Tropical Wildcard is a single origin Excelsa natural coffee from Bella Bean India - one of the only Excelsa lots in India processed as a sequential anaerobic natural. Grown at 1200 MASL, roasted medium, with tasting notes of ripe papaya, black cherry and caramelised pineapple. SCA score: 85.5. Available whole bean or ground. 

Excelsa is one of coffee’s rarest cultivated species - genetically distinct from both Arabica and Robusta, and almost never seen outside blends. This microlot from Bella Bean India, grown at 1200 MASL, is processed as a sequential anaerobic natural: a multi-stage fermentation technique that pushes the variety’s naturally tropical character to its peak. Expect an explosion of ripe papaya, black cherry and caramelised pineapple, with a juicy, medium-bodied sweetness and a soft, tropical-fruit acidity. An unusual, genuinely exciting cup for drinkers who’ve tasted their way through the usual Arabica lineup and are ready for something new.

Overview

Most coffee drinkers have never knowingly tasted Excelsa. While Arabica and Robusta account for well over 99% of global coffee production, Excelsa is a genuinely rare cultivated species - taxonomically closer to Liberica than to either of the two mainstream species - grown in only a handful of pockets worldwide, most notably in parts of Southeast Asia and, increasingly, in experimental plots across India. Its trees are larger, its cherries oddly shaped, and its flavour potential almost entirely undocumented by the mainstream specialty coffee world. That makes a lot like this one, from Bella Bean India, a genuine rarity on any retail shelf.

Grown at 1200 metres above sea level, this lot has been processed as a sequential anaerobic natural - a technique that layers multiple controlled fermentation stages on top of one another before the cherry is dried. Where a standard anaerobic natural involves a single sealed fermentation period, a sequential process introduces cherry to more than one fermentation environment in succession, intensifying flavour development at each stage. It’s a labour- and time-intensive approach, more commonly seen on competition-grade Arabica lots, applied here to a species that’s almost never given this level of processing attention.

The result is a cup that leans hard into tropical fruit: ripe papaya and black cherry dominate the front of the palate, with a caramelised pineapple note that gives the acidity a rounded, almost dessert-like quality rather than the sharp brightness you’d expect from a washed high-altitude Arabica. The body sits in the medium-to-full range, syrupy enough to carry the fruit character through a long, juicy finish.

For Bean By Nation, this lot fits naturally into an ‘Outliners’ or unusual-origins category: it’s not a coffee for someone looking for a reliable daily drinker, but exactly the coffee for a customer who wants to taste something most of the specialty world has never offered them.

Producer Story

Bella Bean India represents a small but growing movement within Indian specialty coffee: producers willing to treat overlooked coffee species with the same care and processing investment typically reserved for premium Arabica lots. Excelsa - sometimes still labelled commercially as a Liberica relative, though botanists now generally classify it as its own species - has historically been grown as a minor, low-value crop, often blended anonymously into commodity-grade coffee for body and bulk rather than showcased on its own merits. Bella Bean India’s decision to isolate and process Excelsa as a standalone specialty lot is, in that context, a genuinely unusual bet.

Grown at 1200 metres above sea level, Excelsa trees are notably larger and hardier than Arabica, with a natural tolerance for heat and drought stress that has made the species attractive as climate pressures increase on traditional coffee-growing regions. The processing choice here is just as significant as the growing decision. A sequential anaerobic natural is a demanding, multi-stage fermentation process: cherries move through more than one controlled fermentation environment before drying, with each stage building on the flavour compounds developed in the last. It’s a technique more commonly reserved for Central American or Ethiopian competition lots, rarely applied to Excelsa.

For Bean By Nation, that intent is a large part of the story worth telling. This lot represents both a rare botanical curiosity - a coffee species most drinkers have never knowingly tasted - and a bet on processing innovation applied somewhere it’s almost never been tried.

Brew Guide

This Excelsa natural coffee performs best as a V60 or Kalita Wave pour-over - the open brew method gives its papaya and black cherry character room to fully express as the cup cools. It is equally exceptional as a cold brew, where the tropical fruit notes carry beautifully over ice. Best enjoyed black, without milk.

• V60 / Kalita Wave: 1:16 ratio · 90–92°C · medium-fine grind
• AeroPress: 1:15 ratio · 88–90°C · medium grind
• Chemex: 1:17 ratio · 90–92°C · medium-coarse grind
• Cold Brew: 1:8 ratio · cold water · coarse grind · 12–16 hrs steep

Specifications