Cafe Special

Rating Excellent
Contact 6632 5757

Café Basilico
Pali Hill,Bandra
If Mocha were not around,Café Basilico would certainly be the best place to try out single origin coffees for the first time. It is well priced (Rs 110-190) and casual enough for a novice. The entire coffee drinking experience,though,is superior to the actual single origin coffee,but not for lack of effort—the coffees are simply not concentrated enough to do justice to the well chosen coffees. They serve a Java,which is rich but perhaps overly bitter,and a creamy Columbian Supremo,which is well balanced — though we were unable to detect the “hint of chocolate and vanilla” that was promised. They also serve a decent Jamaican Blue Mountain,and offered a Monsoon Malabar when asked if they had any off the menu.

Rating Average
Contact 6710 0000

Mocha
MOCHA is our overall favourite purely because we appreciate the effort and attention to details; presumably this effort is the product of passion. With 13 different single origin coffees on their menu,Mocha has the largest collection of single origin coffees. Their menu describes each coffee’s origin and flavour,and even helps with pronunciations without being condescending. At Rs 55-145 per cup,it is worth camping at Mocha for a few hours and try each and every variety,if you can deal with that much caffeine. “I think the Yemeni Mocha is a personal favourite — it is agreeable and a good first single origin coffee for anyone,” says 21-year-old collegiate Shilpa Kejriwal. We also tried the Indian Peaberry,which didn’t leave any impression on us,the Guatemalan Antigua (sharp,smoky,aromatic and slightly acidic) and the Costa Rican Tarrazu (well rounded,acidic). If you can survive the slow service and annoyingly teenaged crowd,Mocha is the best place in town to begin your rendezvous with coffee.

Rating Excellent
Contact 6633 6070

Indigo Delicatessen
Colaba
INDIGO Deli,and its clone,the Indigo Café in Andheri,are plainly good at what they do. At least when it comes to food and beverage. Their wooden chairs,though,remind us of school days and not in a comfortable way. Often,on weekends,one has to wait for tables and then more for the food. But,thankfully,they are worth the wait. They have around 10 single origin coffees,of which we liked their Organic Bolivian Caranavi best. It is aromatic and would be the perfect start to the day — the best word to describe it would be ‘delightful’. The Panama Esprenelda Estate is indeed “delicately aromatic,flowery and has a hint of chocolate”,as described by both the menu and manager Chetan Patel. With its coffees ranging from Rs 125-310,Indigo Deli is certainly not value for money for the first-time drinker,but they make a fabulously strong brew that really gives you an insight into the flavour of the coffee.

Rating Very Good
Contact 6655 1011

Gourmet Café
Grand Hyatt,Kalina
The Gourmet Café at the Hyatt is a good choice for a formal meeting; those meetings are unfortunately such that the coffee or food consumed doesn’t really matter. It is comfortable but lacks the warmth and character one would expect of a coffee shop. The menu is well chosen,though,as it has six single origins covering Jamaica,Bolivia,Kenya,Costa Rica,Java and India. We tried and liked best the Kenya AA Masai,which had a tinge of fruit but was essentially an intense and full-bodied coffee. Although we liked the coffee,our experience was summed up by our guest who said “I wouldn’t be here unless I had to”. While we love the restaurants at the Hyatt,it would be difficult to recommend the Gourmet Café for a chilled out cup of coffee.

Rating Good
Contact 6676 1234