Tata Coffee Ltd said on Monday it would supply premium coffee beans to Starbucks, the American coffee retail chain.

This is the first time Starbucks, the world's largest and leading coffee chain with over 8,500 retail outlets around the world, has decided to source coffee beans from India, Tata Coffee managing director Hamid Ashraff told reporters in Bangalore.

He said, Tata Coffee, the largest integrated coffee company in Asia, is the only producer company to be chosen by Starbucks.

Starbucks would buy coffee beans at a 40 per cent price premium from Tata Coffee, it said.