Jolt of Java

Each evening on the crowded strip of Bangalore’s Brigade Road, weary shoppers, rambunctious teenagers and executives in crinkled suits ...

Each evening on the crowded strip of Bangalore’s Brigade Road, weary shoppers, rambunctious teenagers and executives in crinkled suits gather to pay obeisance at the altar of the bean.

Here, sitting cheek by jowl, coffee bars like Barista, Cafe Coffee Day, Nilgiri’s Cafe and Java Green continue the grand tradition initiated in homes with the morning cup of filter coffee, and continued in bustling darshinis—neighbourhood ‘holes in the wall’ serving South Indian snacks with stainless steel tumblers of creamy coffee.

Bangalore’s coffee bars are emblematic of its reinvented character as a vibrant, successful city. Along with IT, call centres and Infosys, coffee has become an indelible part of the city’s identity. As a result, the bean supports an entire industry of producers and retailers who ensure city residents with java cravings are never far from their brew.

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Offshoot Coffee Day X-press offers ice-blended coffees and bubbling mochas at Hindustan Petroleum stations across Bangalore. Reliance snuck Java Green into its chain of broadband cafes, and young gamers now have a cappuccino to add to their defining accoutrements of a microphone and headphones.

Qwicky’s Coffee Island in Austin Town’s Lifestyle store follows the Chennai trailblazer’s shop-in-shop concept, and The Corner Bookstore in the Barista on St Mark’s Road ensures that snacks, books and music are but a macchiato away.

The Kafin Group’s BrewBaker’s chain beguiles customers with games of chess amidst barrels of beans, and Cupps & Muggs on Infantry Road serves as a coffee bar during the day and a rocking pub at night.

On MG and Brigade roads, shoppers stop not for bhelpuri and nimbu pani, but at kiosks selling Nescafe and Bisi Bisi Georgia brand coffee, whose tag line is ‘Life Restart Maadi (now)!’

But alongside the Karnataka darshinis, the most popular chain of old style cafes is the India Coffee House. In a large room plastered with Karnataka Tourism Board posters egging customers to drink more coffee (as though they needed encouragement), this South Indian original attracts giggling teens and gossiping geriatrics who gather for coffee mornings where each cup costs Rs 5. The experience? Priceless.

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Further preventing separation anxiety are the 300-plus Fresh & Ground kiosks that prepare round, flat and roasted beans for pure coffee and chicory blend takeaways (Rs 50-152 per kg).

Retailers for the state Coffee Board sell Arabica, and mix Robusta and Plantation Coffee on their premises each afternoon (Rs 72 per half kg).

For the gourmets with a nose for better brews, Mysore Nuggets EB, Robusta Kapi Royale and India Monsooned Coffee are available at every department store worth its bean. In Bangalore, after all, there is only one king of good times.