Winter is the best season in Kolkata, with a chill in the air and sunny, blue skies. This is the time that people love to dodge the winter winds in cosy, social cafes for steaming cups of coffee. In the past five years or so, coffee has taken over the high tea culture that was once so predominant in Kolkata. And the city has seen several new cafes open up, serving every kind of coffee variety imaginable.
The newest addition to the cafe scene is Craft Coffee in Salt Lake City, a 6,000-square-foot area that is dotted with handcrafted delights such as ikat patterns, lights made by local artisans, and handcrafted crockery sourced from Khurja. There are lush green zones in the courtyard and terrace where you can enjoy the sunshine.
Coffee fanatics, it will gladden your heart to know that their coffee is freshly roasted and intense and comes from their own in-house roasting unit. The coffee beans are sourced from southern plantations in Coorg and Chikmagalur.
Do not miss out on their handcrafted vegan fusion chocolate and coffee pairing through their initiative called "Criollo." The cafe also has a gourmet store where trained baristas will assist you in selecting freshly roasted single-estate coffee beans that suit your palate and are ground to your exact specifications. Do try their kombucha-inspired coffucha, which is a refreshing fermented drink.
You can also pick up bakery products and home brewing equipment along with the coffee-based organic skincare line.
Craft Coffee isn't just a cafe space the brand positions itself as a coffee "experience center" with a manual brewing counter where you can pick up bags of coffee powder blended to suit your preference. They have an outlet in Ballygunge as well, where you can get their signature fusion coffee drinks, handcrafted and paired with continental food and freshly baked treats from an in-house bakery and confectionary. While the main bar offers their regular and signature beverages, the manual brewing bar at the terrace offers an experience where guests can chat with the baristas, understanding the nuances of coffee roasting and manual brewing methods like syphon, pourover, Turkish, French press, to name a few.
They have also opened a 40-seat boutique cafe in City Center 1 mall with a live kitchen. and have plans to open several others across Kolkata and India.
Where Craft Coffee Experience Centre, FD Block, Salt Lake.