The port that named a pepper
The pepper shipped from these ports was so consistently superior that the port's name became shorthand for the finest black pepper money could buy.
The pepper itself was never a different plant. What made Tellicherry famous was a standard: the largest, ripest berries of the Malabar harvest, sorted and sold under the port's name. That standard survives today as the Tellicherry grades — and at their top sits TGSEB, Tellicherry Garbled Special Extra Bold. Read the full grading guide →
Why Malabar pepper is different
Black pepper is native to this coast — the Western Ghats of Kerala are quite literally where Piper nigrum comes from. The region gives the vine everything it wants:
- A drenching monsoon followed by a long, humid growing season
- Rich hillside soils on the slopes of the Ghats
- Shade-grown tradition — pepper vines climbing support trees in mixed plantations alongside areca, coconut and coffee, ripening slowly in filtered light
- Generations of know-how in when to pick, how to dry, and how to sort
Slow ripening. Berries that mature unhurried on the vine develop more of the volatile oils that give great pepper its citrus and floral aromatics — and the biggest, ripest berries of all are the ones that make the TGSEB grade.
From vine to your grinder
- HarvestBerry spikes are hand-picked at maturity in the winter harvest season.
- Sun-dryingBerries are dried on mats and terraces, turning from green to the familiar wrinkled black as they dry down.
- GarblingThe dried pepper is cleaned and sorted: light berries, pinheads, stalks and dust removed.
- Size gradingBerries are graded by size; only those at 4.75 mm and above earn the TGSEB designation.
- PackingWe pack whole berries in sealed pouches to protect the volatile oils until they reach your kitchen.
We source our Tellicherry Garbled Special Extra Bold (TGSEB) black peppercorns directly from farmers around Thalassery (Tellicherry), the historic coastal city in Kannur district on Kerala's Malabar Coast that gave the grade its name.
About Nature Presents
Nature Presents is an Indian brand built on a simple idea: the spices grown in this country at world-beating quality shouldn't be hard for Indians to buy. Alongside our TGSEB Tellicherry pepper, we source:
- Idukki green cardamom from Kerala's high ranges
- Kerala cloves
- Bhut Jolokia for serious heat
- Therapeutic-grade essential oils and coffee
Every product is available at naturepresents.in →, and we're an Amazon Brand Registry enrolled brand on Amazon.in.
Taste the coast that named it
Whole TGSEB Tellicherry peppercorns — harvested, garbled and graded on the Malabar coast.