man, machine and coffee

Oslo, June 2002.

The air didn’t smell of coffee. It smelled like fear.

Thirty-nine countries. A machine he had never touched. Rules that no one ever bothered to explain. Backstage at the World Barista Championship, Vikram Khurana tightened his apron to steady his hands. But his pulse was not heard. India has never been here before. And so was he.

Just one year after Café Coffee Day began, the 22-year-old wasn’t just competing. He was carrying a country that still didn’t know what a barista was. When he got on stage, everything felt wrong. The machine spoke a foreign language. The beans weren’t his. Even the grinders sounded hostile. His mind began to roast his own strong beer: What if I fail? What if we embarrass India? What if this ends before it even begins?

The room was looking. The clock was ticking. And somewhere between doubt and discipline, Khurana did the only thing he knew how to do: trust technology.

The final pour was beautiful. The milk has curdled. The cup held. For the first time that day, his hands stopped shaking.

Khurana took second place. It didn’t matter. India had also arrived. As the young man smelled the strong aroma of the ringing applause, he realized that coffee was no longer his job. It was his destiny. “Coffee got into my blood, and it’s been my life ever since,” he says.

Fifteen years later, fate struck again. But this time, not as a round of applause, but as a bitter contract clause.

By 2017, Khurana was no longer the eye-rolling barista on international stages. He was the face of Kaapi Machines, which he joined in 2007 as co-founder and CEO. He soon became the face of a company specializing in selling coffee machines and was busy wiring India’s specialty coffee backbone, machine by machine, cafe by cafe.

But success had a shelf life. Ten years later, as disagreements surfaced and shareholding tensions intensified, the terms were read out. One line landed like a shot drawn too quickly. You won’t be able to do similar business for the next few years.

Khurana didn’t raise his voice, but you could feel the passion in his every word. “Coffee is in my blood. I can’t leave this profession. I’m a barista and always will be,” he says, a hint of defiance in his tone. Walking away meant stepping into uncertainty. His name, his identity and even the word Kaapi… everything was up for debate. It seemed like fate was trying to force him to detox from coffee.

But Krana learned something long ago under the unforgiving lights of Oslo. This means that even if the machine changes, you should not quit the ship. Readjust and brew again. In 2017, Khurana founded Kaapi Solutions, a full-stack coffee solutions provider that supplies imported coffee machines and trains micro to commercial roasting, grinding, brewing and barista tutoring. “It was a rebirth for me. I was starting from scratch,” he said, adding that he risked his comfort by mortgaging his home.

Entrepreneurs knew what was behind their actions. There was no room for error. “I’m putting everything on the line,” said Khurana, who was warned by many to tone down his “bravado.” Friends warned him. It’s a crowded and unorganized market, and it takes years to build trust. Well-wishers tried to unearth an alternate reality. India was still a tea country and specialty coffee was just a fad.

“People don’t buy machines,” Khurana said, digging into what he learned in Oslo. They buy beliefs. So he rebuilt from first principles. There were no pamphlets or hard sales. All that mattered was experience. “If you want to buy a coffee machine, you must first enjoy the dream,” he told his customers. He expanded the showroom and turned it into an experience center. He turned sales calls into classroom sessions so customers didn’t walk away with their bills. “I was selling clarity. Anyone can sell a machine, but the magic is in how you use it. It’s a craft,” he explains.

Slowly a crema began to form. Fast forward to 2025. Kaapi Solutions was planning a strong comeback story. According to Kappi Solutions’ regulatory filings, the company posted operating revenue of Rs 107.73 crore. “We are profitable and currently clocking an ARR (annual operating rate) of Rs 125 crore,” he said, sharing a glowing report card of his company’s sales force. 2,000 offices. Over 1,000 homes. 14,000 units installed. “We have made a strong comeback,” he asserted, adding that he has worked with brands such as Costa Coffee, Teos, Paul, Barista, Social, Bikanevara, Haldirams, Tim Hortons and Burger King. When it comes to partnering with coffee machine manufacturers, Kaapi Solutions includes companies such as Astoria, CIME, Rocket, Melitta, Necta, Mazzer, Eureka, and many more.

That may sound impressive, but with a revenue of Rs 100 crore in eight years and a subdued forecast for FY26, you’d think it’s steady growth rather than dizzying growth, right?Khurana draws an analogy between coffee beans and his entrepreneurial spirit. Coffee is spoken in two dialects: Arabica and Robusta, emphasizes the veteran barista. Whisper Arabica is smooth, aromatic, and has a delicate acidity, making it a darling of specialty coffee. In contrast, Robusta delivers a roaring, higher caffeine content and a bold, earthy intensity. “I’m more of an Arabica person. Slow and steady,” he smiles.

Khurana’s intuition is backed up by data. What was once niche is quickly becoming mainstream, according to a report from Redseer Strategy Consultants. “Indian consumers are increasingly seeing coffee as more than just a beverage. Coffee is a lifestyle and a statement,” Redseer highlights in its report titled “The Future of Coffee in India: A $3 Billion Opportunity Awaits.”

The study lists the main trends that draw consumers towards beans. The first is the increasing demand for specialty coffee. The Redseer report believes that the growing preference for beers such as Americano and cappuccino over instant and filter coffee signals a shift towards sophistication. The second is convenience on the go. Busy professionals in urban areas are driving demand for takeout, especially near workplaces and tech parks. Thirdly, there are standards for craftsmen. “The brand is raising the bar with its in-house roastery and artisan brewing techniques, setting new standards for quality and freshness.” “By 2028, the Indian outside coffee market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 15-20%, representing a market opportunity of $2.6-3.2 billion,” the report predicts.

No wonder invisible baristas like Khurana are at the center of the coffee revolution. “India’s specialty coffee revolution didn’t start with cafes, cool logos and Instagram menus,” thinks Ashita Agarwal, professor of marketing at SP Jain Institute of Management (SPJIMR). “It started quietly with machines whirring, grinders adjusting, milk steaming to the right temperature, and baristas trained to respect the cup,” she says, emphasizing that the coffee revolution is being brewed by people like Khurana. India’s specialty coffee boom is visible in cafes, but what’s less visible, but equally crucial, is machines, training, consistency, standards, and experienced baristas. “These men operate where the romance ends and the struggle begins,” says Agarwal.

Khurana refuses to romanticize India’s coffee revolution. He told me why the beer turned bitter. “It was the terminology that became the problem,” he muses, “and it became an overused word.” Every roaster, every cafe owner, every coffee producer wants to call their coffee specialty coffee. “That’s ridiculous,” he said, adding that expertise may be just 1%, or even less than 1%. And that’s the standard all over the world. But in India, everyone likes to use the word ‘specialty’ to earn extra money. While there are some brands like Blue Tokai and Third Wave that are standard bearers in the specialty coffee world, there are many others who sell substandard products and give specialty coffee a bad name, he says.

Another big challenge is the lack of consistency in taste. “For sure, this is one of the biggest challenges. Manufacturing is done by machines, but brewing is done by humans. Brands are not investing in training,” Khurana laments, pointing to another challenge. Coffee culture is not yet deeply rooted in this country. “India is a food-based market. It’s not a beverage-based country,” he said, adding that coffee is not an essential part of breakfast culture. Some countries, like Australia, start brewing coffee early. Compare this to India. In India, most cafes open by 9 or 10 am. “In Australia, 60% of our work is done by 9.30am,” he says.

However, the outlook looks bright. “Many tier-2 and tier-3 cities are yet to have coffee penetration, and these are the places where consumers are upgrading in terms of taste, style and income,” Khurana says. He added that India has more than 70 cities with a population of more than 1 million people. These are places where tea grew. “Such places are untapped and offer perfect conditions for a coffee revolution in India’s hinterlands,” he says.

The opportunities are vast, but the challenges are equally daunting. SPJIMR’s Aggarwal points out the toughest issue. She believes Kaapi Solutions has to stay true to its game of slow brewing. It took the company eight years to cross the Rs 100-crore mark. “If it’s difficult to sell coffee for ₹200,000, imagine selling machines and roasters that cost ₹45,000,000 and a half a million,” she says. Coffee culture in India is still in its infancy. “Let the industry reach a tipping point, and then there will be a right time to step on the gas,” says Agarwal. “Until then, we have to take it one drink at a time, one machine at a time.”

Khurana recognizes the huge task. “Selling machines is easy, but selling and keeping promises is hard,” he says. The most broken part of the Indian coffee ecosystem is after-sales service. “We have close to 100 engineers in our service department,” he asserted, adding that the company is rolling out KofiHaus, a direct-to-consumer brand of home machines. Just like refrigerators, televisions, and air conditioners, most urban homes in India will have a coffee machine in the next 20 years. “We want to make the most of this opportunity,” he says.

When asked how he would rate his performance, Khurana borrowed a line from American poet T.S. Eliot’s poem “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” and said, “I measured my life in coffee spoons.” But Khurana did more than just take measurements. He brewed it. One cup, one machine, one belief at a time.

In Oslo, coffee smelled like horror. Twenty years later, it smells like determination.