PRACHI JOSHI
Food and travel writer, 33

Prachi Joshi remembers being sent to buy the coffee and tea for her family from the Philips Tea and Coffee at Agar Bazaar close to where she grew up in Prabhadevi. She didn’t mind though as “it allowed me to smell the aroma of coffee, which may be better than tasting it.” Growing up, she’d buy either the Peaberry or Highlander varieties. Now that she’s married and moved closer to Mysore Concerns, she ends up buying her beans from there. When it comes to making the drink, she’s partial to a French press.

SAHIL JATANA
Entrepreneur, 30

Sahil Jatana loves coffee enough that he now has an online store (www.store. thecoffeecoach.in) through which he sells beans to like-minded folk. The beans are sourced from plantations all over south India. Jatana puts his money where his mouth is, and drinks the same varieties he sells. When in the mood for an espresso or the south Indian filter coffee, he chooses a blend of Arabica and Robusta beans, but when he’s drinking a black coffee he prefers using 100 per cent Arabica beans.

HARINI CALAMUR
Media entrepreneur and columnist, 44

As a south Indian, you might say coffee runs through Harini Calamur’s veins. She starts her morning with a cup of filter coffee. Off-the-shelf Nescafé won’t do though: she gets her beans from either Mysore Concerns in Matunga or STM Coffee, located on the road outside Vile Parle station’s east entrance. Even though Calamur normally buys a kilo of coffee on each trip, she gets it packed in four 250gm packets so that the coffee grounds don’t lose their intoxicating aroma.

SIDDHARTH SAH
Entrepreneur, 25

A year abroad meant Siddharth Sah was looking forward to buying a packet of Starbucks’ blend when the Seattle-based coffee shop finally arrived in the city. But the (much) cheaper and better coffee his family had been buying for years from Mysore Concerns soon made him realise it was pointless to pay the massive premium for an everyday coffee. A 250gm pack of Starbucks roast is R675, while R90 will get you the same quantity from Mysore Concerns.