At the head of some of the most exciting brands in India’s rapidly expanding specialty coffee scene is Subko. More than coffee, Subko has created a platform to show case the flavors, culture, and design of India through multiple disciplines. At it’s heart is sourcing, roasting, and serving the best coffee the subcontinent has to offer and Mumbai is just the beginning. Today we get to hear the story and insights of Subko co-founder, Rahul Reddy
Rahul Reddy is the co-founder of Subko Specialty Coffee Roasters and Specialty Arabica Q Grader.
With Subko, Rahul intends to help reimagine the Indian Subcontinent as a legitimate contributor to the global specialty coffee movements. The conception of Subko began in December 2018, and cemented itself in February, 2019, when Rahul decided to leave behind careers in the technology, social enterprise, and risk analyst worlds to train as an apprentice at a specialty coffee company called City of Saints in Brooklyn, New York. There, he learned the art of profile roasting coffee as a roasting apprentice, learned specialty brewing, packaging, producing cold brew, and farm level green bean buying.
In this conversation we cover:
- Rahul’s Introduction and Personal Fascination with Coffee
- The Absence of Indian Farmers in the Global Coffee Discourse
- The Value of Diverse Backgrounds and Skills
- Specialty Coffee as a Platform for Change
- Design and Storytelling to Showcase Indian Coffee
- Building a Foundation for Subko
- Redefining Indian Coffee: Showcasing Terroir and Post-Harvest Processing
- The Permaculture of Indian Coffee: Shade Trees and Intercropping
- From Roasting to Cafe: Navigating Challenges During the Pandemic
- Verticals of design, cocoa, and coffee
- Fostering Creativity and Collaboration: Subko’s Team Values
- Expanding the Subko Experience: From Mumbai to International Cities
- Advice to other entrepreneurs looking to reshape narratives
Links:
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