Centuries ago, when coffee beans were transported to Europe in sailing ships, a wonderful accident occurred. Monsoon winds caused the beans to swell, change colour and acquire an intensely-mellow flavour that won connoisseurs over. Today, this magic is recreated by monsooning the finest Arabica beans to produce a world-famous specialty coffee. Monsooned coffee or coffee beans swollen with moisture from the air, is prepared at the curing works situated on the West Coast of Southern India. Stored in special warehouses, moist monsoon winds circulate around the coffee beans, making them swell in size and take on a mellowed but aggressive, musty flavour. This process yellows the bean and reduces the acidity, imparting a heavy, syrupy flatness reminiscent of aged coffees. For preparing monsooned coffees only dry processed Arabica and Robusta beans are used. The coffees are mainly used in blends to mellow and impart richness to rougher, more acidy coffees. The best grade in monsooned coffee is Monsooned Malabar AA.