29 March,2026 11:58 AM IST | Mumbai | Phorum Pandya
A roasting session at Naad, Hyderabad
A group of brewers and enthusiasts stand huddled around the coffee bar at recently opened Naad, a coffee-first ecosystem that houses a roastery, academy, café and retail space in Hyderabad's HiTech City.
Dressed in an Ikat jacket and square rimmed glasses, co-founder Marc Tormo, holds up a bowl of green coffee beans.
As tiny as 1-5 mm, they can easily pass off for coriander seeds. For the past three years, Tormo has been researching Coffea Wightiana species that has thrived in the Silent Forest, a bio-diverse tropical dry evergreen forest in Auroville, where the 55-year-old coffee master has lived since 1998.
Indian flying foxes in the region are likely to be responsible for dispersing seeds in the area. The largest wild population of 3400 trees of Coffea Wightiana grow along the Coromandel Coast. "Coffee collectors have shown interest in trying this coffee," Tormo tells us with a glimmer in his eyes. He roasts the sensitive beans in a micro roaster and hand grinds them.
Tormo first came to India as a 16-year-old from Barcelona on a family holiday in 1987. The typical tourist itinerary included Delhi, Khajuraho, Varanasi and Agra. The young Spaniard returned, every time, to explore different parts of the country, including Bombay, Calcutta and coffee plantations in South India and Pondicherry. "On my last trip, I stayed for six months. Something shifted every time I came to India," he admits. By 23, his entrepreneurial journey kicked in when he set up a coffee shop in a shoe store with his sister in Barcelona. "This was the 90s. The idea was to source beans all over the world, and serve them with a side of croissant and bocadillo (Spanish sandwiches)," Tormo says.
By 26, Tormo and his wife made Auroville their permanent home, raising a daughter and son. Marc's café and roastery remain a mecca for the coffee community. He founded Coffee Learning Community to conduct masterclasses and expand his work with Indian coffee beans through education and research.
The third wave of specialty coffee has progressed to craftsmanship, with independent coffee shops making India aware of good Indian coffee. Three-and-a-half-years ago, the idea of an Indian coffee-focussed ecosystem took birth in collaboration with hospitality entrepreneur Vikaas Passary and Kshitij B. "Indian coffee is ready to go abroad, and we are building Naad to be that stage."
Spread across 12,000 square feet, the ground level houses a roastery equipped with a German made probat UG22 Roaster extending into a cafe. From 14-hour drip coffee to chilled filter coffees, it woos the discerning audience to the art of coffee supported with an appetizing food programme. The mezzanine holds a library and learning centre, where intensive courses will engage participants.
"We are directly working with progressive farmers in the country - Ratnagiri Estate in Chikmagalur and Be Wild from Coorg, both follow a molecular coffee approach. This is a scientific method where we extract microorganisms present in the coffee fruit and study how they react during the fermentation process in the lab. By then modulating the bitterness, we are able to achieve sweet complexities in the cup. We are also working with farmers to grow another species, Excellensa, and Liberica coffee originally from West Africa," says Tormo, who aims to set up a lab in Mysore that will focus on molecular coffee. "That way, I am closer to plantations. What we nurture on the fields will unfurl in flavour at Naad later," he envisions.
Out of 130 species of coffee in the world, India has three original species - namely Coffea Travencorensis, Coffea Bengalensis and a lesser-known Coffee Wightiana - which we get to taste. "The time is ripe to explore coffee species beyond Robusta and Arabica. Wightiana has the potential to be a ceremonial coffee experience like matcha in the future. It's a resilient plant and naturally caffeine-free," Tormo explains.
For those of us, huddled around the coffee bar, the moment of truth is here: We hold up the golden amber liquid in mini-servings of shot glasses. Tormo has brewed a tasting batch of Wightiana at a medium dark for seven minutes.
We remember the pointers from a cupping session earlier in the day: Think the coffee first then analyse it. Coffee tasting is about sensations, always observe what goes on in the mouth. The coffee unfurls as a perfume on the nose with a fruity sweetness. The pronounced sweetness is due to low levels of chlorogenic acids; cutting out all bitterness in taste. An overall nutty taste - think nougat - with hints of spices, the finish leaves tannin notes of jasmine tea and an oily smoothness in the mouth.
There is a respectful silence after the tasting - maybe all of us mulling over the future of coffee in India. A coffee enthusiast breaks it with a casual complaint about cleaning the coffee equipment. "Coffee is messy. Embrace the messiness," he signs off.
130
Coffee species in the world, of which India has three original
