Araku’s Coffee Museum welcomes record number of tourists

The museum that showcases the journey of coffee to the valley is battling pandemic-induced challenges

The hiss of the espresso machine is back at the Araku Coffee Museum in Araku Valley, after a gap of almost six and a half months. The museum’s small team of staff is busy attending to the sudden flow of visitors they had been witnessing in the past two weeks. It’s no secret the pandemic has affected small businesses everywhere. Araku Valley, about 120 kilometres from Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh was not immune to it. From a bustling staff of 180 members, the Araku Coffee Museum is today being managed by just 45 people, all hailing from the local tribal communities. “Being cut-off from the main city during the second wave of the pandemic had hit us badly. It is only in the past three weeks that things have begun to change,” says Naresh Akella, son of Prakash Rao who along with his two brothers Santosh Kumar and Gopal Rao took over the reigns of managing the museum after the death of their father a few years ago. The Coffee Museum sells 60 varieties of coffee beverages, coffee powders and coffee bean chocolates (chocolate-covered roasted coffee beans), all made from the locally grown and processed coffee beans. Arabica coffee is the main variety under cultivation in Araku Valley. Here, coffee is grown in the shade, employing environmentally sustainable methods. After battling a steep fall in their 15-year-old business, the recent spurt of tourists to the valley have kept the team on their toes and brought in a glimmer of hope. The museum has been getting about 700 footfalls every day which goes up to 2,000 during the weekends. “There has been a sudden increase in number of tourists. We did not witness this even during pre-pandemic days,” says Naresh. According to him, a majority of the tourists visiting the museum are from the States of Telangana, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. “The numbers peaked in the last 12 days,” he adds. Adhering to the safety protocols, the entire staff is fully vaccinated.