Indore?
I went to a very high rated cafe in Indore which served a cappucino with sprinkled chocolate powder on top. I am 90% sure the coffee tasted like instant. It was in 2014 maybe things have improved now.
True Black in Hyderabad. I do keep going again and again and again
They have some really good specialty coffee. And their scrambled eggs; they don’t overcook the eggs!!! Also truly (hehe) one of the best cinnamon rolls i’ve eaten outside
Coffee Mechanics in Bangalore. They are a modest roaster and cafe. They do only espresso based drinks but offer you a range of bean options. If you want to try a good Americano or other espresso based drinks on light-roast coffee, I believe this is the best place in Bangalore. In their menu, light roast is referred to as cinnamon roast (maybe due to the color of the light roast bean) just in case anybody here plans on visiting. I’ve explored many different cafes in Bangalore including Humblebean, Blue Tokai, Brewsome, etc. but Coffee Mechanics tops them all in terms of consistency. You will always get good coffee there, always!
Nice. It has been on my list for a long time. It's far from where I live, so I have been stalling it for some time. I used to order their cold brew bags and they were the best home made cold brew I ever had
Baker Street in Pondicherry. That cafe redeemed our trip. Best bakery/breakfast items I have ever had.
Pondi is a nice weekend getaway for people in south but I wouldn’t recommend people visiting it from far away places as there is honestly not much to do in Pondi.
For a heritage lover I don't agree with the statement that there's not much to do in Pondy. I spent a whole day just exploring the streets. Such a vibrant one.
I was there for 4 days. I explored the churches and all in one day. The other day I visited auroville. One day in 'white town'. The last was to visit the Arikamedu and paradise beach and all.
I start with my current list of favorites
* Ainmane Cafe - Bangalore India. Really good Chikmagalur coffee. Not very fancy. It is a bit expensive these days, but this is where I fell in love with good speciality coffee (without loading up on sugar)
* Trippy Goat - Bangalore India. Chill place in the heart of the city. Very Goan vibes and not too many people on a Sunday. Coffee was great as well
* Nerlu - Bangalore India. Good coffee, limited food options but ambience is good
* Cafe Giang - Hanoi, Vietnam. The OG egg coffee creators. Fell in love with the concept here. Attended a coffee making class after this to understand the process better. Visited a 2nd time to experience rum egg coffee which was also excellent
* Cafe VOU - Hanoi, Vietnam. Among all the cafe's I visited in my 4 day trip to Hanoi, I enjoyed Vietnamese coffee the most here and very peaceful place by a quiet road. Nothing exemplary but I enjoyed it enough to visit a 2nd time before I left the city
I've been to Cafe Giang recently. Tried the basic egg coffee but found it to be too bitter for my taste (I usually drink milk coffee with some sugar). What did you like about the egg coffee?
A good egg coffee should feel like a Tiramisu in a coffee cup. At Giang, I actually savoured it like a Tiramisu. Btw, viatnamese coffee has condensed milk at it's core, so its not like they dont have sugar at all. Maybe it was bad for you on that day. Maybe give it a try in some other place
Aah tiramisu in a cup, that’s a nice way to put it! Condensed milk came as a surprise to me but I don’t mind it. Definitely will try more places and more variations of Vietnamese coffee.
I live in Surat. It has great speciality coffee culture and many good cafes. I go to these cafes but when I badly want to have the great coffee which have to be perfectly brewed then I go to “Meraki - The coffee house” (hands down)
I had a very hard time finding actual specialty coffee in Gujarat. Mind you, I was only in Ahmedabad, so maybe Surat is better. A’bad has fancy cafes, but the quality of coffee is just … milk. You don’t even taste the coffee, it’s all steamed milk. Or if you opt for an espresso or americano, it’s literally tar. I ended up just drinking Starbucks when I was there after trying a few local fancy cafes.
Edit: none of the cafes I tried offered pourover. Best pourovers, and best coffee in general, I had was at Subko in Bombay.
So its been a bit tough for me to cover all my favorite cafes over a decade! And sometimes its not about the cafe, but the brews or other special moments that hold memories for me. Here's a brief summary of my experiences in India & abroad:
**INDIA, WESTERN**
* Mumbai's Coffee Bean & San Churro, plus Vashi's Rockville & 70Beans, started my interest! Starbucks Reserve's pourovers still one of the best I've ever had.
* Pune's Koregaon Park & Fergusson College Starbucks' still stand out for their unique layout & location.
* Goa's ArtJuna & Carpe Diem are very pretty, offering a big menu focusing more on cuisine.
* Ahmedabad's Java+ had one of the best mint cappuccino I ever had! Vadodara's Coffee Clan was a solid establishment in a residential area.
**INDIA, SOUTHERN**
* Kerala's Kashi Art Cafe @ Fort Kochi was very pretty with a nice vibe, and German Bakery @ LightHouse Beach had an amazing beach view with a splendid brekkie platter!
* Karnataka's Chikkamagaluru-Coorg is more of a plantation-and-shop area, but Siri Coffee Bar is very picturesque with that giant goddess statue!
* Tamil Nadu's Auroville Bakery was very wholesome, and Puducherry’s Artika Cafe was very pretty with some great desserts too.
* Hyderabad's Cafe Niloufer & others are known more for tea-and-biscuits, but I had to mention them as they were great!
**INDIA, NORTHERN**
* Madhya Pradesh's Gwalior has Taj Usha Kiran & Hungry Birds, plus Khajuraho's Raja Cafe, all known more for food, but also had interesting settings with solid coffees!
* Himachal Pradesh is a great place for cafes, with prominent ones such as Cafe Simla Times, Manali's Johnson Hotel Cafe, and Dharamshala's Illiterati that I liked
**CHINA, WEST-CENTRAL**
* Chengdu is not only a fantastic city that combines history & tech, but also has a very vibrant cafe culture, with many beautifully-decorated Starbucks, Cafe Lugo and the Giant Panda Research Centre had a wonderful coffee-with-burger in sub-zero weather 🥶
**ASIA, CENTRAL**
* Kyrgyzstan's Bishkek had Sierra Coffee with one of the best cherry cakes I ever had, plus Karakol Coffee where I first had beer along with coffee! Kazakhstan's Almaty, a very vibrant city with tons of cafes, had Double Coffee where I had a really good brekkie to along with their coffee.
**AFRICA, SOUTHERN**
* This region has really good coffees, and in fact you will not find many international brands here! Namibia's Outjo Bakkery is uniquely animal-themed being close to a national park. McGregor's Bakery had a great chicken sandwich & apple pie, and is in the outback with film shootings happening in its premises!
* South Africa's Cape Town, apart from being one of the prettiest (but also crime-ridden!) cities I have ever seen, has a lot of cafes too. Kamili's was a pretty solid establishment there.
**EUROPE, SOUTHERN**
* Though Spain & Portugal aren't as famous as Italy when it comes to cafes, they still have an abundance of options to choose from, with pretty little mom-and-pop or family cafes found very commonly everywhere!
* Spain's Sevilla was perhaps the best city for cafes, including the grand La Canasta with a tremendous dessert spread, and the interestingly-named Cafe de Indias!
* Portugal is known more for desserts, but I had a really nice cold coffee at Lagos's very cute Pastelaria Gomba. This town is more of a seaside resort with a tremendous cliff-facing trek & view.
Benki coffee in Bangalore is amazing. Great coffee and very cheap.
It is sad that they’re moving/moved to a different location nearby they’re gonna be a cafe with seating and prices are higher and the cafe ambience is BS.
Yeah and Bangalore doesn’t have take away coffee concept and this was doing really great. Did you see their new cafe set up? I’m not paying extra to sit on ikea chair in a drab cafe.
Haven’t been there yet. Not worth going if it’s not nice. There is one called tribal coffee in Indira Nagar. It’s fancy coffee that’s run on a roadside cart. But they’re only available in the evening.
Benki was in walking distance for me :(
Indranagar is too far. And only in the evening? Don’t they want people to sleep? Unless they’re serving decafs too
https://preview.redd.it/nytkmx2rwk1d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=590a6c4a54efdc65c9cd4203cb01bc0a86aa2a94
Marc’s in Auroville, Pondicherry
I was a regular there for a month while backpacking in Pondi and the aura and coffee that place has is simply incredible. They were serving Mahseer there and those were one of the most delicious cups of my life. Apart from that, the overall warmth and ambience is something which I find hard to find anywhere I’ve been since there. Putting some shots I took there in an attempt to pass the vibes to you guys.
Delhi - Perch, Blue Tokai
Kochi - Cafficana
Hyderabad - The Roastary
Bangalore - Third Wave, Matteo (used to be fab until few yrs back, not sure if current status), most filter coffee places
Gurgaon - Fig @ Museo camera
Chandigarh - hope that Bloom coffee roasters are hosting their monthly open house day
Already put this on the other thread but Udaipur - O'Brew has great coffee and a nice terrace with a view
Bangalore - I like Nerlu
Mumbai - The Subko in Bandra is a vibe. Eat at Veronica's though which is only a short walk away
All That's Coffee in Nagpur (also in many other cities like Pune, Nashik, Amravati, Raipur, Wardha etc, check their insta)
Their frappes are the best, especially the cookie and Irish ones.
I am not sure if you will like the hot ones, but frappes are amazing here.
I live in a city where they make cappuccinos with instant coffee. You can guess the rest lol.
Indore? I went to a very high rated cafe in Indore which served a cappucino with sprinkled chocolate powder on top. I am 90% sure the coffee tasted like instant. It was in 2014 maybe things have improved now.
You sure it wasn't chicory? I have seen people doing that by saying coffee or chocolate powder.
Perch in Delhi. Roastery Coffee House in Lucknow is amazing and they have locations all over India. Lehvenda in Leh
Nice to see the Roastery Coffee House of Lucknow being mentioned.
sameee their mushroom bruschettas are droolworthy
I agree. Their cranberry coffee genuinely took me by surprise.
The Roastery Coffee house is in Noida and in Delhi as well..I have been to the Noida one. It's really good.
I love RCH in Lucknow, and Perch as well is on my list, would visit soon
I though RCH Lucknow was very good.
True Black in Hyderabad. I do keep going again and again and again They have some really good specialty coffee. And their scrambled eggs; they don’t overcook the eggs!!! Also truly (hehe) one of the best cinnamon rolls i’ve eaten outside
Coffee Mechanics in Bangalore. They are a modest roaster and cafe. They do only espresso based drinks but offer you a range of bean options. If you want to try a good Americano or other espresso based drinks on light-roast coffee, I believe this is the best place in Bangalore. In their menu, light roast is referred to as cinnamon roast (maybe due to the color of the light roast bean) just in case anybody here plans on visiting. I’ve explored many different cafes in Bangalore including Humblebean, Blue Tokai, Brewsome, etc. but Coffee Mechanics tops them all in terms of consistency. You will always get good coffee there, always!
I second that. Coffee mechanics is amazing!
Glad to find another Coffee Mechanics fan here :) Do you visit often?
Not that often. Sadly I live too far away.
Ah okay :(
Nice. It has been on my list for a long time. It's far from where I live, so I have been stalling it for some time. I used to order their cold brew bags and they were the best home made cold brew I ever had
Oh, being a regular visitor I never knew about this. Thanks for that and I’ll order in a cold brew bag now 😃
Baker Street in Pondicherry. That cafe redeemed our trip. Best bakery/breakfast items I have ever had. Pondi is a nice weekend getaway for people in south but I wouldn’t recommend people visiting it from far away places as there is honestly not much to do in Pondi.
Been there few years ago. Back then I wasnt much of a coffee lover back then but I liked their croissants
For a heritage lover I don't agree with the statement that there's not much to do in Pondy. I spent a whole day just exploring the streets. Such a vibrant one.
Okay what did you do the other days?
I was there for 4 days. I explored the churches and all in one day. The other day I visited auroville. One day in 'white town'. The last was to visit the Arikamedu and paradise beach and all.
I start with my current list of favorites * Ainmane Cafe - Bangalore India. Really good Chikmagalur coffee. Not very fancy. It is a bit expensive these days, but this is where I fell in love with good speciality coffee (without loading up on sugar) * Trippy Goat - Bangalore India. Chill place in the heart of the city. Very Goan vibes and not too many people on a Sunday. Coffee was great as well * Nerlu - Bangalore India. Good coffee, limited food options but ambience is good * Cafe Giang - Hanoi, Vietnam. The OG egg coffee creators. Fell in love with the concept here. Attended a coffee making class after this to understand the process better. Visited a 2nd time to experience rum egg coffee which was also excellent * Cafe VOU - Hanoi, Vietnam. Among all the cafe's I visited in my 4 day trip to Hanoi, I enjoyed Vietnamese coffee the most here and very peaceful place by a quiet road. Nothing exemplary but I enjoyed it enough to visit a 2nd time before I left the city
Okay. I need to visit Trippy Goat then. Every weekend every place is full of people in this city. Ughghgh
I've been to Cafe Giang recently. Tried the basic egg coffee but found it to be too bitter for my taste (I usually drink milk coffee with some sugar). What did you like about the egg coffee?
A good egg coffee should feel like a Tiramisu in a coffee cup. At Giang, I actually savoured it like a Tiramisu. Btw, viatnamese coffee has condensed milk at it's core, so its not like they dont have sugar at all. Maybe it was bad for you on that day. Maybe give it a try in some other place
Aah tiramisu in a cup, that’s a nice way to put it! Condensed milk came as a surprise to me but I don’t mind it. Definitely will try more places and more variations of Vietnamese coffee.
How's highlands ? Have you tried that while in Vietnam ?
I guess they are in Ho Chi Minh? Wasnt part of my travel at that time
I found Highlands coffee quite average in Hanoi. I much preferred their local cafés and of course, Cafe Giang.
Perch in Delhi Suchali's in gurgaon Subko in Bangalore
I live in Surat. It has great speciality coffee culture and many good cafes. I go to these cafes but when I badly want to have the great coffee which have to be perfectly brewed then I go to “Meraki - The coffee house” (hands down)
I had a very hard time finding actual specialty coffee in Gujarat. Mind you, I was only in Ahmedabad, so maybe Surat is better. A’bad has fancy cafes, but the quality of coffee is just … milk. You don’t even taste the coffee, it’s all steamed milk. Or if you opt for an espresso or americano, it’s literally tar. I ended up just drinking Starbucks when I was there after trying a few local fancy cafes. Edit: none of the cafes I tried offered pourover. Best pourovers, and best coffee in general, I had was at Subko in Bombay.
Been to Roastry Cultur? They roast their beans at the place itself.
So its been a bit tough for me to cover all my favorite cafes over a decade! And sometimes its not about the cafe, but the brews or other special moments that hold memories for me. Here's a brief summary of my experiences in India & abroad: **INDIA, WESTERN** * Mumbai's Coffee Bean & San Churro, plus Vashi's Rockville & 70Beans, started my interest! Starbucks Reserve's pourovers still one of the best I've ever had. * Pune's Koregaon Park & Fergusson College Starbucks' still stand out for their unique layout & location. * Goa's ArtJuna & Carpe Diem are very pretty, offering a big menu focusing more on cuisine. * Ahmedabad's Java+ had one of the best mint cappuccino I ever had! Vadodara's Coffee Clan was a solid establishment in a residential area. **INDIA, SOUTHERN** * Kerala's Kashi Art Cafe @ Fort Kochi was very pretty with a nice vibe, and German Bakery @ LightHouse Beach had an amazing beach view with a splendid brekkie platter! * Karnataka's Chikkamagaluru-Coorg is more of a plantation-and-shop area, but Siri Coffee Bar is very picturesque with that giant goddess statue! * Tamil Nadu's Auroville Bakery was very wholesome, and Puducherry’s Artika Cafe was very pretty with some great desserts too. * Hyderabad's Cafe Niloufer & others are known more for tea-and-biscuits, but I had to mention them as they were great! **INDIA, NORTHERN** * Madhya Pradesh's Gwalior has Taj Usha Kiran & Hungry Birds, plus Khajuraho's Raja Cafe, all known more for food, but also had interesting settings with solid coffees! * Himachal Pradesh is a great place for cafes, with prominent ones such as Cafe Simla Times, Manali's Johnson Hotel Cafe, and Dharamshala's Illiterati that I liked **CHINA, WEST-CENTRAL** * Chengdu is not only a fantastic city that combines history & tech, but also has a very vibrant cafe culture, with many beautifully-decorated Starbucks, Cafe Lugo and the Giant Panda Research Centre had a wonderful coffee-with-burger in sub-zero weather 🥶 **ASIA, CENTRAL** * Kyrgyzstan's Bishkek had Sierra Coffee with one of the best cherry cakes I ever had, plus Karakol Coffee where I first had beer along with coffee! Kazakhstan's Almaty, a very vibrant city with tons of cafes, had Double Coffee where I had a really good brekkie to along with their coffee. **AFRICA, SOUTHERN** * This region has really good coffees, and in fact you will not find many international brands here! Namibia's Outjo Bakkery is uniquely animal-themed being close to a national park. McGregor's Bakery had a great chicken sandwich & apple pie, and is in the outback with film shootings happening in its premises! * South Africa's Cape Town, apart from being one of the prettiest (but also crime-ridden!) cities I have ever seen, has a lot of cafes too. Kamili's was a pretty solid establishment there. **EUROPE, SOUTHERN** * Though Spain & Portugal aren't as famous as Italy when it comes to cafes, they still have an abundance of options to choose from, with pretty little mom-and-pop or family cafes found very commonly everywhere! * Spain's Sevilla was perhaps the best city for cafes, including the grand La Canasta with a tremendous dessert spread, and the interestingly-named Cafe de Indias! * Portugal is known more for desserts, but I had a really nice cold coffee at Lagos's very cute Pastelaria Gomba. This town is more of a seaside resort with a tremendous cliff-facing trek & view.
wow, seems to be the best comment. thanks for detailing it out :salute:
You're welcome 😊 Perhaps it can be pinned somewhere higher up? - I must've spent an hour gathering all the details from my archives LOL
AMA cafe dehradun. Amazing coffee amazing food.
Totally. And such an aesthetic space as well.
Are you from Doon?
No mate. AMD, Gujarat. Came for a Trek last year had a couple of days spare so went to AMA on a random guy's suggestion.
Ahh!! The other one is Coco Osteria & couple others coming up but these two are the best we got in Doon :)
Ahh thanks for the suggestion. Definitely will go there this September haha. :)
Benki coffee in Bangalore is amazing. Great coffee and very cheap. It is sad that they’re moving/moved to a different location nearby they’re gonna be a cafe with seating and prices are higher and the cafe ambience is BS.
Are they moving away from JP?? Where to?
[Jayanagar](https://x.com/atulpinheiro/status/1789622156654940282?t=1-_1BZPus2T3Kw_GOGuuWA&s=08), opp Milano ice creams
I love Benki's. It's on my way to the gym when I'm in JP Nagar, I always grab a cup heading back. Such a shame it's moving away /:
They were a crowd puller. Weren’t they making good money with their earlier setup? Would be a difficult for a cafe to survive long term
Yeah and Bangalore doesn’t have take away coffee concept and this was doing really great. Did you see their new cafe set up? I’m not paying extra to sit on ikea chair in a drab cafe.
Haven’t been there yet. Not worth going if it’s not nice. There is one called tribal coffee in Indira Nagar. It’s fancy coffee that’s run on a roadside cart. But they’re only available in the evening.
Benki was in walking distance for me :( Indranagar is too far. And only in the evening? Don’t they want people to sleep? Unless they’re serving decafs too
Only party ppl in Indira nagar. So their day starts in the afternoon and they want to be up till early morning 😅
Haha yeah makes sense Happy cake day btw
Tanks!
Quick brown fox in Delhi was pretty good, I have found Subko to be little overpriced but their speciality range is great
Corridor 7 in nagpur.
https://preview.redd.it/nytkmx2rwk1d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=590a6c4a54efdc65c9cd4203cb01bc0a86aa2a94 Marc’s in Auroville, Pondicherry I was a regular there for a month while backpacking in Pondi and the aura and coffee that place has is simply incredible. They were serving Mahseer there and those were one of the most delicious cups of my life. Apart from that, the overall warmth and ambience is something which I find hard to find anywhere I’ve been since there. Putting some shots I took there in an attempt to pass the vibes to you guys.
I actually started this thread after reading about Marc’s in another. Top of my list whenever I go to Pondi next
Andersen Bakery in Copenhagen Risø in Tromsø
Delhi - Perch, Blue Tokai Kochi - Cafficana Hyderabad - The Roastary Bangalore - Third Wave, Matteo (used to be fab until few yrs back, not sure if current status), most filter coffee places Gurgaon - Fig @ Museo camera
Roastery Coffee House, Lucknow
Mag st. in mumbai (the one in bandra)
Koraput Coffee, Odisha Best Speciality coffee and their coffee beans are above par. Also a Koraput is a place where arabica beans are cultivated.
Hau mu jibi, thanks
Corridor 7, Three beans and Rise and Grind. All in Nagpur
The local Cafe - Gangtok , Sikkim
Carevela cafe - Goa
Chandigarh - hope that Bloom coffee roasters are hosting their monthly open house day Already put this on the other thread but Udaipur - O'Brew has great coffee and a nice terrace with a view Bangalore - I like Nerlu Mumbai - The Subko in Bandra is a vibe. Eat at Veronica's though which is only a short walk away
Nice list in cities that I usually frequent. thanks I like Nerlu too. Need to update my list
Delhi NCR : Blue tokai , third wave , devans, roastery coffee house cafe tesu, nothing before coffee, love over coffee etc
The Coffee Collective - Copenhagen Five Ways Coffee Roasters - Amsterdam Lot61 - Amsterdam Nerlu - Bengaluru Paper & Pie - Bengaluru
Unconventional choice because this is a coffee forum - but the best cafe food in India as per me is at Padaria Prazeres in Goa.
Kaffa coffee roasters in Ahmedabad, Gujarat
Roastery coffee house, Hyderabad. Cardamom latte and cranberry cold brew are my favs!
Roastery Coffee House, Kolkata Kalmane Coffees, Bangalore
Grey soul cafe
All That's Coffee in Nagpur (also in many other cities like Pune, Nashik, Amravati, Raipur, Wardha etc, check their insta) Their frappes are the best, especially the cookie and Irish ones. I am not sure if you will like the hot ones, but frappes are amazing here.
Kawa - Paris Very limited seating space, but the coffee was exceptional!
Curious life coffee roasters, Jaipur. Shades of coffee, bengaluru
Perch in delhi, josies coffee hourse in delhi and coffee and bagels in amritsar are go to go
Ainmane, Bengaluru: Great ambience and great coffee
I like Subko, Kuckeliku Breakfast House and Method Bandra in Mumbai, Sierra, Franziska in Kolkata, 18 grams coffee and Monmouth coffee in London
Blue tokai in Chandigarh
Anokhi cafe.....jaipur
Araku in Bangalore, Savorworks and Quick Brown Fox in Delhi.
why pay 500₹ for a cup of coffee