South Indian coffee company Madras Kaapi opens first café in Toronto

Dec 15 2021, 6:00 pm

South Indian coffee company Madras Kaapi has opened its first café in Toronto.

The brand announced the launch of its first brick-and-mortar store on social media back in August, revealing that the café will be located on College Street between Ossington and Dovercourt at 870 College Street.

 

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Madras Kaapi is a type of South Indian filter coffee made by mixing boiling water or steamed milk with powdered coffee.

Traditionally made with a decoction filter, you can still make a great cup with a regular coffee maker or French press, founders Shilpa Rajahamsa and Aditya Srivathsan say.

The husband and wife duo launched Madras Kaapi, the company, as a passion project in 2016. They would visit India and return with bags of kaapi, only to run out in a month.

One day while having a traditional South Indian brunch, Srivathsan uttered the “golden words” to Rajahamsa: “If you miss [kaapi] so much, why don’t you bring it to Canada?”

“The rest is history, and here we are with the finest Madras Kaapi ready to be shared,” the couple says.

 

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In the five years since, they’ve been selling kaapi online and at local markets in Toronto and Montreal as they built their brand.

Now, they’ve gained enough of a following to make their “dream come true.”

Madras Kaapi offers several different blends, including one that contains 10% chicory, offering a “distinct woody/nutty flavour” that makes it stand out from other coffees.

Madras Kaapi

Address: 870 College Street
Hours: Monday to Sunday from 10 pm to 6 pm

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