I must confess. I am not, never have been, a coffee drinker. I think it mainly has to do with the first couple of times I tried it I found it much too bitter. I was worried that I would be adding spoonfuls of sugar to make it palatable for myself. When I was living in Delhi coffee drinking friends either brought their preferred brand with them or drank an Indian coffee called Monsoon Malabar. A year before we left Delhi the British coffee chain, Costa Coffee, was slowly entering the market. Sure there was already Café Coffee Day and Barista but coffee connoisseurs were not satisfied. Many of them enjoyed partaking in the south Indian filter coffee experience, mainly because of the ambiance and atmosphere of the traditional gathering spots called India Coffee Houses. I would regularly hear comments about how they could not get used to the taste due to the addition of chicory, specifically the baked and ground roots, to the coffee blend.

A year ago, Matt Chitharanjan and his wife Namrata Asthana launched Blue Tokai Coffee Roasters, with the goal of promoting single estate Arabica beans grown, roasted and drunk in India. Click here to see my video interview with Matt on Good Food Revolution.