
her age, little Sunalini Menon was always drawn to the unusual. Every
time her parents took her to visit her uncle at a tea estate in Munnar
in Kerala, she would gaze with curiosity as he took a sip of tea, playfully
moved it in his mouth, rolled up his eyes in concentration, then spit
it out, saying gravely, "This is bad." It tickled her no end
that he did it over and over again. Any child would soon be bored by the
repetitive dramatics, but Menon clung to the "fun" performances.
Fifty now, Menon still thinks it's fun. More
so because she is herself doing what her uncle used to do with another
infusion. Having strayed into a man's domain, she is that much more kicked
about it. "There was a whole new world to enter," says the country's
first professional woman coffee-taster, recalling how her father, a banker
who had moved from Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh to Chennai, had encouraged
an early passion. "It is almost 25 years in the coffee business for
me but it's still very relaxing to wake up to the smell of coffee,"
she enthuses
The journey from Munnar to the coffee labs took
some time. And it would never have started had she not noticed the tiny
newspaper advertisement put out by the Coffee Board for coffee tasters.
With a master's degree in food technology against her name, Menon thought
she was ready for the job. The panel that screened her at the interview
was sceptical but H.G.V. Reddy, the then board chairman, was a man who
thought differently. "So what if she's a woman, she has the qualification
to be in this field," he had said. It was 1972, and the beginning
of Menon's gender-busting career in the board that spanned 24 years before
she opted for voluntary retirement.
The decision to retire was prompted by an urge
to become an independent player in the free market. With her vast experience
and exposure, she launched her own consultancy, Coffeelab, in the upmarket
Rajmahal Vilas Extension in Bangalore. The main objective, as she explains,
was to delve into the technical aspects of coffee-making, quality testing,
advising growers on how and when to sell the beans, and preparing special
coffee blends. As director, quality control, at the board she had learnt
that only discipline could help ensure quality. And she adopted the same
rigid code of conduct at her lab. Coffee tasting, for instance, was necessarily
an early morning task. It also meant abstinence from smoking, drinking,
eating spicy food and keeping late hours, besides maintaining an inner
sense of calm.
The regimen has worked wonders. Menon and a
few others at her lab have come up with several exotic blends and flavours,
including Juan Valdes (a Colombian special), Kenyan Safari and Ethiopian
Qahvah. Also, her expertise in coffee tasting is much sought after. A
certified approver and consultant for international buyers like Dr Ernesto
Illy, the name behind Espresso, she is also invited by several countries
to give coffee-tasting presentations and conduct workshops. "Coffee-tasting
is an art," says Menon. "You have to have an innate sense of
taste, look for certain attributes and profiles in the coffee cup. You
have to look beyond the shadow of bitterness and catch the various levels
of intensity, acidity and flavour." But the technical nuances are
only one aspect. For Menon, her job still holds the same fascination as
her uncle's did when she was a little girl.
This fascination is in evidence everywhere.
In the lab, for instance, which houses several interesting memorabilia.
There are 30 coffee grinders of various kinds from around the world. Menon's
favourites include an Egyptian grinder which has Cleopatra's picture on
it and a coffee clock which she brought from Colombia. Then there is a
small bag of Hawaiian coffee. "It's all about coffee here,"
she smiles, adding that her daughter, who is currently studying in Chicago,
US, gifted her a Starbucks coffee-table clock for her birthday last year.
Even her husband Narayan Menon, a senior officer with the SBI in Bahrain,
picks up coffee mementoes for her wherever he goes. Like they say, it's
the thought that matters. A thought that blends perfectly well with Menon's
scheme of things.
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