Rashmi, the owner of Giri Coffee Works, relentlessly juggles through the grinding routine of running her business and household alone. What keeps this single mother of two going is her love for coffee and the intimate connection she shares with the beverage since her childhood. Catering to clients across India and overseas, she urges coffee lovers to embrace handpicked filter coffee, rather than choosing instant options.
At 4:30 in the dawn, it is pitch dark outside but Rashmi BS is up and ready to set her filter coffee for percolation brewing. Way before sunrays brighten her home, the place is already wafting with the rich aroma of her freshly prepared decoction done right. But there’s no time for her to sit laidback and sip in leisure. Her first mug of the day gets her going with the chock-a-block packed daily routine, which starts with yoga and then making breakfast for her children before she steps out of her home.
When the clock ticks 5:30, she has already arrived at her place of business, Giri Coffee Works, the seasoned coffee and kashaya suppliers in Mysuru since 1945. Around pandemic period, she also started the café business in addition to sourcing and supplying.
Deftly Brewing the Right Mix of Flavors
So the place starts teeming with customers craving for their first cuppa of the day. “Cardamom coffee,” desperately calls out one, “Lemon tea”, screams another. “Ginger tea”… “Jaggery coffee”… “Masala tea”… the clamor keeps growing louder and louder. Rashmi deftly juggles through brewing, mixing, pouring, taking orders and billing, all mostly single-handedly or occasionally with the help from her teenaged children. Her customers range from government employees to MNC professionals and students to tourists (driving all the way from Bengaluru). She informs, “Some of their compliments make my day –‘We feel more than refreshed after having your coffee, they say’.”
Around 3 pm, she briefly goes back to her home to finish off the remaining chores and returns to the café by 4 pm to run the business for the rest of the day. And back home at 9:30 in the night, it’s still not the time to throw herself on the couch to relax, at least not until the dinner is cooked and served. Yes, that’s how grilling Rashmi’s routine is, even more since she lost her husband to heart attack last year. Being a single mom to her children and the only breadwinner of the family hasn’t been even a tad bit easy. However, what keeps her going day after day is her love for coffee and the intimate connection she shares with the beverage since her childhood years.
Growing Up in the Lap of Coffee Estates
Rashmi belongs to Chikmagalur, which is situated on the foothills of the Mullayanagiri in the Western Ghats. Owing to its rainforest and tropical climate, the place is famous for its coffee estates. Rashmi grew up sipping coffee literally more than any other fluid, including water! When you ask her how many cups of coffee she has every day, you will be amused by her reply. The answer comes not in the number of mugs but in count of liters! She describes she would have at least 1 ½ liters per day. When she married the grandson of the founder of Giri Coffee Works, she moved to Mysuru and joined her husband in his ancestral business. The coffee and kashaya they sell is sourced from her hometown.
Endeavouring to Deliver the Best in Class Filter Coffee
Rashmi attended the recently-held Fifth Edition of the World Coffee Conference (WCC 2023) in Bengaluru. She was selected as an Indian Business Visitor and she thoroughly enjoyed the experience. You can sense the thrill in her voice, “There was so much to see and discover”.
Giri Coffee Works delivers products not only across India but also supplies overseas to clients based in Singapore, Germany and Belgium. Rashmi endeavors to make the Northern India more aware of the benefits of filter coffee. “Rather than choosing the readymade instant option, I would urge them to try our coffee. Good quality filter coffee has some great health benefits for both body and mind. I want to fulfill my husband’s dream of making our products reach different parts of India, especially the northern regions. I also wish to share with the world my own love for filter coffee by supplying them nothing less than the best,” she signs off.
