I had gone to meet Vishal this morning. He has been my friend, philosopher and guide in Mumbai since ’99
When we met today, he told me to drop in at a set up next to his house where a few people had set up a coffee roaster outfit.
“It’s good coffee and a new trend. You should check it out” said my master Schifu to me.
Vishal loves his coffee and serves excellent coffee from his coffee machine when I go to meet him.
Life has taught me that Vishal is always right, so I usually try to do what he tells me to. No surprise therefore that I looked out for the shop and went in on the way back.
I met the three young men there, one French, and two local Mumbaikars, one a partner and the other looks after marketing. There is an Australian partner too I was told, when I noted the ‘skinny white’ inscription on the coffee board. That’s Aussie lingo and they sure do love their coffees.
It was a small room with a coffee roasting machine and a little coffee bar with a few chairs and an expresso machine. Work in progress.
I got chatting with them and learnt so much about coffee. They are sourcing coffee from the south of India. Clement Sissia, the young Parisian founder and director, told me that he has been pleasantly surprised by the quality of coffee that he has come across while sourcing coffee in India. He finds the coffees served in the cafes of his native Paris a bit on the bitter side in contrast. The coffee in India made him smile widely and this made me feel proud.
“Try our espresso,” said Sid, the Indian partner. “It’s better than what you have ever had.”
I took a tiny sip and said, “It’s a bit like a good dark chocolate. You take a tiny sip and the taste stays with you for a while.”
“We use arabica single origin coffee, it makes the blend fruitier. Some places often use more of robusta than arabica, which gives it a higher caffeine kick which has its merits, but makes it bitter too.””
I am not a coffee expert, so this explanation interested me I do love my coffee.
“I didn’t know what the term ‘fruity’ meant, but this does seem a bit tangy and not bitter. So I think i now understand what you mean by it,” I remarked.
Suddenly Salman, who looks after marketing, smiled and asked me, “were you in an an agency?”
“Yes, but market research. I have worked in most big agencies. I was in advertising for a very short time.”
“XYZ research?” Salman asked.
(I was taught to be discreet about my work in research agencies, hence am not naming the place.)
“Yes,”I replied looking surprised.
“I had interned there, used to make videos. Worked with Neha. You had later interviewed me for a job.”
“Oh, did we hire you?” I asked Salman.
“No,” he smiled.
“Oops I said.
I took a sip of the excellent coffee and said, “I am so glad I didn’t. This is very good coffee”
I quickly explained the concept of turning ‘poison into medicine’ and then beat a hasty retreat.
I will go back for the cappuccino as I am interested to see what the addition of milk does to the coffee.
The story of this post
The story of this post
From what I gather, Koikonia Coffee Roasters will start shipping coffee in a few days and will open a tiny coffee shop at Bandra’s Chuim Village in a couple of weeks.The partners have spent a year attending courses in Europe while working on their sourcing. They did offer to give me a corporate brochure but I told them that informal conversations like this interest me more. I didn’t take a picture. Wasn’t planning to blog but then found the story interesting.
I came home and started writing it as a Facebook post. Then thought it was too long. So pasted it on Blogger and continued typing. Problem with that, or with pasting from insta, is that it screws up the formatting. So I tried pasting it from the phone, and not the laptop, after a very late lunch. That helped.
I came home and started writing it as a Facebook post. Then thought it was too long. So pasted it on Blogger and continued typing. Problem with that, or with pasting from insta, is that it screws up the formatting. So I tried pasting it from the phone, and not the laptop, after a very late lunch. That helped.
