MB Recommends: The Indian Bean

If you’ve been whining about the limited number of local coffees in the market then you might be pleased to hear of The Indian Bean. This month-old online coffee store, run by an advertising executive who wishes to be anonymous, sells single-estate coffee, that is, unblended coffee sourced from individual estates. “Indian coffee is one of the better coffees in the world and like a lot of our produce, coffee too gets exported and we miss out on the good stuff,” said the founder. At the moment, the store has two varieties: Appa’s, a coffee from a farm in Coorg, and Frowner’s, which is from the Pulney Hills in Kodaikanal. We sampled Appa’s and found it to have a wonderful flavour—mildly spicy with a pleasant bitterness. Another endearing feature of this coffee is the gentle way in which it dispels mid-day drowsiness as opposed to coffees that rudely shock you into wakefulness. Rs270 for 250 grams of Appa’s; Rs350 for 500 grams of Frowner’s. Buy them online at TheIndianBean.com.