The Hindu Business Line : Growing interest in course on coffee management

Can a graduate in electronics engineering set up and run a coffee shop? While the candidate’s basic qualification may not equip him or her for a career in the latter business, there is help at hand.

Thanks to the Post Graduate Diploma in Coffee Quality Management, candidates with diverse educational backgrounds can educate themselves for this line of work.

A course that initially drew students from families that were already engaged in the coffee business, it now attracts candidates with varied qualifications and backgrounds.

Run by the Coffee Board, this nine-month course has just nine seats. All those who have completed the course in the last nine years have landed jobs. The Coffee Board collects Rs 50,000 as the course fee.

According to the Coffee Board Chairman, Mr G.V. Krishna Rau, the course exposes students to the entire chain of coffee production, which begins with blossoming and ends with roasting and grinding. “Many of those who have done this course have gone back to plantations to help their families, others have found jobs as coffee tasters, while still others have got jobs in some aspect of quality coffee production or in testing labs and retail outlets such as Barista,” he says.

Given the scope for the rise in the country’s coffee consumption, this course holds promise. Currently, of the total domestic production of around three lakh tonnes, nearly 70 per cent is exported. Coffee consumption currently stands at around 80,000 tonnes, as against 50,000 tonnes in 2000.

According to Mr Jairam Ramesh, Union Minister of State for Commerce, coffee consumption in the country is increasing by 5,000-6,000 tonnes every year. In the last four years, consumption has gone up by 4,000 tonnes annually.

On the exports front too, shipments of speciality coffees have been gaining ground. Given the growing business, exporters would need quality control personnel as well personnel to test and taste coffee.

Details regarding the course could be had from Dr. K. Basavaraj, Deputy Director (QC), Coffee Board, No.1, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Veedhi, Bangalore-560 001. Ph: 080-22262868 / 22266991 E-mail: basavarajddqc@vsnl.net