"Coffee Pudi" Sakkamma: The enterprising D. Sakkamma who established a mini coffee empire

Mornings usually begin with piping hot filter 'kaapi' in Karnataka, the state producing more than 70% of the country's coffee.

- T.K. CHANDRA MOULI

Bengaluru with its old favourites like India Coffee House to new-age roasteries, is long hooked to this wonder-bean. However, few know about the city's coffee link to a trailblazing woman entrepreneur D. Sakkama.

Born in 1880 in Bidare village in Karnataka's Tumkur district, Sakamma was a young girl when her family moved to Bangalore. Bright and studious, she was one of the few girls those days to pass the secondary school examination in Mysore Province.

However, the family fell on hard times and Sakamma was married off at 16 years to Savkar Doddamane Chikkabasappa Setty, an affluent coffee planter from Coorg who already had two wives. But within two years of marriage, Sakamma's husband died, as did the other two wives in quick succession, leaving the young girl to manage the sprawling coffee estate. She quickly learned the ropes, and under her strict administration, the estate soon flourished again.

In 1920, Sakamma moved to Bangalore to expand the coffee business. She set up her household in Basavanagudi, and opened a coffee curing cum powdering unit near Bull Temple Road. Sakamma's coffee mix spread through the city, and brought her name and fame. She expanded Sakkamma Coffee Works and became known as 'Coffee Pudi' Sakkamma.

Literary giants like Masti Venkatesha Iyengar and DV Gundappa even began making references to its coffee powder in their creations! With her ventures running successfully, Sakamma turned to various social causes. Being a prominent Bangalore personality and business doyenne by now, she was invited by then-government of Mysore to help in the princely state's industrial development.