The specialty coffee wave sweeping small-town India

Once restricted to only big cities, high-end specialty coffee chains are finding new customers across India.

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It was this one thought that made Harmanpreet Singh leave his family bakery to open a specialty coffee shop in the northern Indian city of Jalandhar.

It was an unexpected decision - coffee has always been popular in southern states, traditionally served strong and frothy in a steel tumbler. But it's still not the first choice of beverage in the vast swathes of north India, where drinking tea is an intrinsic part of the culture.

For Mr Singh, the journey began in 2021 during the Covid-19 pandemic when he saw a growing demand for specialty coffee, particularly among the city's youth and the overseas residents who returned to the country at that time.

Recognising this shift, he moved to the southern city of Bengaluru to learn brewing techniques. "I studied everything - from the way coffee is served to the role things like decor, cutlery, music and even packaging played in the overall experience," he said.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5y38vnpnn2o

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