Generational Brew

How Yahvi Mariwala is refiltering Nandan Coffee.

- By PRONOTI DATTA

AT 9AM ON a Saturday, Mumbai’s Fort area has the relaxed emptiness of the weekend.

It will be another hour before the pavement shops stir to life. In contrast is the busy thrum of Nandan Coffee. A queue of patrons waits to be seated; you have to exercise your voice to be heard above the chatter. Meanwhile, outside, a scene familiar to locals is playing out: a couple of stylish young men shoot reels against the backdrop of the coffee shop's striking forest green and glass front.

Nandan Coffee has been around for over three decades, but its activity graph has only surged in recent years. The graph might have coasted along had Nandan cafe’s 30-year-old co-founder, Yahvi Mariwala, felt passionate about investment banking or real estate—professions she tested out in internships in 2016, during a gap year after studying political science at Emory University in the US. Or, if she had serious talent in her first love: “When I was younger, I wanted to be an equestrian. I would spend half my weeks in Bengaluru and half my weeks in Mumbai for schooling. Bengaluru, at that time, had the best riding academy in the country. I've spent months riding in Pollachi [in Tamil Nadu]. I used to pack my helmet and boots with me on every family vacation in case I’d find a horse.”

A visit to her father Shyam’s office during the gap year convinced Mariwala that coffee was her calling. “I overheard a meeting... He was trying to revive Nandan Coffee and use social media to do it. And I very pompously said, ‘You're overpaying these people and the social media sucks.’ Then he said, ‘You think you can do better? You should.’”