Today on the blog, we feature Divya Jayashankar, the Founder & Specialty Coffee Roaster of Beachville Coffee Roasters, a specialty coffee roastery based in Chennai. Her label story…
Tell us a bit about yourself
I am an MBA from IIM Bangalore, who did a brief stint as a management consultant with a global firm before finding my feet in Specialty coffee. My first startup was Mad Rush Coffee, a specialty coffee roasting company dedicated to Indian coffees, based in New York. After moving back to India, Beachville Coffee Roasters was born. I now combine my love for Indian coffees with the principles of Specialty Coffee I learnt in New York.
How did you begin Beachville Coffee and how has it evolved?
Beachville Coffee is a natural continuation of my efforts to popularize Indian specialty coffee. Being in India has helped establish connections with estates here that are much deeper than I could while in New York. Over the 3 years since our inception, we have continuously ramped up our quality of coffee roasting, and become more customer-centric, using customer feedback better to cater roasts and blends to their needs.
Why is making so important to you?
Making helps me get the best of the excellent raw coffee we source. Every coffee bean is a powerhouse of flavour waiting to be unlocked, and a huge amount of effort and manpower goes into producing the beans. Making helps me ensure that both of those are harnessed to the most extent possible.
Your work space
My work space contains my coffee roasting machine – a 150 KG powerhouse that heats the coffee in a specific profile to coax the best out of it. I also have a lab-like setup to taste every batch of coffees soon after roasting to test the quality.
Describe your bean to cup process
The first quarter of every year is taken up by estate visits, directly sampling coffees from close to 50 different estates in India and choosing the few of them that most fit our flavour profile requirements. Once we purchase our coffees from the chosen estates, we spend a month roasting small batches of each of them to understand the best roasts that suit each coffee. This also feeds into coming up with the right blends for our filter coffee and espresso blends. Thereafter, we keep in touch with our customers constantly to help them dial in our coffees to brew better coffee at home.
What is currently on your work table?
Early samples from some lower-altitude estates around India. A couple of them are looking really good!
What is your personal favorite pick from your brand right now? And why?
The Kelagur Heights Geisha. It is a special varietal of coffee, and one of the most complex and flavourful we have tasted. The coffee is a delight to roast, consistent and excellent for my usual afternoon black coffee!
What are your displaying at the By Hand, From The Heart Makers Market?
We will be doing tasting sessions of all our coffees, with some limited ‘masterclasses’ to showcase different brew methods and grind sizes. Ours will be a totally interactive display, where customers can also come up, describe their coffee preferences and we will help them find the right coffee (whole bean/ground) to take home.
Meet the Maker @
25th edition: By Hand From The Heart Makers Market
8 – 9 – February 2019 | Friday – Saturday | 10 a.m – 9 p.m
Crowne Plaza Chennai Adyar Park, (old Adyar Gate Hotel)
132, T.T.K Road, Alwarpet, Chennai – 600018, India.
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