Aloft’s Baba Beans coffee bar mixes the beverage with different flavours, which can make for a delightful guessing game. By Sakshi Sharma
As one ambles along the lanes of Aerocity, the aroma that wafts into your nose assures you that there is a coffee bar near by. And since of all our senses, the olfactory is the most sensitive, I couldn’t ignore the smell and just followed it until I reached the place where coffee was being prepared.
As I sat down on the very first chair near the entrance trying to absorb the place, I got hold of the beans inside the flasks kept at each table at Baba Beans Coffee Bar, Aloft. Those flasks reminded me of the ones used during chemistry experiments in labs during school days. It was obvious that it was not a regular coffee bar but one which would raise the, ahem, bar. The menu was meticulously designed to demonstrate the theatrics of coffee and the charmer that it can be in a cup.
The owners, Sadhavi Ashwani and Mrinal Sharma, welcomed me with their in-house cold brewed coffee — Brewberry. I was asked to guess the flavours. As I took one sip and another, they silently gazed on expecting me to identify the ingredients other than coffee. After the third sip, I could deduce a hint of something but was not able to nail it. Putting my curiosity to rest, they revealed that the drink had flavours of three berries — strawberry, black current and blueberry, all infused in one. I liked the drink but was still figuring out if it fulfilled my expectations because coffee is such a strong flavour in itself that it overpowers all others. This naturally increases the challenge during any experimentation.
Both the founders, who had converted their coffee obsession into a business said, “We explore it as a crop much before it is converted into a beverage. That is the reason we are interested in infusing it. It is the mother palette where you get different flavours — sour, sweet, salty or bitter. In the process of roasting, the aroma and flavours are generated and coffee can manifest whichever flavour your palette wants.”
The menu had a special section called lab menu, an experimentation of coffee with different flavours, which was a perfect example to showcase the versatility of the beans indigenous to India. The founders said that its speciality is that it is seasonal and changes every three months according to the climate and ingredients in that weather. This excited me but rather than shooting in the dark, I asked the owners to order the best one for me. A Cinnamon butternut latte appeared magically. It was a buttery brew with hints of cinnamon, glazed with butterscotch crunch and seemed a delicious new personality in the cup. I was pretty sure that this drink would make my visit worth it. The very first sip was disappointing as the flavours seemed to have been repeated from the previous one. It appeared as a buttery brew but there was not even a hint of it in the drink while the butterscotch crunch was merely for decoration. For people who like their drinks sweet, this is a big no.
After having two drinks with strong coffee flavours I was craving for something to eat. But as I ran my eyes over the menu, there were only drinks and nothing to eat. The founders said that to add to the experience of coffee, they had brought in an all-day breakfast menu curated by culinary artists. They were planning to extend it to lunch and dinner as well. I wished that it would commence that very moment or, better still, I should have visited in the morning because my taste buds were signalling that it would be able to differentiate a third strong coffee. One needs a munching break to enjoy it to the core.
Reluctantly, I agreed to taste the Black bird and was pleasantly surprised. It was spiced with ginger and balanced with fresh mint and honey. It had flavours of lemon, cloves and cinnamon ice brewed into one. The presentation was such that guessing the ingredients was not difficult as these were placed in a different glass which accompanied the drink. It was also an attempt to implant the ingredient in the subconscious mind of the consumer so that they can taste it from the very first moment rather than trying to decipher what has gone into it.
The place is not just a ‘go, have and walk away.’ It will leave you with ideas about the extraordinary blends that coffee can produce. The founders not just serve the drinks but also teach the customers about the charm, flavour and stimulation of coffee because they strongly feel that it is yet to receive the credit it deserves.
