Has coffee become the most misunderstood agricultural product in India?

Over the past decade, India has embraced specialty coffee with remarkable enthusiasm.

Our cities are home to a new generation of cafés, consumers are becoming increasingly discerning, and conversations around brewing methods, roast profiles and café experiences have become far more common. Specialty coffee is no longer a niche category; it is steadily becoming part of the mainstream.

That is an exciting evolution. But I believe the next chapter is even more important.

Building true coffee culture

India has built a vibrant café culture. Now we have an opportunity to build a true coffee culture.

Coffee is one of the few agricultural products where consumers are increasingly willing to pay more for quality, yet many of the factors that create that quality—origin, variety, altitude and processing—remain largely invisible to the people enjoying it.

Unlike many agricultural products, coffee is experienced only at the very end of its journey. By the time it reaches the consumer, it has already been cultivated, harvested, processed, roasted and brewed. Much of what ultimately defines the cup has happened before it ever reaches a café.

Its flavour and character are shaped by countless decisions made throughout cultivation and production. Altitude influences acidity. Soil contributes sweetness and structure. Climate affects the pace of ripening. Processing transforms flavour. Every harvest reflects a unique combination of geography, weather and human judgement developed over months of cultivation.

Lack of conversation

Yet these are rarely the conversations that shape how coffee is appreciated.

Consider wine. We naturally discuss vineyards, grape varieties, vintages and regions because we recognise where and how a wine is produced fundamentally shapes what ends up in the glass. Even with mangoes, we celebrate Alphonso, Dasheri or Banganapalli because we understand that each growing region imparts its own distinct character.

Coffee deserves to be viewed through the same lens.

Too often, conversations still revolve around strength, bitterness or caffeine. While those characteristics have their place, they reveal only a small part of what makes one coffee different from another.

Why does this matter?

Because markets ultimately reward what people value.

As curiosity grows around where coffee is grown, how it is processed and what gives each cup its distinctive character, value begins to shift towards quality. Better coffee commands greater value. Producers are encouraged to innovate. Farmers are rewarded for craftsmanship rather than volume. Consumers don’t simply enjoy better coffee—they help create a stronger coffee ecosystem.

For India, this shift is particularly important.

We are one of the world’s leading coffee-producing nations, yet much of the conversation still centres on cafés rather than the extraordinary agricultural heritage behind every cup.

Fortunately, that is beginning to change.

Visible signs of change

India’s specialty coffee movement has done far more than introduce new brewing methods. It has encouraged people to ask different questions. Where was this coffee grown? How was it processed? Why do two coffees from the same variety taste completely different? How does geography shape flavour?

Those are the questions that define a mature coffee culture.

The future of India’s coffee industry will not be measured simply by how many cafés we open or how advanced our brewing equipment becomes. Those are visible signs of an industry that is growing. The real measure of progress is whether we help people better understand everything that happens before coffee reaches their cup.

Because when we understand what creates quality, we begin to value it differently.

And when that happens, everyone across the coffee value chain—from farmer and producer to roaster, barista and consumer—stands to benefit.

The author is Co-founder & CEO, Libertario India

Published on August 8, 2026