Rizwan Amlani on equation with brother Riyaaz and experiments with coffee

In a maroon Nehru jacket worn over a white linen shirt and beige pants Rizwan Amlani 32 looks a lot like his brother Riyaaz He removes it and gets into the front seat at Dope Coffee kiosk at Flea Bazaar Cafe as he dons his hat of Dr Rizwizzle Amlanizzle a nickname for his coffee experiments and meticulously brews us a Monsoon Malabar AAA coffee which he weighs on a weighing scale empties it into a filter paper fitted in a conical pour over and gently adds hot water that drips the coffee mixture into a kettle These beans have been exposed to the monsoon air to attain a bolder character he adds offering us a cuppaA trained chef from French Culinary Institute in New York city and then Culinary Institute of America he has worked at 11 Madison Park and been part of the opening team at Daniel Ballous Gastric Bar in Bowry District in ManhattanSince 2016 he has been working on Roasted Today To date they have a 500 gm coffee micro roastery cafe inside Versova Social and are looking to open another larger roaster inside Todi Mill Social Besides these two they also have two more shopinshop outlets called Dope Coffee that serve freshly brewed croptocup coffee sourced from Indian and international plantationsEarly daysHis training in hospitality began at his fathers Churchgate restaurant Berrys as a child I spent weekends at the restaurant We had live orchestra and a lot of good singers have performed there like Kumar Sanu and even Jagjit Singh Its not too different from what antiSOCIAL is today Rizwan recallsAt the age of six he landed up at the restaurant dressed in the service staff uniform of black pant white shirt insisting on taking orders As a little kid I thought owning or working a restaurant was all anyone could ever be he quips With an age gap of 12 years Riyaaz was second dad and the naughtier outgoing sibling I was always pampered by him only until I wore his clothes says Rizwan who studied at St Marys School and then pursued commerce at HR CollegeBy 2002 Mocha which opened in a 400 square foot area outside Berrys had already broken every single norm there in market at that time and he volunteered after college hours I would man the cash counter We were all very charged I remember it was exciting being a part of this bigger movement This was my first introduction to coffee says RizwanEarly on Rizwan an avid statelevel table tennis player realised conventional education was not for him From dad I learnt what not to do From my mom I learnt the power of prioritising and to ensure staff salaries are always paid before their sweat dries From Riyaaz I learn the importance of keeping your investors happy and how to smile through a crisis says Rizwan who started Del Italia in 2007 It was the first to serve woodfire oven pizza outside of five stars He ran it for two years and felt the urge to learn the skillset of a chef and packed off to New York When his father fell ill 26yearold Rizwan packed his bags and returned home to be with the familyOur fathersons relationship is like a triangle we are all alphas but we are all very connected to each other My father missed me and asked me to stay back he says which led him to head The Tasting Room as chef My heart wasnt in cooking but I saw sense in food innovations Something that got designed on the plate would get designed on my canvas first the way French chefs worked says RizwanCoffee addictIn December 2016 Rizwan met his copartner Nitu Pohoomul who has been in the decaf business for the past 15 years at Salt Water Cafeacute with Riyaaz I explored and found the consistency that I was looking for delving into the chemistry of coffee mdash tracing the source introducing the farmer to their end customers and creating a personal experience for the consumer Coffee is a personal experience and third wave roasting takes it to the next level because you can actually choose a preferred granule size and a type of roast Amlani adds Within a year his company evaluation is Rs 25 crores and is ready to introduce its first standalone by NovemberThey feature eight domestic four international and one decaf coffee on their menu ndash from south province of Ethiopia Kenyan Mountains to plantations closer home such as Gungegiri Estate in Chikmaglur and Swarnagiri Estate in Coorg Dope Coffee does three major verticals B2B cafe model and shopinshop The world is slowly moving towards collaborations We are just future ready he explains But we are still curious about the name and he quips Dope cause its the good stuffAnde ka fundaHis first interview for Daniel Boulud an awardwinning French chef went awry Asked to make an omelette he failed I went back and cried The French take their eggs seriously I had not used enough butter my pan was at the wrong temperature I had used black pepper instead of white and missed the hint of cayenne peppers Never made using tools you have to make a scramble and flip it and roll it without a spatula he says He reapplied and got throughCatch up on all the 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