Proximity: From Tamil Nadu to Minneapolis
Celebrating a Family, a Farm, and the Relationship That Brought Us Together
For the first time in our history, we are sharing a coffee from India — from Arasu Family Farm, a fourth-generation, women-owned estate in Tamil Nadu. But what we’re really celebrating isn’t a new origin.
We’re celebrating a family who trusted us with their work.
“Coffee Isn’t a Single Cash Crop”
When we asked Nimal what people outside India rarely get to hear about his family’s farm, he didn’t start with tasting notes or altitude.
He said:
“Coffee farming here is deeply multi-generational and community-driven. On our farm, coffee isn’t treated as a single cash crop—it’s part of a living ecosystem.”
He described coffee growing under shade alongside pepper, cardamom, fruit trees, and native forest plants. Wildlife moving freely through the land.
And then this line:
“This approach wasn’t adopted because it was trendy or ‘sustainable’ in marketing terms—it’s simply how our family has farmed for generations, out of necessity and respect for the land.”
There’s something about that.
The People Behind the Trees
Nimal’s mother, Latha Arasu, now runs the farm. Fourth generation. Women-owned. Decades of knowledge shaped by weather, markets, soil, and time.
Many of the workers harvesting coffee today have known Nimal since he was a child running through those same rows of trees. The hands picking cherries this season watched him grow up. That continuity matters.
It means the work isn’t anonymous. It’s relational. It’s layered with memory.
As Nimal put it:
“From selective hand-picking to careful post-harvest processing, much of the quality comes from experience passed down within the family and trusted workers, not automation. The decisions that shape cup quality are often made in the field, tree by tree, day by day.”
Tree by tree.
Day by day.
That’s what we’re tasting.
Consistency With Integrity
When we asked what makes him most proud, Nimal said:
“What makes me most proud is consistency with integrity.”
The farm has endured shifting markets, difficult seasons, and generational change without abandoning its core values — caring for the land, treating workers with dignity, and focusing on quality over shortcuts .
And then he shared something that feels like the heart of this entire partnership:
“For us, every bag represents not just coffee, but years of effort, patience, and responsibility to pass the farm on in better condition than we received it.”
That’s what we’ve been entrusted with.
Not just green coffee.
Responsibility.
Proximity
This is the closest we’ve ever been to knowing the people at the farm level.
Nimal cupped coffee with us in Uptown Minneapolis. He shared stories. He opened his family’s work to our feedback. And then he carried that perspective back home.
That kind of proximity changes how you hold a coffee.
The photos in this post were sent directly from Nimal, who is currently back on the farm with his family. When you look at those trails, those trees, those people — that’s not stock photography.
That’s a family standing in the place that shaped them.
Selfishly, I hope I get to stand there someday too.
The Cup
On our label you’ll see:
Rice Krispie / Marshmallow / Almond
Sweet. Structured. Clean. Comforting in a way that feels both familiar and precise.
Chosen blind by our cupping team — as every coffee is — and then deepened by the relationship behind it.
Bags should be hitting shelves in the next two weeks.
What We’re Celebrating
We’re celebrating:
A fourth-generation, women-owned farm led by Latha Arasu.
A son who chose to share his family’s work with us.
Workers who have known Nimal since he was a child running through the farm.
Coffee grown as part of a living ecosystem, not a monoculture.
Decisions made tree by tree, day by day.
A relationship built on trust, not just transactions.
The closest we’ve ever been to knowing the people at the farm level.
We are honored to be trusted with this coffee.
And we’re grateful to celebrate it with you.
I love this article and so overjoyed to hear we are supporting this family.
I use to live in the Southern part of India, in the state of Kerala. Tamil Nadu is the state bordering Kerala and has more highlands, a perfect breeding ground for the specific variety only found in Tamil Nadu. Variety: 'SLN6' (traditional Arabica but with high resistance to leaf rust) - 'Chandragiri' means in Sanskrit 'Mountain of the Moon'.
தமிழ்நாடு, இந்தியா