Indians have never been big coffee drinkers. But the West’s daily drink has existed in the South Asian country for centuries — the story goes that those first prodigious beans were smuggled out of Yemen by an Indian Muslim saint around 600 years ago.
Since then, coffee production has flourished in the states of Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu, but not for local consumption. British colonial presence made the beans a sizable export, but Indians themselves have always preferred to enjoy a hot cup of chai tea instead. That is, until now. In the last few years, India’s become privy to its own fledgling coffee culture. Sipping local roasts and hanging out at coffeehouses has become a real trend on home soil.
“Eight or nine years back, if you told a friend who was visiting from another city, ‘Let’s go for coffee,’ they’d really scoff at you,” said Ashish D’Abreo, co-founder of the Bangalore-based organic coffee startup Flying Squirrel. “It meant a five-rupee steel tumbler of instant stuff and it was very looked down upon. But now in Bangalore you can go and have a good Americano and espresso.”
