Taking the Purist Route

Natural processed coffee seems to be the future since most of us were born into a world where washed coffee was already very popular. When the consumer is accustomed to consuming mostly washed coffee, it is but natural to look for something different and more exciting.

Either we work with nature or we work with technology. On the one hand, working with nature means refining natural coffee process and re-visiting everything our ancestors did. On the other hand, working with technology means using sophisticated equipment to control the processing of coffee at all stages till it yields the dark brown liquid we consume.

Both these methods are more about the journey than the product since we will continue to consume what coffee we already have till we find a more exciting one. Once we get there, we will most likely embark on our next journey while consuming the coffee we got as a result of our previous expedition.

  

Coffee is not a very important product to the economy and culture of India and so we are inclined to follow the technological method as it seems to give a more “value-added” feel to consumers than the natural method. The answer is finally a combination of both methods.

Identify what will work well using the natural method and use technology for everything else. This idea again requires consumption to determine its success and so developing the habit of consumption is once again the vital link in the chain. The western world already consumes coffee first thing in the morning and many times during the day and so they are able to move faster than us even though they don’t produce this coffee.

This is a very exciting time though for an Indian consumer who like a consumer in the west, already has the habit of consuming coffee. For the new consumer, it’s like being a baby in a topless bar; lots of confusion!

One way to sort out this confusion is to connect the dots for these new consumers and give them a taste of what was before bringing them into the world of what might be.

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Author - Gaurav

Is the Lead for Coffee Academy & Flavour Science at Humblebean

He was the Quality assistant manager at Tata Coffee, and Lead production-in-charge for Roast & Ground and Starbucks operations. He holds a Masters in Coffee Economics and Science (University of Trieste, Italy) Scholarship from Ernesto Illy Foundation. Gaurav will help set up Humblebean’s Coffee lab & academy, and expand our blend development initiatives.