Black Pole Coffee X Not Knowing Podcast

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India has always been a tea-drinking nation. But something is brewing. A new generation of craft beverage brands is challenging decades-old habits — and specialty coffee is leading the charge.

In this episode of The Not Knowing Podcast, I sit down with Manish Adlakha, Founder of Black Pole Coffee, to explore what it really takes to build a coffee movement in a tea-obsessed country. Unlike mass-market giants that rely on aggressive marketing, Black Pole is betting on storytelling, sourcing, and rituals to make Indian coffee a part of everyday life.

We dive into:

- Why India is still warming up to specialty coffee — and what’s shifting now
- The hidden challenges: supply chains, imports, and price-sensitive consumers
- Black Pole’s journey from estate sourcing to drip bags, and why cafés were never the plan
- How to scale without diluting quality or authenticity
- The culture, identity, and emotion behind every cup of coffee

Is premiumization the future of India’s beverage industry? Can homegrown coffee brands compete with global players while staying true to their roots? And what does it take to make Indians reimagine coffee beyond “just a wake-up drink”?

This is the story of building craft coffee in India — not just as a business, but as a cultural shift.