From filter coffee mornings to building India's coffee index
I grew up with South Indian filter coffee. Not as a hobby, just as the smell of mornings at home.
In 2012, six months in Italy broke my brain a little. Espresso culture there isn't a lifestyle choice, it's just... how people drink coffee. I came back different.
Then the pandemic happened, and like a lot of people, I went deep. Brewing station, bean collection, the works. And I kept hitting the same wall: finding good Indian specialty coffee meant wading through Instagram ads and "award-winning" claims from every third roaster.
I'm a sales and marketing guy by trade. I know exactly how that game is played. So I built the thing I wished existed, a neutral index of Indian specialty coffee. No paid placements, no sponsored rankings. Just community ratings.
ICB today: 70+ roasters, 900+ coffees, 2,000 monthly visitors, and growing.
r/IndianCoffee was where I learned most of what I know about this space. This is my way of paying that back.
Love the backstory! Moving from South Indian filter coffee to experiencing Italy's espresso culture, and now building a neutral index for India's specialty coffee is a beautiful journey. Discovery based on quality rather than marketing budgets is exactly what this community needs.
As a brand identity designer, I really appreciate the mission. Since your goal is to challenge 'big marketing budgets' with a pure, quality-driven index, upgrading to a highly premium, standard minimalist visual identity could give ICB that authoritative, trusted look.
When a platform looks sleek and industry-standard, it instantly signals credibility to specialty roasters and coffee purists alike. Cheers to growing the coffee index—excited to see this thrive!
Good idea... how do you think the present site feels?
Interesting build.
One thing I'd be careful with:
The interesting question may not be whether people want a neutral coffee index.
It may be what role they expect it to play once they start trusting it.
That sounds subtle, but it can quietly shape what gets added, what gets measured, and what the project eventually becomes.
I wouldn't make that call casually this early.
totally agree. Been checking the data and getting users feedback to understand this better
Makes sense. What have you noticed so far between the data and what users seem to expect from it?