Daringbadi Coffee Plantation

Daringbadi Coffee Plantation is an agricultural attraction located in Daringbadi town in Kandhamal district, Odisha, often called the Kashmir of Odisha. Managed by the Odisha Soil Conservation and Watershed Development Department, the plantation covers forested hill slopes at about 900 metres elevation. It is notable for introducing coffee cultivation to eastern Odisha, with coffee grown alongside black pepper vines, and for offering visitors a scenic, forested plantation landscape within the hill station area.

Visitors can expect a managed plantation spread across gentle hill slopes with rows of coffee shrubs intercropped with black pepper vines trained on shade trees. The setting is forested and cool, with earthen paths winding through the plantation. Visitors can walk through the blocks, observe coffee plants at different stages, see pepper creepers, and enjoy the surrounding pine and sal forest scenery. The area is primarily for sightseeing and photography with no large built structures.

The plantation was established in the 1970s by the Soil Conservation Department of the Government of Odisha to introduce coffee cultivation to the Eastern Ghats and provide livelihood support in the tribal-dominated Kandhamal region. It demonstrated the suitability of Daringbadi's high altitude and cool climate for coffee and pepper cultivation.

The plantation supports the local tribal agrarian economy and is part of Daringbadi's identity as a hill station and agricultural tourism destination. Coffee and pepper cultivation has become a distinctive local practice and a point of interest for visitors to the Kandhamal region.