That Which Keeps You Awake

Precisely what the Arabs called it when it was first discovered back in the day -- coffee it is.

Technopak Advisors, a retail consultancy, pegs the Indian organised coffee market at $17 mn. Interesting fact when you consider that we’ve been known to be predominantly, a chaai drinking country. Of course, the coffee enthusiasts have been dominant in the southern regions. But over the past few years, India has been downing a different brew altogether in unison.

Blame it on Barista for starting off things with its orange themed outlets. Café Coffee Day gave it tough competition by boosting the number of store openings across the country. As of now, Barista has about 220 outlets while CCD stands at about 500. A lesser known Qwiky’s is present too. Recently, newbies like Coffee World and Costa Coffee have made a significant footprint in larger cities.

But coffee consumption is on the rise isn’t it? Every mall and commercial estate is sufficiently packed with the odd caffeine counter. At work, a Nescafe machine is all you need to keep at those long hour days. It’s grooming people in availing of a “kick option” to burn the midnight oil.

Today I went to Costa Coffee, the most recent of the coffee houses in India. Based in UK and established in 1971, it seems to be projected as a premium brand. The décor and layout of the chain is supportive of that fact.

Point being, the “medio” Café Latte I ordered for turned out to be humongous. Look at this.

At one point, it felt like those wine glasses called.. uhm.. well I forgot. But my nose was completely inside the damn thing and it felt odd because I couldnt see my friend while she was talking to me and I was sipping at that energiser. How awkward.

So I kept lifting the cup and kept putting it down if she spoke. This happened thrice. Then I just came out with the oddity and downed the last few ml before we carried on the conversation.

Ahhh. Much better.