"We want to create a lifestyle around coffee" - Dope Coffee
Let us introduce to you, one of the first beverage brands we discovered on starting our journey of curation and Gourmet Tales Co.
There were many players in the coffee market, but Rizwan's, Founder, vision around the concept of coffee made us realize that this brand would open up India's outlook towards the cliche cappuccino concept of coffee. Their innovations like the coffee lemonade (our favourite) to their super 'dope' branding & not to forget their 'dope' team members who involve you in the world of coffee right from the time you place your order, have made them the perfect beverage partner at every event! Bring them to any of your events or locations, and you will only want more!
Words cannot 'espresso' how amazing their coffee is!
Read more about their journey and concept below :
What led to the start of Dope Coffee?
Dope Coffee is run by 2 people - Rizwan and Nitu. Rizwan did many different jobs before landing here - before joining culinary school in New York he was a DJ. Living the New York life Rizwan fell in love with coffee. He works very closely with ingredients and coffee is very ingredient based. Thus, after 2 years of Research and Development he put together Roast Coffee. Nitu exports coffee from from India - with the demand of coffee in other countries, understands how special Indian coffee is.
There is a preconceived notion of what coffee is. Coffee is not a new product - it's ancient. People already have expectations of what coffee should taste like - all these are shaped by instant coffee but it's a challenge to make the users understand that there are a lot of things coffee can be. Consumers think of coffee to be extremely bitter and of no taste. We want to reintroduce coffee to people.
What are the challenges you faced and are facing?
We aim at giving people what they want! we don't believe in serving coffee that people are expecting. We want to educate people more about coffee and the varieties. Everyone can find coffee according to their liking. We help people get access to all varieties of coffee to open their minds about the kinds of coffee available out there. Coffee has bad PR and we have to work around public opinion. It is a hurdle to make people try different coffee - many of them have acquired their tastes and many don't think coffee could taste good. We stand out because our coffee is fresh - we make sure every batch is only 3-5 days old and that's a difference in quality and taste you can make out.
Our best way of reaching out to people has been events. Our pop ups at various events have helped us reach out and connect better with our audience. With live events at a pause right now due to the pandemic, we had to look for ways to reach out to people over interacting with customers at our physical outlets.
Where is Dope's future headed?
We don't want to sell coffee - we want to make a lifestyle around it.
India is a large producer of coffee - we produce coffee from India - we produce more coffee and use Indian produce - which would support out coffee plantations - making it more sustainable. Coffee is a cultural mover - globally, it is a drink where people gather over and talk. Thus, we want to start a lifestyle that involves coffee - we are present in bars, events and communities where people socialise over coffee.
It is a hurdle to get people to try coffee - we place ourselves in events and community spaces where we can communicate with our audience and make them try coffee. Hesitant at first, the responses have always been delightful. We want to represent coffee in India with a different light - give the best of everything that is available out there.
Get your coffee today at https://dopecoffee.in/