The Coffee Board official told The Financial Express that to brand Indian coffee a rule would be formed under the purview of the Coffee Act 1999. The rule would cover all binding conditions required to preempt any sort of arbitration or litigation possibilities in the future. However, the amendment to the Coffee Act 1999 is yet to get through the Rajya Sabha.

With the introduction of branding, Indian coffee is expected to fetch better realisation in the international market as the logo would work like a stamp of quality assurance.

Being a quality certification mechanism, the logo would build confidence among foreign buyers, the source said.

The logo would be optional and would be given to each container of over18 tonnes. However, pricing and grading details were yet to be worked out.

Recently, the Coffee Board set up a committee to decide on the cost involved in branding and promotion that has to be charged on each coffee container meant for exports, the sources said.

The sources said the committee would take into account the cost involved and the price that would be fixed for each container for branding --- both in terms of branding and promotional costs. The committee headed by the vice-chairman of the board, Bose Madanna, was soon expected to come out with the pricing structure.

Prior to branding, coffee samples from each container would be taken, tested and certified to determine the quality. To this end, the board has recently issued tenders inviting surveyors to conduct sample testing.

By August 16, the last day of accepting tenders, the board had received 60 applications from curers and cup tasting experts.

The selection of surveyors would be done after a round of personal interview and ademonstration of their coffee quality testing expertise at the coffee lab of the board, the sources said.

However, the board is currently not sure about the number of quality examiners it would ultimately hire for the exercise.