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Summer special: Cold brew is stirring a fresh storm in the cuppa

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BENGALURU: This summer, Pranav Bahadur (26) has a new night ritual. Before retiring to bed, the advertising professional daily hits the kitchen to prepare a batch of cold brew coffee for the following day. He takes a bottle of the artisanal brew to his meetings or even serves it as beer replacement for weekend gatherings at home.

“I stumbled upon cold brew at cafés. I got so hooked to its flavour that I started experimenting with different blends at home. It has become my summer staple,” says Bahadur.

For the uninitiated, cold brew is coffee powder brewed overnight with room temperature or cold water. It is more full-bodied than regular cold coffee. The global trend hit city cafés like Starbucks and micro-roasteries a year ago. Its rising popularity prompted coffee-loving Bengalureans to bring this new coffee culture home now, after having enjoyed decades of filter coffee, cappuccinos, pour-overs and coffee cocktails.

According to coffee expert and Le Cordon Bleu (Paris) alumnus Tapaswini Purnesh, Bengaluru ranks number two in India, after Delhi, to follow trends with fascination. “Well-travelled Bengalureans want to make a statement by replacing an evening beer with a cold brew at get-togethers,” says Purnesh.

Summer special: Cold brew is stirring a fresh storm in the cuppa

Cafés and brands have contributed to making coffee gourmet here by even launching posh homegrown blends from plantations in Kodagu and Chikmagaluru. With increasing demand for cold brew, they now have added another swig to their cuppa. They are launching interesting DIY cold brew kits. Delhi-based cold brew coffee company Sleepy Owl recently went national by going online. This March, it launched cold brew kits to reach important markets namely Bengaluru. “After Delhi, 80% of our cold brew kit orders come from Bengaluru and Mumbai. Takers are primarily young working professionals between 24-35 years who are exposed to global coffee culture,” says cofounder Arman Sood.

Four months ago, Foodhall here introduced a section for cold brew kits. COO Jay Jhaveri says, “This new way of overnight brewing has attracted people. Instead of consuming regular coffee, people are bringing trendy cold brew kits to even our meetings.”

Agrees Ashish D’ Abreo, cofounder of The Flying Squirrel micro-roastery. “It’s an intriguing way to make coffee. We used to brew one batch in two days a year ago. Today, we brew three batches every day,” says Abreo.

Third Wave Coffee Roasters too spotted a spike in sales of cold brew at its micro-roastery. According to owner Ayush Bathwal, it went from 5-10 orders per day a year ago to 30 now. “In future, we plan to brew it with natural fruits like pomegranate and oranges too,” says Bathwal.

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