Subko Coffee

A few months ago I had friends flying back to Bangalore from Mumbai who insisted on finding time to go to Subko to buy some coffee, bottled cold brews and baked items. Considering we live in the state that is the home of Indian coffee I couldn’t help but make fun of them for falling for what I assumed was typical Bandra pretentious hype. Over time though, I realised that I was wrong. Because what Subko seemed to have achieved went far beyond hype and buzz. Very quickly it seemed to have achieved a level of life and loyalty that is rare, almost like some sort of tribal community evangelising the gospel of great coffee and great baking. 

So I decided to go there for breakfast on my last trip to Mumbai and check it out for myself. What I found was the most coherent, thought through, individualistic coffee place I’ve seen in a long time. I know the Araku Coffee space in Bangalore will open soon but until then it’s hard to imagine a place that marries coffee, food and design as seamlessly. Anyway comparisons between the two can’t be made because Araku is at a completely different scale and has very different goals and ambitions. Subko really takes the idea of a neighbourhood coffee shop and elevates the experience but not in some flaky way but with clarity and a cogent thought. 

I’m no expert on coffee. I know what a bad coffee is but I lack the knowledge, nose or palate to differentiate between the really good third wave coffees. So it’s not for me to comment on how good the coffee is. All I can say is that I enjoyed all the coffees I tried, and I love how they focus so much on showcasing the work done by farmers across the country. Despite coming from Meghalaya I had no idea that coffee was grown in the Garo Hills. Subko’s attempt to create awareness about the different kinds of coffee grown in India is incredible, and and as a consumer, I have never gone to a coffee shop and really thought about the idea of bean to cup as deeply before. 

Best of all, this is all done in a way that is unthreatening and doesn’t feel at all intimidating. Part of the reason I don’t get into coffee much is because (like wine) I really get overwhelmed by all the experts and their expertise. I know there is great knowledge and science behind it but it just feels intimidating and putting off. Knowledge should be used to build bridges of understanding and not walls of exclusion and at Subko they do that. Whether you want a basic cold coffee or a specific cold brew, someone will help you with warmth and patience and without the slightest hint of condescension. Maybe it’s because the founder Rahul Reddy didn’t come from a coffee background originally. Growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area and living in New York (the only two places in America with good coffee), his love of coffee was developed travelling around the world working across technology and development economics. When he decided to make coffee his life, he brought both his academic rigour and his professional background to his coffee journey, spending years understanding the farming ecosystem, the coffee trade, flavours and palate and more. This allowed him to see coffee as an integrated system and create something that looks at coffee holistically, and create something that seems to represent every part of India’s coffee story. 

While I may not know much about coffee, I do know food and the baking programme at Subko is nothing short of spectacular. Rahul’s partner is the famous Daniel Trulson, founder of the legendary Bread and Chocolate in Pondicherry. Daniel’s story is well chronicled, so I won’t get into it in detail here. The Chicago boy who moved to Pondicherry via France and Ann Arbor’s famous Zingerman’s Bake House has a well deserved reputation as being one of the best bakers and bread makers in India. At Subko the baking programme is easily the best in the city and it’s not just the flavour but also the way it fits so seamlessly with the overarching philosophy of the place. There is zero attempt to recreate a French bakery or to imitate a western perspective. Instead whether it’s the dough that is used or the flavours and the actual creations, Daniel examines what being a western style baker means in an Indian context. As a result the food is excellent, creative and original. I hate it when people imitate the products and cultures of another culture without thinking the local environment and context (in any field). At Subko, Daniel avoids this trap to create one of the best baking programmes I have encountered. 

The final element that I loved in Subko was design. This really felt like a space that is modern and contemporary but also warm and welcoming, a space that encourages conversation and intimacy, a space that is in harmony with its neighbourhood and at one with the story it is trying to share. 

The guys at Subko have created something special. I can only hope that as they grow, they are able to retain the sense of specialness. This should never be a massive chain of cafes. They should never have more than two in any city. And along with a Bangalore or a Delhi, I do believe that this is a brand that can and should someday open in Melbourne and Tokyo and Brooklyn. If ever an Indian cafe could go global, this is it.