Subko Coffee — Indian Hospitality Magazine
Cafe Edition

Subko Coffee

Bandra's most serious Indian coffee roastery

S

Benjamin Lephilibert and Rahul Reddy

Founder · Est. 2015 · Bandra West, Mumbai

Subko was founded with a specific and deliberately narrow conviction: Indian-grown coffee, roasted in India, served in India at the quality level that was being reserved almost entirely for export. Benjamin Lephilibert and Rahul Reddy built the roastery as a demonstration of a principle — that Coorg, Araku Valley, and Chikmagalur were growing coffee comparable to any estate in Ethiopia or Colombia, and that the people who should enjoy and benefit from that quality were on this side of the border.

The Bandra roastery is visually transparent about what it does: the roasting equipment is visible to anyone who enters. The sourcing is documented on the café's walls and menus — estate name, altitude, variety, processing method. This transparency is not marketing; it is the operating philosophy made spatial.

Subko has influenced the Indian specialty coffee conversation beyond its own retail operation. Other roasteries reference it. Barista training programmes cite it. Its estates have become names known in the specialty coffee community nationally.

Subko Coffee — additional image

“India grows extraordinary coffee. We simply thought someone should pay attention to it — and then let it speak.”

What Defines Subko Coffee

Single-Origin Pour-Over— The centrepiece of the menu. The origin rotates with harvest cycles from Coorg, Araku, and Chikmagalur estates. Each preparation is a specific argument for a specific Indian region.
Cold Brew— Slow-steeped, served without ice to preserve the flavour. The summer standard and the preparation that most clearly demonstrates the quality of the base coffee.
Espresso— The extraction that tests the roastery's calibration. At a serious roastery, the espresso is the hardest thing to do well.
Retail Beans— The take-home offering that sustains the roastery between café visits. The labelling is specific: estate, variety, altitude, harvest date.
Nitrogen Cold Brew on Tap— The roastery's most dramatic single-serve offering; nitrogen-infused cold brew poured like stout.

The Experience

The space is clean and functional in the manner of a roastery that takes its primary purpose seriously. The roasting equipment is the centre of the room. Waroda Road is a residential Bandra lane; the context is neighbourhood, not destination.

Rated & Reviewed By

Condé Nast Traveller India · GQ India Food · Vogue India Café List 2024 · Zomato 4.4★

Editorial Notes

  • The roastery roasts on-site; the smell of fresh roasting is often the first indication of the café's presence on Waroda Road.
  • The origin information displayed — estate name, altitude, variety, processing — is accurate and sourced from direct relationships with the farmers.
  • The founder's decision to roast exclusively Indian-origin coffee is a supply chain and sustainability case study.
  • Multiple barista championship competitors from India have trained at Subko or cite it as a reference.

Getting There

Nearest railway station: Bandra (Western Line, 15-minute walk west through Bandra West). By Metro: Bandra (Line 2 adjacent). The café is on Waroda Road — a residential lane in Bandra West, south of the Hill Road and Chapel Road intersection.