The Battle Of Chai vs. Kapi
How coffee is slowly but surely becoming the brew of choice among young Indians
India’s love affair with tea dates back to 750 BC. Since then, tea and tea drinking have evolved in different ways and vary from region to region. Once popular as the drink of the Royals, in recent years, tea or chai — a thick, milky, flavoured brew infused with a mixture of aromatic Indian spices and sweetened with large spoons of sugar, is a favourite among the common man. From the humble roadside tea stalls and the railway platforms to the boardrooms of corporate India, tea is easily available everywhere.
Compare that with coffee which, until recently, was in greater demand in South India on account of it being home to the country’s first locally produced plants. Legend goes that a Muslim cleric illegally smuggled seven beans home from Mecca and planted them in the hills close to Mysore, Karnataka. Today, it is grown and drunk in vast quantities in Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Typical South Indian coffee, or kapi, is made with boiled milk and plenty of sugar, and is served in stainless steel tumblers. Many families drink far more coffee than they do tea.
Domestic consumption of coffee is rising at about 5%-6% every year, while tea consumption is increasing only at about 2% annually, according to government data released in 2012.
With more than half of India’s population under 25 and a growing, upwardly mobile middle-class that is increasingly well-versed in Western trends, it comes as no surprise that Indian coffee consumption has doubled in the past 15 years since the first cafes were opened. In the past ten years alone, per capita consumption of coffee in India has increased substantially.
India’s burgeoning coffee culture has changed the way young Indians socialise.
Yes, roadside “chaiwallahs” or tea vendors are still ever-present. And it’s difficult to escape the complementary cup of tea in shops and homes. But from the looks of it, it’s coffee that seems to have captured the imaginations (and taste buds) of young Indians.
In a role reversal of sorts, just when the Indian chai is finding pride of place in cafés in the West, European style cafés are now popping up all over urban India. But long before these cafés of the world made it to India, Café Coffee Day and Barista had taken on the mantle of making coffee drinking très chic. It is only recently that cafés — both international and homegrown — are investing in bringing about a café culture in India. Brands like Blue Tokai, Flying Squirrel, and Third Wave Coffee Roasters are investing in enhancing the experience of consuming coffee. Whether the intimate knowledge of consumption patterns, tradition and sentiment when it comes to coffee will give homegrown cafés an edge over corporate behemoths like Starbucks and Costa Coffee remains to be seen. But cafés are definitely prompting more Indians to take a shine to coffee as compared to tea.
This budding café culture has introduced vast varieties of coffee to many Indians for the first time, whilst also bringing more variety to the drink even in traditional coffee-drinking regions.
Customers are now spoilt for choice, what with having the luxury to pick from espresso, cappuccino, filter coffee and latte compared to people who had far fewer options before. In fact, traditionally, if you ordered coffee in a restaurant, you would have been more likely to be served a sad cup of instant coffee than “real coffee.”
If the ultra-trendy, super hip cafés of today were to be pitted against the traditional coffee bars still found in South India, there would be takers for both. The traditional coffee bars offer standing room only, and the idea is to drink up and make room for the next customer. Interestingly, traditional Italian coffee bars followed a similar model.
The cafés, on the other hand, consider space as important a product as the coffee itself, and this is likely a key factor in their success.
Cafés are significantly more expensive than kapi bars, but for the price you also get a valuable “living” space where you can meet with friends and colleagues. The price takes into account not just the product, but also the experience. Traditional coffee bars should take a page out of their book and find a way to adapt their delicious product to this style of venue, offering the best of both worlds.
As for tea, unless exclusive tea rooms were to open up offering people a new, enhanced experience of drinking a beverage they have been consuming for aeons, it’s unlikely to topple the coffee craze that’s taken a hold of young India, anytime soon.
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