In recent months, Third Wave Coffee raised $43 million to accelerate geographical expansion while Amrut Distilleries launched India's first-ever coffee-cask finished single malt whisky. Together, the developments point to a broader trend: India’s coffee boom is creating opportunities far beyond cafes, roasters and coffee chains.
From beauty and homeware to whisky, luxury hotels and experiential retail, companies are finding ways to tap into the cultural and commercial appeal of coffee without necessarily selling a conventional cup.
The opportunity lies in what coffee has come to represent. As café culture expands across cities and younger consumers embrace coffee as part of their lifestyle, businesses are monetising the aroma, ritual, aesthetics and premium associations surrounding it.
A whisky maker is using coffee-treated casks to create a limited-edition single malt. Beauty brands are using coffee in skincare and fragrances. Home and lifestyle companies are selling products that help consumers recreate café-like experiences at home. Hotels are taking coffee beyond breakfast, into cocktails, desserts and premium experiences.
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Why coffee?
For personal-care brand mCaffeine, coffee's appeal goes beyond its familiarity as an everyday beverage.
“It is a combination of all four, but the starting point is efficacy,” Tarun Sharma, cofounder and chief executive of mCaffeine told ET Online, referring to caffeine's functional benefits, coffee as an ingredient, its aroma and sensorial appeal, and its broader lifestyle association.
“Coffee today represents energy, productivity, self-expression, and contemporary urban living,” Sharma said.
For mCaffeine, that makes coffee a bridge between performance, sensorial experience and lifestyle. The company has expanded into tea, chocolate and other ingredients, but coffee remains an important part of its brand identity and business.
The same shift is playing out in fragrances and body care.
Trent-owned Westside's beauty business Studiowest has launched coffee-inspired products based on the idea that modern consumers increasingly view personal care as an emotional pick-me-up. Coffee brings “warmth, comforting nostalgia, and energising ritual”, according to Umashan Naidoo, chief creative officer and beauty at Tata Group-owned Trent.
Gourmand and café-inspired fragrances are seeing strong trial and repeat adoption, particularly among Gen Z consumers, she told ET Online, referring to coffee, vanilla, warm cocoa and spices, which are also moving beyond seasonal novelty products to become more permanent features of India's beauty market.
As cafe culture expands across metros and smaller cities, coffee and food-inspired sensory beauty could become a larger driver of the personal-care and fragrance market, Naidoo added.
For beauty retailer Tira, coffee is not necessarily about the ingredient inside a product. Instead, it is becoming part of the retail experience.
The Tira flagship at Jio World Plaza houses the Tira Café, allowing consumers to combine a coffee experience with beauty discovery. The retailer has also brought coffee and beauty together through pop-ups and collaborations.
Coffee is moving beyond being an ingredient or beverage to becoming a lifestyle and premiumisation cue, particularly for younger, experience-led consumers. The opportunity is about creating experiences and communities around beauty rather than simply selling products.
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