Arvind Singhal

A disappointing shopping trip paved The Way for a boom in India's Specialty Coffee market.

Matt Chitharanjan and Namrata Asthana had just moved from the southern Indian City of Chennai to national capital Delhi in 2012, and They were desperate for a good cup of Coffee .

In Chennai, They loved the piping hot " filter Coffee " - a strong, frothy southern Indian brew served with milk. And before he came to India, Mr Chitharanjan drank freshly roasted, aromatic Coffee from a high-end chain near his home in San Francisco .

But the Coffee They found at their local Delhi supermarket had been roasted months ago and seemed stale.

They saw an Opportunity - earlier That year, long queues had stretched outside India's first Starbucks outlet in Mumbai city.

But the couple discovered That some of the country's best Coffee was being exported.

" We started cold-calling Coffee estates and setting up appointments. We had to convince them to sell us their export-quality Coffee beans, " Mr Chitharanjan says.

And soon, in early 2013, Blue Tokai Coffee Roasters was Born - Mr Chitharanjan roasted the beans and Ms Asthana packaged it For Sale online.

Today, The Hip Coffee brand is a popular choice for India's urban millennials, with 50 outlets in some of India's priciest locations and thousands of customers across the country. They 've roasted More Than 1,000 tons of Coffee and served close to three million cups So Far . Now, They don't need to convince Coffee growers to sell them their best stock.

Blue Tokai's founders understood early on That well-heeled Indians are willing to pay extra for Specialty Coffee roasted in smaller batches and customised for different palates.

Rohan Kuriyan, a second-generation Coffee grower and exporter, credits Blue Tokai with changing The Tide for India's Specialty Coffee market.

" People started to see Blue Tokai as a benchmark and They realised That there is money to be made in Coffee , " he says.

And eventually more homegrown brands - Third Wave Coffee , Sleepy Owl etc - have found their niche. But analysts say this is still a nascent industry.

" You could have 1,000 of these cafes and you'll still be hard pressed to find one Specialty Coffee café next to you, " says Arvind Singhal , a consultant at Technopak Advisors. He adds That it's the same with the artisanal cheese industry.

" There are about two dozen start-ups across India. But it's Not Yet mainstream. The Dairy market is worth billions of Dollars - the artisanal cheese market is just $10m-$20m. The same goes for these specialty premium coffees. "

Until 1991, when economic reforms opened India up to The World , Coffee growers sold their beans to the federal government-backed Coffee Board of India, which then auctioned the produce to buyers.

But after 1991, when growers could market and sell their Coffee , Mr Kuriyan's father and other growers started travelling abroad.

" They wanted to learn how we could improve our overall quality of Coffee grown here in India, " says Mr Kuriyan, whose Coffee estate in southern India's hilly Chikmagalur district is More Than 80 years old.

Production increased, but most of it was exported.

In 1993, India exported 2. 1 million 60kg bags - The Standard unit of measurement for Coffee trading - according to the Coffee Board of India. By 2010, The Number More Than doubled to 4. 6 million 60kg bags.

As the Coffee market opened, chain where thousands of Indians tasted their first cappuccinos.

CCD's first cafe in Bangalore city in 1996 became an instant hit among both students and corporate executives.

Cafes like these were ideal and accessible for Young People looking for a place to meet friends. With cheap Coffee - a rarity at The Time - it was also an obvious choice for young Working People .

By 2011, driven by an aspirational Indian Middle Class , there were More Than 1,000 CCD cafes, ushering in a new Coffee culture.

Starbucks arrived a year later, seven years after another international brand, Costa Coffee , debuted. By then, Indians were willing to pay more for Coffee

But Indian Coffee habits haven't changed much in all This Time - They still like the concoction with a healthy dose of milk and sugar. The closest thing to That - Cappuccino - is Blue Tokai's best-selling Coffee .

Indians also love sweet, milky cold Coffee , available in Indian markets long before The Arrival of Coffee shops. And That 's what inspired entrepreneurs Arman Sood, Ajai Thandi and Ashwajeet Singh to Set Up Sleepy Owl in 2016.

" We wanted to do India's first cold-brewed Coffee That goes well with milk or drunk black, which can be home-delivered, " Mr Sood says.

They also wanted to reach customers who preferred a cup of Instant Coffee . " Not everyone in India was ready for manual brewing using a French Press or an Aeropress. It had to be something simpler. "

They focused on convenience rather than estate names and tasting notes, which They say could have scared away new clients. After the cold brew packs became a hit, Sleepy Owl launched " hot brew sachets" - ground arabica That can be dipped in Hot Water like a tea bag.

They now sell in 2,000 stores across India, and even on domestic airlines.

Specialty Coffee picks up

The uptick in demand also changed The Scene for Coffee growers.

Back in 2012, Mr Kuriyan was only exporting Coffee to roasters in Sweden, Norway and the US. But soon after he was supplying Blue Tokai with export-quality arabica from his Merthi Subbangudigy Estate (MS Estate).

" What Matt [Chitharanjan] did was Focus On single-estate specialty coffees and he was willing to take The Risk of marketing high-priced Coffee . His whole Modus Operandi was focusing on a niche market That knew what good Coffee is, " Mr Kuriyan says.

But other growers disagreed - They thought high-priced, good-quality Coffee wouldn't Take Off in a price-sensitive Indian market.

" One grower said I'll sell you the Coffee but mix it with robusta (a cheaper, stronger-tasting Coffee Bean ) or chicory (a woody plant used as a Coffee substitute) and bring The Price down or you are going to fail, " Mr Chitharanjan recalls.

But his bet paid off. Today, MS Estate is The Most popular medium roast at Blue Tokai, Mr Chitharanjan says. And domestic growers such as Mr Kuriyan also grew more confident.

Other homegrown roasters followed suit.

" We decided to source green Coffee beans and roast it ourselves because we thought it would be great to show the customer the quality of Coffee on offer - from sourcing from farms to the roasting process, " says Ayush Bathwal, co-founder of Third Wave Coffee .

He says That Coffee -drinkers now want to know where their Coffee is coming from, how it's sourced and how it's roasted.

" We saw The Pride That our farm partners took in seeing their coffees being served with their farm names at our Coffee shops in Bangalore, " Mr Bathwal says.

" Coffee is now More Than a transactional, social beverage - unlike what it was in The Past . "

Source of news: bbc.com