Starting a South Indian Filter Coffee brand from home in Bangalore — need honest feedback
Hello everyone 👋
I’ve been silently following this subreddit for a while and finally decided to post because I’m planning to start a small South Indian filter coffee brand from Bangalore.
Instead of directly opening a café and burning lakhs on rent/interiors/staff, I decided to start small from home first and validate the product properly.
The plan is:
Buy a commercial 1HP(~65k) or 2HP grinder (~₹85k)
Source beans from Karnataka/Coorg & Chikmagalur(Found a vendor from Chikmagalur who offered arabica at ~ 820Rs per kg, Robusta at ~650Rs per kg, Chicory -130 per kg)
Roast & grind in small batches for freshness
Focus mainly on South Indian filter coffee blends
Start with apartment communities, offices, hotels & Instagram orders
Build audience through storytelling + educational reels instead of only ads
I noticed many local coffee shops make good coffee but don’t scale because they depend only on walk-ins.
So I want to first build a loyal customer base online/offline before thinking about a physical store.
Currently planning these blends:
☕ Classic Blend (60:40) – smooth everyday coffee
☕ Signature Blend (70:30) – balanced & aromatic
☕ Bold Blend (80:20) – stronger decoction
We’re trying to position it as:
Freshly roasted & ground South Indian filter coffee
Fresh | Pure | Authentic
One thing I strongly feel is that many people compromise heavily on coffee quality even though it’s something we drink every single day.
Most commercial powders lose aroma because they sit on shelves for months.
So our goal is to focus on freshness, strong aroma and transparency in sourcing/process.
We’re also documenting the entire journey on Instagram — from grinder shopping, blend testing, packaging failures, learning latte art, customer sampling etc.
Not trying to become “another café aesthetic page.”
More like building publicly from scratch without prior business background.
Would genuinely love feedback from coffee enthusiasts here:
What makes you switch coffee brands?
What do you usually hate in commercial filter coffee powders?
Which blend ratios do you personally prefer?
Would you buy freshly ground coffee from a small homegrown brand?
Any mistakes you think first-time founders in coffee usually make?
Would appreciate brutally honest feedback 🙌☕