Founders’ Note
After an exhilarating August, September was a month that let us at BONOMI take a pause and work to build up stronger for the home stretch to the end of 2022. And Armaan and Vardhman found themselves working to understand what it takes to sell a ready-to-drink black coffee in a tea-drinking country.
When it comes to his learnings for the month, Armaan believed that it was a month of re-learning and returning to the basics of what it takes to build a brand, and one that sells cold brew coffee as a beverage. Looking back on the month, Armaan reasoned, “How much ever someone tries to hack a system, the basics will always be the basics. Seeing our cold brew coffee become a recurring use product within bars and pubs we partner with, made us realise that we might not always need to experiment with unconventional ways to sell a product, even one that’s a black coffee. We tend to underestimate the basics, and how powerful they can be.”
Vardhman echoed that sentiment strongly, with both founders seeing the brilliance of going back to the basics — their choice phrase to describe their journey through the month of September.
Extrapolating on his experience of the month of September, Vardhman said that while he’s seen progress within the experiments they’re running to make a continually good black coffee, “We were solving a stupid problem, that wasn’t the problem that needed solving. We went from pillar to post, and realised the need to go back to square one, and actually examine the steps involved in the making of cold brew coffee itself.” He believes that the progress the production team has made in September translates back to the company, and all of it eventually leads to strong paybacks, so long as they’re covering all bases, and taking the right calls, rather than jumping to conclusions.
Looking to October, both Armaan and Vardhman are optimistic about being able to hit strong numbers, bring more people into the fold as consumers of black coffee, and, ultimately, work to champion a great cold brew coffee that people will continue to love.
The Brew Gone By…
While we’re resetting our basic principles, we’re also looking at new and innovative ways of having our cold brew coffee, and how it reaches more people who could be sceptical about consuming a black coffee.
And one of the first things we did within the month was bring out cold brew coffee cocktails with some of our partner outlets, right from Arbor Brewing Company, to Toit, to SuzyQ, and with many to follow in the months to come. There are many ways in which a black coffee easily integrates itself into the world of mixology, and the flavours in and the texture of the cold brew coffee allow for it to be a versatile drink.
For the uninitiated, we also released the Cold Brew Coffee Gift Box, right at the top of September, to be able to bring cold brew coffee in elegant packaging to those who might still be thinking twice about giving it a shot. And as a gift box, it allows for people who love black coffee, and especially the kind that we at BONOMI produce, to share the love of coffee with their friends and family, especially with the festive season coming through. And here’s hoping it translates the joy of drinking cold brew coffee to those who are yet to experience it.
We know that there are multitudes of people who love to do their thing with cold brew coffee and black coffee as their closest companions. And we love to meet folks who enjoy their brew as much as we do, which is why we rounded out the month with a mid-month appearance at the DesignUp Conference in Bangalore, as a beverage partner for the designers and creators from around the country, who converged for a two-day conference that celebrated and examined the world of design, and its changes and growth. The feedback and love we received at the event was second to none, and what counts as one of our biggest joys is seeing the smiles on the faces of people who tasted the BONOMI cold brew coffees and carried them with them for the weekend.
BrewLabz
With a return to basics, and a spirit of celebration being the energy for September at BONOMI, we also made leaps towards making the process of building a cold brew coffee brand a sustainable one.
Earlier in the year, we embraced an Electronic Vehicle (EV) as our option for a large transport vehicle within the city. And having the EV on our campus is a matter of great pride, because it actively shows us the power of making more considerate choices, while working towards making a cold black coffee a household beverage. And hey, it’s blue and beautiful, and one you simply cannot miss if you see it on the street.
In the same spirit, we also started to find and build better ways to package and ship our cold brew coffee to folks countrywide. We were able to bring in a fully recyclable, non-plastic based packaging for our speciality cold brew coffees released under BONOMI HomeGround, which come in 500ml bottles.
The need for the change doesn’t just come from a desire to be able to build a more conscious brand, but also to bring a level of consideration and education to everyone who drinks a BONOMI cold brew coffee.
Adding to our efforts to be a more sustainable black coffee brewing company, we partnered with beauty brand Essentia Extracts, to be able to share our coffee grounds with them, so they can create a lovely coffee and coconut scrub. Black coffee and cold brew coffee can lead to the grounds being discarded after the brewing process is completed, and we’re glad that we’re not generating waste while trying to create a beverage people love.
Brew Of The Month
Without a doubt, the Brew of the Month of September has got to be our most unique speciality cold brew coffee release yet — the Robusta Cold Brew Coffee, with beans from the Kerehaklu estate. The robusta is a black coffee that often gets a reputation for yielding a black coffee with great strength and bold flavours, and being able to bring that in the form of a cold brew coffee was an experiment Vardhman and the team thoroughly enjoyed.
You can get your hands on the Kerehaklu Estate Robusta Cold Brew Coffee HERE
Meet #TheBrewCrew
Welcome to our newest section of the Behind The Brew newsletter, where we’d like to introduce you to the folks who make the cold brew coffee you so enjoy. And today, we’d like to talk about Kamrul, who completes a year with BONOMI.
Kamrul doesn’t come from a black coffee oriented background. Far from it. He spent his time in the automobile industry and worked in car detailing until 2021, when he joined BONOMI to learn the ropes of brewing cold brew coffee, working in black coffee production, and understanding flavours. His well-honed palette, his dedication, and his tenacity is what makes him our go-to champion when it comes to brewing and equipment handling.