Sakleshpur sits midway between Mangalore and Bangalore, in the folds of the Western Ghats — one of the world's eight hottest biodiversity hotspots. The hills here hold the monsoon; coffee ripens slowly under native canopy, and pepper vines climb the same trees that shade it.
For much of the twentieth century, this estate belonged to the Roman Catholic Church, under the Diocese of Mangalore. In 1981, the late Louis D'Silva and Dulcine D'Silva — then resident in Qatar — acquired it from the Diocese, and have owned it for 45+ years since then.
What began as a coffee plantation has grown into a working estate that makes far more than it once did: single-origin coffee, estate spices, sun-dried fruit, hand-poured candles, cold-process soaps and botanical cosmetics.
Today the estate is managed collectively by the D'Silva family — Dulcine, Roshan, Lester and Lloyd D'Silva — carrying on what Louis and Dulcine began. While the family is not resident in India, they — most notably Lester — visit regularly and monitor plantation operations day to day, ensuring adherence to the estate's standards and standard operating procedures. A resident team, many of whom have worked these rows for decades, grows, makes and ships everything from origin.
Shade-grown coffee keeps the canopy standing. Native trees host pepper vines, shelter birdlife, and hold the soil through the monsoon. The estate's produce is a by-product of keeping this hillside alive.