Seven Beans Coffee Company is a ‘bean-to-cup’ enterprise between Indian coffee planters and Italian roasters. Co- founded by brothers, Advith and Abhijit Shetty, the company is amongst the first to employ capsule manufacture in India. Steena Joy spoke Abhijit Shetty to understand the company’s Indo-Italian legacy
Tell us about the history of the company.
We have been fortunate enough to be rooted in a century-old legacy of coffee cultivation. Over the past 100 years our family has acquired over 2000 acres of coffee plantations in Chikmagalur, which are owned and managed entirely by our family. Until now, all the coffee grown on our plantations was sold to brokers, who in turn export the green coffee to countries such as Italy, Germany, Russia, etc.
Indian coffee commands a high price in the global market. It is highly sought after by world renowned roasters because of which the most premium grades of Indian coffees are exported. The domestic market in India rarely uses these grades of coffee and as such the Indian consumer was being served an inferior cup of coffee, with the best of our lots being exported out. This inspired us to start Seven Beans Coffee Company, we want to provide the best of Indian coffee to the domestic market. We use ONLY the highest quality, most premium grades of coffee.
Timeline
2012-13: Conceptualisation and market research
2013-14: Shortlisting suitable partners, finalising agreement with Dr Dante Cagliari and incorporation
2014-15: Purchased land, built roastery; imported and installed machinery from Italy; commissioned roastery
2015: Started production
The next step was to identify the right partner who could guide and teach us about the nuances of roasting coffee. It is important to understand that while India has been one of the most important producers of green coffee globally, much of India’s experience and expertise lies in coffee cultivation – export of green coffee being the primary focus. India, being a coffee producing country, levies a 112 per cent import duty on coffees coming into the country. As a result of this roasters in India do not get any exposure to working with coffees from around the world thereby limiting their experience. It is because of this reason that we decided to identify an international partner. After over a year of research and shortlisting we narrowed down on Dr Dante Cagliari from Modena, Italy. His family’s history and ours share uncanny similarities as do our values and vision.
Seven Beans Coffee Company is the coming together of a century – old legacy of coffee cultivation (India) and a century – old legacy of coffee roasting (Italy).
How do you source your coffee beans?
We source our coffee beans purely on the merit of their quality; each lot is laboratory tested before selection. We didn’t start this company just because we had coffee plantations; we started it because we wanted to provide the best coffees to our customers. Our coffee blends were created first. Dr Dante Cagliari created them based on what he thought made the most balanced cups. As it turned out, most of the grades we use in our blends are available from our own plantations, but for the ones that aren’t, we acquire from others. We are constantly looking for top quality produce, no matter where it comes from.
What is the legacy of your roastmaster, Dr Dante Cagliari?
Dr Dante Cagliari is a fourth generation roastmaster from Modena, Italy with a family history in coffee roasting dating back to 1880. He owns and operates a very large roastery under the brand Caffe L’antico. His Roastery supplies coffee to clients spread across 42 countries in Europe, Asia, Australia and the Americas. He has over 50 years of personal experience in the art of blending and roasting coffees from all over the world. He completed his thesis in commodity economics from the University of Bologna and was part of the team that pioneered research in particle size analysis of coffee (technology widely used today). He is a visiting professor on coffee at the University of Bologna and is a frequent guest lecturer on coffee blending and roasting across renowned European coffee associations.
What is the future vision of the company?
a) To consolidate our position in India’s A-1 cities (Bengaluru, Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Hyderbad and Chennai) as India’s first gourmet/ artisan bean-to-cup coffee company.
b) To build up a large inventory of coffee machines so we may become competitive in the otherwise monopolised coffee segment in premium hotels.
c) To expand operations to clients in the Middle East, US and UK (negotiations ongoing).