Pre Independence, the Tea Board had opened the Tea parlor in the Cement Factory near Karachi, which was opened by my father. He used to narrate the stories of popularizing the tea in India. It was a nice saying that let us discuss over a cup of tea. Our Prime Minister in his childhood used to sell tea on the Railway Station.
But now the time has changed. The young generation is liking coffee very much and attractive coffee parlors are getting space in the modern malls and posh localities.
Ms. Sangeetha Chengappa from Bengaluru has done a survey and the findings are that the Coffee Entrepreneurs brew Novel Plans to convert Tea Lovers to taste the coffee reported in the Business Line.
Inspired by the sheer number of online searches for coffee-related information, Askar Usman, a fourth-generation entrepreneur from a coffee growing and trading family launched CoffeeShoppee.com last month, which sells popular coffee brands and coffee-making machines sourced from Turkey, Italy, Columbia and UAE. An enterprising set of coffee entrepreneurs are coming up with novel ways to boost domestic coffee consumption, which was popularized largely by Café Coffee Day .
“Over 10 lakh searches on coffee are flooding Google every month in India. Queries range from, where can I buy coffee beans, how to brew coffee, to where is the nearest coffee café. Our site caters to the digital-savvy millennials and also connects micro-enterprises to customers, who otherwise cannot afford the cost of reaching out to customers” said Usman, who has partnered with 300 micro-enterprises from metros and traditional coffee-growing areas.
Rizwan Amlani, co-founder, Dope Coffee-Roasted Today, who supplies micro-roasted batches of coffee to 56 restaurants and freshly roasted and ground coffee along with freshly brewed coffee in the family’s restaurants said, “The third wave of coffee, a movement to produce high-quality coffee from growing to roasting, will be driven by micro-enterprises like ours. If coffee is marketed right, in the right location, in an experiential setting, millennials will take to it, as they took to micro-breweries.”
Habicaf, a coffee brand from Omkar Extracts retails 100ml to 250ml of South Indian filter coffee and black coffee decoction in aluminum pouches with LDP lining at supermarkets in Bengaluru and Mysore, which has a shelf life of 25 days. “Closed group conversations revealed that people are looking for authentic coffee in a convenient form, without the hassle of preparing it. Habicaf helps coffee lovers shift from drinking instant coffee to authentic coffee” said Vijai Bopanna, who is garnering ₹4-lakh sales per month.
Shreedev Hulikere, who owns 250 acres of coffee estates in Chikmagalur, sells his single-origin estate brand of specialty Arabica coffee, Hulikere on Wild Kaapi, the world’s first certified wildlife-friendly coffee brand. His estates are frequented by elephants, tigers, gaur, civets, leopards, porcupine, frogs, peacocks, and barbets. “The idea is to take coffee to the next level by appealing to a niche audience of millennials who are discerning and well informed about ethical and eco-friendly practices and are willing to pay a premium for such products,” he said.
rtisan coffee brand, Flying Squirrel which sells 9 coffee variants on its site, has been growing at 20-25 percent Year-on-year and also supplies to 35 cafes/restaurants pan India. “While urban India is taking rapidly to artisan coffees with Mumbai, Bengaluru and Delhi being our top markets, we are receiving traction from tier II cities like Madurai, Mangaluru and Coimbatore too. Earlier, customers asked about strong and light coffee, today they have evolved and ask about full bodied, aromatic, acidic, fruity coffees” said Ashish D’Abreo, co-founder, Flying Squirrel.
