Coffee cultivation was started during 1840 by the British colonial around Baba Budan Giris and its surrounding hills in Karnataka. Later it is spread to other areas of Wayanad in Kerala, Shevaroys and Nilgiris in Tamil Nadu. In India coffee is grown in three regions namely traditional coffee growing region comprising Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu of South India, among th em Karnataka and Kerala receive more of South West monsoon rains, whereas Tamil Nadu coffee growing region receives more of North East monsoon. Secondly non-traditional region comprises Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and third region comprises the states of North-eastern India. Traditional coffee growing areas in India comprise of three states in the south, viz., Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. In Karnataka, coffee cultivation is confined to Western Ghats/hilly areas spread in the Chikamagalur, Hassan, Kodagu and Chamarajanagar districts. The Chikamagalur region has got the distinction of having diverse agro-climatic zones varying from high elevation and high rainfall areas to low elevation and low rainfall areas. Arabica coffee is predominantly cultivated in Chikamagalur, Giris, Mudigere, Mallandur, Gonibeedu and Aldur zones. Robusta is predominant in Balehonnur, Koppa and N. R. Pura zones. Both arabica and robusta are cultivated in Kalasa, Basrikatte, Banakal, Kottegehar and Devarunda zones.
The coffee areas in Hassan district are spread over in Sakleshpur, Belur, Alur, Hanbal, Yeslur and Rayarakoppal zones. In Kodagu, coffee is cultivated in the entire area of the district namely Madikeri, Somwarpet and Virajpet taluks. In Chamarajanagar district, coffee cultivation is confined only to the B.R. Hills. In Kerala, coffee plantations are found in Wayanad, Idukki, Neliampathys and Palakkad districts extensively and robusta coffee is grown predominantly in this state. In Tamil Nadu, area cultivated to coffee is less compared to Karnataka and Kerala and primarily arabica coffee is grown in Pulneys, Shevaroys, Nilgiris, also in Yercaud and Valparai districts that are situated in the hilly tracts of Eastern and Western Ghats. Diversification of coffee plantations with other crops like pepper, orange, areca nut, cardamom and vanilla etc. is usually adopted in all the three states. This practice not only sustains the environmental quality but also the financial returns from the farm. Presently planted area under coffee is dominated in the hill tracts of South Indian states with the state of Karnataka accounting 54.2 percent [1-3] followed by Kerala (19.7 %) and Tamil Nadu (8 %). Accordingly, coffee production is conquered in Karnataka (72.3 %) next to that Kerala (19.9 %) and Tamil Nadu (5 %) which accounted for 97.2 percent of India’s coffee production. Similarly, productivity of coffee was high in Karnataka (1152 kg ha -1) followed by Kerala (817 kg ha-1) and Tamil Nadu (532 kg ha-1).