Coffee in India is so hot right now.
Keen-eyed Sprudge readers might have noticed a recurring trend, in which several of the most interesting new coffee bar and roasting projects in the world hail from the Indian subcontinent. Subko Coffee of Mumbai rode a wildly popular Build-Outs of Summer feature in 2021 all the way to Honoree status in the Best New Cafe category at the 13th Annual Sprudgie Awardsโthe first nomination, and first Honoree, to hail from India.
This week on Coffee Design we’re taking a closer look at another brand from Mumbai: Tulum Coffee, whose founder, Pallav Haria, launched the brand in 2020. Haria learned how to brew and roast coffee while living in Mexico and applied their skills a designer specializing in textiles to create utterly unique, eye-catching packaging for Tulum’s coffee offerings. The exterior package is made of canvas and is both beautiful and reusable.
We spoke with founder Pallav Haria to learn more.
This interview has been lightly edited and condensed.
Can you tell us more about Tulum Coffee?
Tulum is a specialty coffee company based out of Mumbai, India, and almost every part of it is inspired by my journey across the Central and South American continents.
At 15, I lived in Brazil for a year as an exchange student, where I was introduced to coffee. I fell in love with coffee at that time, not because of the caffeine, but what it brought with it, friends.ย Later in my life, I moved to Merida, Mexico, where I worked at a cafe as a barista and learned the basics of roasting and brewing.
When I came back to India in 2018, I studied and researched Indian coffee and met farmers and professionals in the coffee industry. After two years and one big lockdown, Tulum was born.
Tell us about the design!
Since Tulum is a beach town in Mexico, we wanted the packaging to reflect that. The idea was to have a boho-style design. We used elements like dots, lines, curves, and circles into our design, interpreting them as sand, waves, bubbles in the sea, and if you look closely, even a little human swimming.
Tell us about the packaging style and materials used.
The Tulum bags are made out of canvas, with a velcro closure, which allows people to reuse these bags. We have seen people store their coffee grinders, AeroPress, filter papers, face masks, Kindle readers, stationery.
Inside the canvas bag, we also have recycled, food-grade, foil-lined paper packaging to store the coffee beans and keep them fresher.
Where is your coffee available?
Our coffees are available through our website.
What’s on the menu for 2022?
The next coffee we are going to launch is a red honey process, and the one after that is a fruit fermented coffee. We are also sampling some beautiful naturals and working on a coffee for a dark roast. We are also heavily focused on introducing our Cold Brew cans! 2022 is going to be a big year for us!
Thank you!
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