Coffee from Araku Valley turns a big draw in Paris

Naandi Foundation, started to tackle socio-economic issues in India through efficient solutions, began working with the tribal farmers of Araku Valley in Andhra’s Visakhapatnam district in 2000. Within eight years, the foundation was able to established Araku Originals, a social enterprise to give underpriviledged and exploited tribal farmers their due, by marketing coffee around the world.

Naandi, whose directors include Anand Mahindra, chairman of Mahindra & Mahindra, Infosys co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan, among others, wanted to make the label a gourmet coffee brand, acceptable globally. So  after giving their products a startling makeover, they found a way to reach it to the shelves of one of Paris’s iconic, upmarket grocery stores — La Grande Épicerie.

This year, Araku Coffee reached an important milestone by winning the gold medal at Prix Epicures, food-based award ceremony in Paris. The CEO of Naandi Foundation, Manoj Kumar, who is also a co-founder of Araku Coffee, shared this news on social media. “I urge all of you to applaud the adivasi farmers in Araku region and the @arakucoffee team in Paris, which won the prestigious Gold Medal for the best coffee pod in the Prix Epicures OR 2018 Award in Paris, France.” 

This was retweeted by Mahindra, who said, “In a land of gourmets, an Indian coffee, grown by Adivasis in an underdeveloped part of India, has been ranked as one of the best coffee brands in the market. It’s high time Indian food brands cracked the premium segment.”