Look Beyond Blue Tokai! Wake Up To India’s Best New Specialty Coffee Brands

Somewhere between Cafe Coffee Day and Blue Tokai, a generation of coffee-drinking Indians grew up. But there’s a world of coffee beyond chains like Blue Tokai and Third Wave! Here are some of the best Indian coffee brands from homegrown roasters that you have been sleeping on.

Sejal JakhwalUpdated: Sep 29, 2023, 13:04 IST

11 min read

Every morning, you take your first sip of coffee and suddenly come to life. Have you ever wondered where this magic elixir comes from? India has long been considered the land of chai, but coffee predates it. And we owe it all to a 16th century pilgrim named Baba Budan. It is believed that the sufi ascetic – whose shrine is in Chikkamagalur, Karnataka – hid seven raw beans in his beard, and smuggled them from the port of Mocha in Yemen. Prior to this, the coffee trade was dependent entirely on Yemen, which sold the beans only in roasted form, so no one else could grow the plant.

Baba Budan’s historic act of daredevilry means that the rest of us get to fuss over flavour profiles and roast levels, and picking between shade-grown, washed, or fermented beans. Domestic coffee consumption has witnessed significant expansion in the past decade: It more than doubled between 2000-2011 as premium cafes made specialty blends accessible to the upper middle-class, and steadily increases by 5-6% annually.

Somewhere between Cafe Coffee Day and Blue Tokai, a generation of coffee-drinking Indians grew up. Those who can, invest in expensive equipment, obsessively weigh out coffee down to the exact gram on their mini scales, and watch YouTube tutorials for hacks to pull the best cup of espresso.

But really, all of that fancy equipment comes to naught, without the right beans. There has never been a better time to be an Indian coffee consumer. Specialty brands trot out blends for every kind of nuanced taste and pocket. Some of these estates are even open to consumers who wish to sink deeper into their obsession with coffee. All of these are available on aggregator websites like sixteengrams.com – the name is a reference to the 1:16 golden ratio of coffee-to-water – that allow you to trial different brands and sign up for a subscription service.

Here are some excellent Indian coffee brands you have been sleeping on. Out beyond Blue Tokai and Third Wave, there is a field... We’ll meet you there.

1. SUBKO

Subko – a coffee roastery, a bakehouse, cafe, and event space – brings a touch of class to everything they put their name to. The brand that began as a coffee shop in a tiny Bandra village during the first lockdown, has amassed a fanatic following within the last three years, but is still relatively unknown outside of Mumbai. The most recent addition to the Subko umbrella is a labyrinthine cacao facility in a tony Colaba lane, but it is the brand’s coffee that remains its calling card.

At any of Subko’s cafes and pop-ups, the quality of the brew never takes a backseat. Whether you like your cold brew or your flat whites to have a consistent flavour profile, or you love to experiment with your drink, Subko has something for everyone. At their Byculla “craftery”, you can find coffees as whimsical as “Banoffee Pie Flat White” or a Coke float-inspired vanilla fizzy brew, but their take-home beans are just as exceptional.

Under their Project Sankalp, Subko has “ventured beyond the norm in roasting and brewing exclusively 85+ point cups”. The points, graded out of a 100-point scale, refer to what deems a coffee “specialty” (80+ points) – with prices to match. At ?895 for a 250g bag of their prized Ratnagiri Estate lot, Subko’s prices are among the steepest on the market. But think of it as a treat for say, your birthday month, and it’ll go down as smooth as the brew itself. Other interesting, and relatively cheaper options, are the coffees that Subko sources from India’s northeastern states, under Project Seven Sisters.

Prices: ?695 onwards

2. ARAKU Coffee

ARAKU's Specialty Coffee

ARAKU, which derives its name from the eponymous valley in Andhra Pradesh, really prides itself on putting together a fully sustainable seed-to-cup journey. The brand, according to their “coffee mentor” Sherri Johns, is “akin to fine wine and fine food.” Grown in the ancestral terroirs of the Araku highlands, the brand collaborates directly with farmers’ cooperatives – but has the backing of some of the biggest corporate names in India, including Anand Mahindra.

Their flagship cafe in Bengaluru is “a fully organic, modern, innovative restaurant in a space designed for a comprehensive sensorial experience.” While ARAKU’s championing of fair trade certification and bypassing the middleman is admirable, the beans too stand to the test. Unlike several other brands, ARAKU’s offerings are few – just a couple of medium and medium-dark roasts named “Signature” or “Grand Reserve” – and stripped of complex jargon. They focus on the flavours, freshness (their coffees are nitrogen-flushed and only roasted to order to last as long as possible), and are clearly meant for people who know their coffee and want it to stay consistent.

In 2020, the brand’s model won The Rockefeller Foundation’s Food System Vision Prize. Unsurprising, considering you can identify a distinctive ARAKU cup a mile away.

Prices: ?540-850

3. Maverick & Farmer

Ash Dabreo

A relatively newer, but very competitive entrant in the coffee market, Maverick & Farmer’s prices belie its quality. Started by the founders of The Flying Squirrel Coffee, Maverick & Farmer is the brain-child of Sreeram G, Tej Thammaiah, and Ashish D’abreo. According to D’abreo, their approach to coffee “is all about pushing boundaries” and using “experimental techniques to create something truly maverick”.

That is not merely marketing speak. Straight from the plantations of Coorg, some of Maverick & Farmer’s experiments include Ol’ Smoky, which they claim is the world’s first cold-smoked coffee, and 2 Beans in a Pod, which is the result of cross-fermentation of yeast, bacteria from freshly harvested coffee, and cocoa beans. All of these can be sampled at their cafes in Delhi, Goa, and Bengaluru.

D’abreo said that, for the brand, coffee “is an art, and the more we can do with our hands, the more we can elevate it.” But if your focus is finding a great cup that you can sleepily brew every morning, you cannot go wrong with their best-selling blends. Their medium-dark Parama, for instance, is a versatile Arabica-Robusta mix with notes of chocolate and caramel that is perfect for the moka pot. Another hit is Rohan Bopanna’s masterblend, named for the tennis star from whose estate the beans are sourced, which is an excellent choice to get you going in the mornings.

Prices: ?360 - 680

4. Marc’s Coffees

Marc's Coffee

The story of Marc’s Coffees began in Granollers, Barcelona, when founder Marc Tormo Altimira, opened a café-cum-coffee boutique with his sister, Nuria. His journey led him to Mumbai, then Delhi and even Kolkata until he landed in the experimental town of Auroville in Pondicherry and found a home. That’s where he runs a cafe that attracts tourists and locals alike.

Altimira has travelled extensively on coffee trails in Ethiopia, South America, and the hills of the Western Ghats. With over 25 years of experience in the specialty coffee movement, he is a well-recognised figure in India’s coffee space. For those who wish to dive deeper, Marc’s Coffees offers masterclasses and courses in roasting and fermentation. For the rest of us, the coffee blends are certifiably delicious.

It is easy to get lost among the wide variety on offer, so stick with the basics. A customer favourite is the Kaveri espresso blend, a tribute to the sacred river, which is a mix of three coffees that yield a nutty, warm and spicy flavour and is perfect for breakfast. Marc’s also offers exciting international coffees like the Indonesia-Sumatra Mandheling dark roast, sourced from the volcanic mountains of Sumatra. This sought-after coffee is steep, but if the rest of Marc’s offerings are anything to go by, probably well worth the money.

Prices: ?165-1,000

5. KC Roasters

KC Roasters

Koinonia Coffee Roasters, just like Subko, has a dedicated following in Mumbai, and remains one of the city’s best-kept secrets. Which is a pity, considering everything that the brand offers is top-notch. Their roastery in another tiny Bandra village offers a peek into the sophistication that is part of the Koinonia process, whether you’re sitting down for an iced latte, ordering a bag of beans to take home, or buying one of the super expensive La Marzocco machines for your caffeine bar at home.

Koinonia means communion in Greek. For KC Roasters, this translates into their relationship with local Indian farmers to procure the best coffee in season. They source their beans from three Indian estates primarily – the Marvahulla estate in the famed Nilgiri Mountains, Doraikanal Estates in the Lower Pulney region of the Western Ghats, and Poabs Organic Estates from Nelliyampathy, Kerala. Each of these results in a gorgeous cup.

But it is their Red Honey by Kelagur Estate blend, which truly kicks things into high gear. The blend gets its name from coffee cherries that are shade processed to slow down the drying time – this results in extra fermentation of the beans, giving them a much sweeter taste. Aside from Red Honey, one of their most striking offerings is Amrut Cask Aged coffee, where the beans have the complex and stiff flavour dynamic associated with the award-winning Indian single malt.

Prices: ?300-2,750

6. G-Shot Coffee Roastery

G-Shot G-Shot

Long before Padaria Prazeres and Babka became tourist hotspots, G-Shot is where Goa went to drink coffee. At the roastery and cafe started by a group of meditators under the guidance of their teacher, whom they simply call “Beloved”, you can get a shot of both spirituality and espresso – and the latter are particularly potent.

Along with hand-picking coffee micro lots for their blends, G-Shot enriches the customer experience through daily meditation hours. Tucked away in a little bylane of Assagao, it’s not easy to square off G-Shot’s meditative approach with the state-of-the-art (and extremely commercial) roasting equipment behind a glass wall. But the question is, when the coffee – and the very wholesome accompanying food and desserts – are so good, do you really care?

If you happen to be at the cafe, their iced orange mocha concoction is the perfect sweet antidote to Goa’s humidity. To order home, there aren’t too many options, but they are all equally excellent. Try this year’s micro-lot pick: Straight from the Ratnagiri Estate, the Black Honey blend is a honey-processed coffee with notes of melon and milk chocolate.

Prices: ?450-670

7. Devan’s Coffee

Devan's Coffee

When you have been roasters for three generations, you know you’re doing something right. Devan’s Coffee started in 1962, and their six-decade legacy means they are the grand daddies of the Indian coffee business. Their tiny but very cute cafe and roastery in Lodhi Colony attracts mainly in-the-know locals, who’d like to keep their secret hideaway on the down-low.

The family-run enterprise was started by D. Vasudevan, and is currently being run by Siddhant Keshav. Devan’s was one of the first roasters in North India, providing the largest selection of Arabica coffee and customised coffee blends and chicory powder. Their Lodhi Blend is the perfect mix of delicious and potent – enough to wake the dead.

Like many other brands, Devan’s offers coffees by roast level and tasting notes. Their packaging, which features critically endangered animals on the IUCN red list, won a RedDot (Brands & Communication) Packaging Design Award in 2021. The coffee inside is just as superb.

Prices: ?255-725

8. Bili Hu

Bili Hu Bili Hu

Bili Hu presents Indian coffee lovers with not just coffee blends that will leave them drooling but also stories behind them. The name Bili Hu comes from the Kannada name of the white blossom on the coffee plant.

Bili Hu focuses on coffee with a unique story at the crop level or the post-harvest stage. They are a brand that urges customers to ditch the pleasures of cutting-edge espresso machines and try coffees prepared in manual filters. The brand sources their coffee from the plantations of Chikamagalur, Karnataka. Their best-selling blend of Arabica beans comes from the Balur Estate, a self-sustaining farm passed down from the pre-Independence era.

While Bili Hu currently has no established outlets in India, the coffee is available at select locations of The Oberoi and Taj properties. The brand’s Mysore Nugget is a blend with tasting notes of chocolate and spices, but its history is even more interesting. One of India’s treasured coffees, legend has it that the nugget-sized Arabica beans were only presented to royalty in Mysore in the past. Their other blends, like the Indian Coffee Blend (with 20% Robusta beans), might be devoid of frills, but the flavour is intact.

Prices: ?220-650

Sejal Jakhwal

I'm a dynamic and creative content writer with an insatiable passion for pop culture and the latest trends. Armed with a keyboard and a keen eye for what's hot, I craft engaging narratives that captivate readers and keep them on the pulse of what's happening on the internet. For almost two years, I've been committed to providing fresh and fascinating content. I began with celebrity news and movie reviews and have since moved on to viral internet sensations and rising trends.