Profile Overview
Prajnay’s journey into coffee did not begin in a café, but in manufacturing, product development, and years of quiet experimentation at home. What started with a hand grinder, an Aeropress, and persistent curiosity gradually evolved into Still Coffee, a 195-square-foot space in Indiranagar built around intention rather than scale. The story traces how structure, repetition, and a belief in Indian beans shaped a café that values consistency, conversation, and stillness over spectacle.
What was once a car park in Indiranagar is now a space people return to, linger in, and quietly make their own. The bare concrete has been replaced by a space where visitors come, stay, and enjoy a good cup of coffee. This is the result of Prajnay’s vision, a space specializing in coffee, care, and a sense of pause.
“I’m an engineer like most people in this country,” he says.
For many years, his world centred on manufacturing, supply chains, and a product development start-up built around 3D printing. Coffee was always part of life, too; being married into a family that grows coffee in Coorg meant it was never just a drink. It was agricultural, personal, and rooted in everyday life.
Things began to shift four or five years ago. Without money for machines, Prajnay worked with what he had. A hand grinder, an Aeropress, and a French press. What followed were years of quiet obsession, experimenting with beans from across India, adjusting ratios, and brewing the same coffee multiple ways with the same equipment.
“Controversial opinion, I don’t think there is one golden ratio.”
What he is pointing to is simple. Coffee does not follow a single fixed rule. Taste shifts with the bean, the method, and the person drinking it, and learning to accept that variability became part of the process. That understanding came slowly, through repetition. Coffee, he realised, was not about perfection but about preference. Still, instinct could only go so far. After years of experimentation, he began to feel the absence of theory. “I thought I was probably lacking some structure,” he reflects. So he became a student again, this time formally. He enrolled in several courses to better understand the coffee value chain, from farm to final cup. He even went on to become an SCA-certified barista.
The theory did not replace practice. It gave language to what he had already been doing. Once that gap was bridged, the next step became difficult to ignore.
“The only thing left,” he says simply, “was to open a shop.”
The space where high-quality specialty coffee is brewed with care and intent.
A Small Space and a Clear Intention
What is now Still Coffee started in the most unlikely of places, a car park in a quiet corner of Indiranagar. The space was 195 square feet, tucked into a semi-residential part of Indiranagar. When Prajnay told his family he wanted to convert it into a coffee shop, there was hesitation. The space felt too small. The risk felt unnecessary. Eventually, he convinced them to let him try.
What he knew from the beginning was that good coffee alone would not be enough. Bangalore enthusiastically welcomes new places, but only briefly.
“The first two or three months, people will come. After that, you need to give them a reason to return.” That reason, for him, was not novelty or scale. It was feeling.
I want every customer to walk out with a smile.
- Prajnay
Not just because the coffee was good, but because the space felt right. Designing such a compact space required careful guidance. Architect Hamsini, a close friend, brought Prajnay’s vision to life, while Ashwin Shetty, founder of Minimal Coffee, played a pivotal role in shaping the coffee journey itself. Drawing on his experience running a specialty coffee shop, Ashwin guided Prajnay through the technical and operational intricacies, helping to craft systems that remained seamless and efficient. Reflecting on their support, Prajnay says, “I had a lot of help from experts, and that has made all the difference in what you see today.”
Through thoughtful planning and design, the space was crafted to function with rhythm and precision, where every corner and workflow served both efficiency and purpose.
One decision, however, came purely from instinct. A long bench placed outside the shop was inspired by Prajnay’s frequent visits to Chiang Mai. In those narrow cafés and quiet corners, he had learned that conversation often mattered as much as coffee. The bench quickly became the heart of Still Coffee, a place where people lingered, conversations unfolded, and strangers slowly returned as familiar faces.
“You design many things, but they don’t always turn out the way you imagine. This one did.”
- Prajnay
The bench that shapes Still Coffee into a place for coffee, conversation, and community.
Coffee Without Distraction
Still Coffee is unapologetically focused on coffee. Food exists because eating is part of how people gather, and it complements the experience. The menu evolves occasionally, with specials shaped by the baristas’ ideas and curiosity. Yet the focus is always on coffee, where they ensure that each cup is consistently excellent and free from artificial additions.
“We don’t do syrups,” Prajnay explains, “and for the sweeteners, like for our top-shelf Matcha, for example, we buy fresh berries and prepare them in-house.”
For him, it’s simple. The focus must remain where it began: on brewing a good, consistent cup, every single time.
The space mirrors his own journey.
A dedicated brew bar houses manual methods such as pour-overs, Aeropress, and French press. Here, customers choose their beans. Light roasts dominate, alongside experimental fermentations and estate-specific coffees. When farms try something new, Prajnay listens. Curiosity remains central.
The espresso bar is deliberately simple, built around one medium roast of specialty-grade washed Arabica. With around 250 to 300 unique walk-ins each day, feedback becomes a form of learning. Shaping decisions through emerging preferences, recurring patterns, and gradual adjustments.
Serving Indian coffee is a conscious choice. Having travelled and studied abroad, Prajnay appreciates global coffee, but his belief in Indian beans is grounded in experience. For now, Still Coffee serves only Indian beans, not because others lack quality, but because local stories deserve to be told.
I want to promote the local farming scene. It's family.
- Prajnay
Still Coffee, a small space built around a good cup.
Stillness as a Way Forward
When asked about the future, Prajnay speaks carefully. Coffee culture, he believes, is changing rapidly, especially in Bangalore. It is expanding, diversifying, and becoming more thoughtful. The city could support many more small coffee spaces. Not chains, but corners. Places where the owner is present and the coffee speaks for itself.
Growth, however, must be slow. Consistency is the challenge he returns to repeatedly. Two or three stores in the city feel possible, but only if quality remains intact. Roasting interests him deeply, particularly because of his background in manufacturing and supply chains, yet it is not an immediate priority.
“For now,” he says, “I just want to serve very good coffee.”
The name Still Coffee reflects that philosophy. It came from a simple observation by his wife, who works in branding. People go to cafés to pause, whether they are zoning out or focusing deeply. Both states require stillness - being in the moment! The word felt right. Easy to remember. Easy to return to.
In a city that moves quickly, Still Coffee offers something quieter. A small space. A bench outside. A cup brewed with care.
You walk in, you drink, and if everything has gone as intended, you leave with a smile.
