Kochi students develop and market their brand of green coffee
A group of enterprising students in Kochi have succeeded in developing and marketing their own brand of green coffee.
It was developed by students of Laurus Institute for Logistics in Kalamassery as part of their study project, Christened Laurus Natures Green Coffee with FSSAI certification, it is now marketed widely in health clubs, gyms, supermarkets, medical shops and business groups
Though not as big as green tea, the global market for green coffee, which are raw beans which haven’t been roasted, is still in a nascent stage. Like green tea, it is also said to be rich in antioxidant and has several health benefits like aiding weight loss.
A 10-member team of the institute interested in making FMCG products accidentally discovered green coffee beans while seeking suppliers in Palakkad. After grinding, brewing and tasting it along with other samples of ready-made coffee powders, the team decided to plump for the green coffee project with Arabica beans after weeks of research. Ajay Shankar, the director of the Institute, extended all help to the team including financial support to move ahead with the project.
They brought the green coffee beans from Coorg and Palakkad and experimented by grinding the beans in different sizes. Multiple laboratory tests were conducted to determine the shelf life of the product.
Since the taste of green coffee is not particularly appealing despite health benefits, they had a plan to enhance it by adding flavours such as mint, cardamom and rose. But they gave it up as it reduced the shelf life from six months. As the initial attempts to promote it were unsuccessful, the students relied on one-on-one meetings with customers explaining the benefits of green coffee.
Though the project was started by the 2020 batch of the institute, the green coffee project has been passed on to subsequent batches with the objective of improving the quality of the product through ongoing research.