Hotel coffee is generally bad. (But getting better!) But a coffee hotel? Well that’s something altogether different entirely. And in Assagao in the Indian state of Goa, Unseen is a gorgeous lodging option for the caffeine-inclined that touts itself as the world’s first coffee-forward boutique hotel.
Now, to be fair, that claim isn’t exactly right. Man Met Bril Koffie runs a coffee hotel in Rotterdam (including residency opportunities for traveling baristas), Casa Cafeología is a hotel for green buyers in Chiapas, and even La Palma y El Tucan has a hotel on their farm in Colombia. So while it may not necessarily be the first “coffee hotel,” Unseen is nonetheless offering their own unique take on it.
Just five minutes from where the Chapora River meets the Arabian Sea, coffee is written in the DNA of Unseen. It all starts with their in-house roastery, that brings in both coffees produced locally, which many from outside India may never have had the chance to experience, as well as a wide array of globally produced lots. Part of Coffee Culture, which has over 20 locations around India, the roastery at Unseen is the brand’s flagship and offers a host of coffee-focused experiences for guests.
There’s also the Coffee Culture cafe, the well-appointed on-site coffee shop pulling espressos through a La Marzocco Strada as well as manual brews like V60s and siphons with coffee ground in a Mahlkönig EK43. The cafe offers a coffee omakase, “a guided journey across four terroirs, thoughtfully sequenced, theatrically served, and soulfully paired. Each cup is a passport, each course a story,” per the website. Currently, the omakase includes coffees from El Salvador, Ethiopia, Colombia, and Panama.
Then, as night falls, the attention turns to Uncultured, Unseen’s coffee-focused speakeasy. Along with non-coffee imbibements, Uncultured has created a variety of coffee cocktails including warming drinks like Nobody’s To Own, that includes spiced rum, cacao nib, ginger, and a house-made coffee liqueur to more Coffee In Good Spirits leaning drinks like Unmade Plans, with bourbon, the same coffee liqueur, passionfruit, and cacao bitters.
And of course there is the hotel part of the coffee hotel. Each room at Unseen comes equipped with an Oragami brewer, a gooseneck kettle, and reverse-osmosis water for your own in-suite brewing needs.
All this and rooms start out at around $50 USD per night.
So if you’re planning a trip to the western part of India, maybe you’re looking for a little reprieve from the hustle and bustle of Mumbai, perhaps an hour flight south to Goa and a visit to Unseen may be just the slower pace of life you are looking for. For more information or to book a room, visit Unseen’s official website.
Zac Cadwalader is the managing editor at Sprudge Media Network and a staff writer based in Dallas. Read more Zac Cadwalader on Sprudge.
All images courtesy of Unseen
