The newly opened South Indian coffee house is turning heads at its colourful new location where Torontonians can finally have a cup of bold and creamy traditional kaapi.
Madras Kaapi, founded by Shilpa Kotamarthi and her partner Aditya Srivathsan, is a coffee brand selling locally roasted (and ethically sourced) coffee beans in Toronto since 2019. However, they launched in Montreal in 2016. They opened their first coffee house earlier this month at 870 College Street, where they specialize in rich, creamy kaapi prevalent in South Asian coffee shops, made using a traditional decoction filtering method.
Their stunning new location has a brightly painted pink-brick exterior with their iconic turquoise and pink elephant logo taking the limelight; the interior evokes the warmth and colour of a traditional South Indian cafe, and the smells of hot, frothy coffee will warm your nose as you walk through the door. It’s a nostalgic place for South Asian ex-pats to share a cup of kaapi, and for Torontonians to try something new.
Madras Kaapi is the lovechild of two NRI’s (non-resident Indians) living in Canada and being unable to source the rich and aromatic coffee of their childhoods. Their family and friends back home were tired of constantly sending them bags of coffee, which gave them the brilliant idea to just find ways to source it themselves and give people here a taste of the chicory-infused beverage that woke them up every morning at home. Their beans are sourced from the Palani Hill region of Tamil Nadu, brought here as green beans, and lovingly roasted in Montreal.
What makes the flavour profile of Madras Kaapi so unique is that their blends are actually between 10% and 20% chicory (a woody plant) that was originally introduced to reduce the price of coffee in 18th century India, but has since grown into its own beloved flavour profile. In India, you can actually choose how much chicory you want blended into your grounds right in the coffee shop.
If you love the coffee at Madras Kaapi, you can actually buy their handmade heirloom brass filter set they import directly from India and prepare your morning brew in the traditional South Indian style. In 2022, Madras Kaapi will be launching classes on how to prepare this traditional method of coffee at their café a few evenings a week, so if you’re having trouble, no need to fear, the experts will walk you through it.
The coffee and food menu is still being fleshed out during their first month of opening. Still, at the moment, you can get their notable chicory coffee in two different blends, as well as traditional Indian horlicks and their house Kaapi mocha and Kaapi latte. Look out for their own take on hot chocolate, a masala chai and a turmeric latte in the coming weeks.
Their current food options vary, but for sweets, you can taste their lemon chai cake and chocolate rose cake, as well as traditional Indian mithai (sweets) like halva and ladoos. For your savoury options, there is idli served with a healthy dollop of ghee, veggie puffs and egg puffs with everything prepared by a professional baker. Soon their menu will include a masala omelette toast and a spice-infused cream cheese bagel.
The “Montreal born, Toronto raised” Madras Kaapi is a cozy place to transport yourself into another country’s coffee culture. It isn’t an easy process setting up a coffee shop in a city teeming with cafes, but Madras Kaapi’s South Asian twist coffee house is an asset to a unique city that needs places to celebrate our diversity.
