Profile Overview
Binny Varghese, known as "Barista on Bike," is a Q-Processor, educator, and co-founder of Barista Training Academy. With a background in hospitality and a deep passion for beverages, Binny has spent over a decade exploring coffee across cultures—training baristas, consulting cafés, and working with small farms on processing. Whether building cafes in remote regions or spotlighting underrepresented producers, Binny’s mission remains clear: dismantle knowledge gatekeeping and elevate the craft of Indian coffee from crop to cup.
In a country as diverse as India, coffee means many things to many people. For some, it is the 6 AM household ritual with hints of spices. For others, it is a readymade sachet stirred into hot milk or water. Somewhere up north, it might be a soldier’s way to escape the freezing cold. But for Binny Varghese, known more widely in the coffee circuit as "Barista on Bike,” coffee has been a journey across states, cultures, and a thousand roadside cups.
I was thinking about the experiences I have had with coffee. I wanted to make it more Indian—not less.
- Binny Varghese
From Gujarat Kitchens to Swiss Nightclubs
“I never planned to get into coffee,” Binny recalls. “As a kid, I used to like working in the kitchen… but getting into hospitality wasn’t something most people were okay with.”
One of his earliest memories of coffee was having an espresso shot at a Café Coffee Day while growing up in Gujarat.
“It was the cheapest thing on the menu that I could afford. I didn’t like it at all.”
A few years later, a scholarship took him from Gujarat to Switzerland to study hotel management. Along the way, he worked odd jobs—cutting hair, teaching college classes at 18, and bartending at a student-run nightclub.
During this time, he brushed with coffee again at a Dunkin Donuts in the U.S.
“I remember I didn’t know what to order, so I ordered exactly what my friend ordered - a tall cup of coffee with two cream and no sugar. I could not finish it at all and I pretended to like it, because that’s what a ‘cool person’ was supposed to do.”
Helping small growers get the direction and recognition they deserve
One bike, one barista, one mission
Chasing Flavour Through Spirits and Service
During his stint in a fine-dining restaurant in the U.S, he began experimenting with food pairings of beverages like whiskey and the flavour math behind them. This soon translated into deeper beverage training gigs—first in Abu Dhabi’s opulent Emirates Palace, then in Azerbaijan.
It was during this time that he began to see coffee as more than just a drink—it had layers beyond taste. In five-star hotels, it was often just a breakfast companion or a conversation starter. But outside that bubble, coffee still felt like a Western import to many.
“In Azerbaijan, for example, where tea is deeply rooted in culture, people would add cardamom and sugar to their coffee,” Binny recalls. “That’s when it struck me—coffee wasn’t instinctively theirs. To make it their own, they had to localise it.”
A Motorcycle, a Mission, and a Million Questions
In 2015, after he returned to Gujarat, he joined as an operations and training lead in a café chain called Brewberrys. While he helped them open cafés in random cities in Nagaland, Odisha, Karnataka, and even inside passport offices, his understanding of coffee was still limited.
“Back then, I didn’t know what commodity or specialty coffee was. All I knew was that coffee came in silver foil packs, and if it smelled bad and tasted bitter, that means it was great. If I didn’t like it, I definitely knew it was good. That was my quality check parameter,” Binny laughs.
In 2018, Binny conceived the idea of travelling across India on a motorcycle to visit the Brewberrys cafés that they opened and research local coffee cultures.
That’s how "Barista on Bike" was born.
Armed with a helmet, a motorcycle, and a mission to understand what coffee meant across India, he hit the road.
One of the first stops was Curious Life Coffee Roasters in Jaipur, where he experienced coffee cupping for the first time . “I had no idea what cupping meant, but I copied what they were doing—slurping, spitting.”
But something clicked. “It was the first time I thought: this coffee tastes so different. Not better or worse. Just different.”
Somewhere deep in the North East of India where coffee production has started picking up
One aeropress a day, keeps Barista on Bike awake
Steel Tumblers, Spices, and Place-Based Coffee
The journey wasn’t just technical. It was emotional, cultural, and culinary. In Chitkul, Himachal Pradesh, he shared a steel tumbler of hot coffee with an army man.
“It was so cold, we weren’t wearing gloves. I don’t even remember how the coffee tasted. But I remember that feeling.”
In Wayanad, Kerala, he stayed with relatives who brewed him a hyper-local version: coffee roasted in ghee, ground with cloves, cinnamon, and pepper. He learned that this spiced coffee came from leftover pulp and broken beans collected by plantation workers decades ago.
“I drank it and my mind was blown. This is not coffee. This is something else. This is cool.”
Back at Brewberrys, the gap became clearer to him. “I realised that the way people think and talk about coffee varies drastically,” he says. “A barista trained in Chennai will approach coffee very differently from someone trained elsewhere.”
That’s when the idea of a coffee education program began to take shape—one that would bring together the best of all traditions and knowledge systems. But more than that, it was rooted in something deeper.
“My ultimate aim has always been to raise the respect we give to service professionals,” he says. “When I was 17, I was cleaning toilets while men in suits looked down on me. I never want anyone to feel that way.”
Can you run a whole coffee shop on the back of a bike? Binny says yes!
Moving Past the Gatekeeping
As Binny rode deeper into the heart of India’s coffee landscapes through consultation and processing with smaller farms, he realised that knowledge in the coffee industry was closely guarded, and access wasn’t evenly distributed.
With a mission to break this gatekeeping, he began working directly with smaller farms—sharing basic but vital practices that could improve both quality and income.
“Whether it was workshops, barista training, or café consulting—education has always been a big part of what I do,” he says.
Still, pushing against the norms wasn’t without its resistance. “I got a lot of heat while working on coffee processing with these smaller farms,” he recalls. “I realised the backlash wasn’t just about me—it was spilling onto them. And when something new enters a divided industry, it creates heat.”
So, to shield the producers and back his work with credibility, he took matters into his own hands. “I said, fine. I’ll pay for it. I got myself certified in CQI processing.”
The title was never the point. The credibility was.
Whether it was workshops, barista training, or café consulting—education has always been a big part of what I do.
- Binny Varghese
A New Kind of Coffee School
For years, Binny had dreamt of opening a coffee school—not the kind built around expensive certifications, but one grounded in real, accessible knowledge. That vision finally came to life last year, when he co-founded the Barista Training Academy in Panchsheel Park, New Delhi, with a second centre in Chandigarh.
“The idea was to train people in coffee the way we feel it should be taught,” he explains. “No SCA certifications. No overpriced diplomas. Because honestly, the people who usually get those certifications aren’t the ones working as baristas. The real baristas—the ones behind the bar every day—rarely get access.”
Despite its non-traditional framework, the academy is one of the most prestigious programs in India.
“Our focus is different. You do this course, and we will help you get a real, entry-level job. That’s the circle we want to complete.”
Crucially, the academy isn’t just about technique. It’s about representation, context, and identity.
“We wanted to make sure there was something in North India,” Binny says. “Most education happens in Bengaluru or closer to the estates. But there was nothing for people from the North, the Northeast, or even smaller towns who wanted to learn.”
The academy is filled with intentional details that challenge the norms of coffee education. A map of India sits beside the global coffee belt, highlighting growing regions in Nagaland, Assam, and West Bengal that are often ignored.
There’s also a reinterpretation of the flavour wheel. “The traditional wheel has flavour notes no one in India relates to. So in 2024, we created the first Hindi flavour wheel—not just a translation, but a reimagining. We used local flavours, fruits, ingredients that actually mean something to us.”
Today, the flavour wheel exists in nine Indian languages—from Hindi and Malayalam to Assamese, Tamil, Gujarati, and Punjabi.
“And the biggest wheel we have in the academy? It’s blank,” he says with a smile. “Because we want people to define flavour for themselves.”
Even the certificate features an illustration of a half-man, half-woman figure—“because the role of a barista should never be gendered.
For Binny, competitions are chances you get to break the norms
Binny introducing the flavour wheel for India, by India
Competing with Intention, Not Convention
The first time Binny stepped onto a national championship stage, he wasn’t backed by a company or a training budget. “I didn’t have the money to hire a coach. In fact, I was the only finalist competing as an individual—no brand, no sponsor. Just me paying for everything—flights, stay, registration. It was daunting, and not something most people think about.”
What he did have was intent. “I asked myself, what can I do differently? And I realised—no one’s working with Canephora (Robusta). No one’s talking about Liberica on stage. So I said, I’ll do that.”
He also noticed that most competitors were showcasing coffees from one iconic Indian processor. Instead of going with industry favourites, he chose to compete with coffees he had helped process—smaller, lesser-known estates.
“I remember the first time I mentioned Unakki Estate or Anai Kadu on stage. That was the first time those names were being said out loud in a national championship. For me, that was huge. And for the producers, it meant a lot too.”
He still remembers the moment clearly. “To be able to talk about Nisha, Kurien, her daughter Anaika, and even their dog during my routine—that was special. People heard it not once, but in the first round, the semi-finals, and the finals. That was a win.”
But feedback from the judges reminded him of how far the industry still had to go. “They said, ‘Your flavour notes aren’t complex enough.’ In a nicer way, of course. I was told to talk about blueberries or tropical fruits. But that didn’t sit right with me.”
He was chasing a different standard. “I was thinking about the experiences I have had with coffee. I wanted to make it more Indian—not less.”
The emotional risk was just as intense as the financial one. “I had been consulting for six, seven years by then. I had that fear: what if I fail in the first round? What will people think? Will I lose work?”
But he chose to compete anyway—and came back the next year, even more committed to making a point.
“I asked myself—what can I do better? Last time, I used just Canephora. This time, I did a blend: Arabica, Canephora, and Liberica—33% each.”
His coffee selection was intentional. His presentation was symbolic. “I printed the names and pictures of the growers I worked with on my apron, which was made from a jute coffee sack.”
The traditional wheel has flavour notes no one in India relates to. So in 2024, we created the first Hindi flavour wheel—not just a translation, but a reimagining. We used local flavours, fruits, ingredients that actually mean something to us.
- Binny Varghese
Chasing the Challenge, Not the Paycheck
Despite his years in coffee, Binny shows no signs of slowing down—or simplifying.
“I want to keep doing more challenging stuff,” he says. “Next month—hopefully—we’re opening a café in a remote spot near Ladakh. A friend of mine, who’s into motorcycle rides and cycling, is setting it up.”
The concept? A stripped-down café offering coffee, tea, breakfast, and light snacks—in a place with no electricity.
“That’s the kind of challenge I like,” he grins. “There are some projects I do because I have to pay my bills. But there are others I do just because I want to.”
Innovation seems to find him wherever he goes. “We once made a dry cocktail menu in Ahmedabad—it’s still one of the finest things I’ve worked on. We did it through the academy. That kind of creativity, that kind of technical challenge—I live for that.”
But he knows the grind isn’t forever. “Till the time I’m able to ride the motorcycle, travel, and do what I’m doing—I’ll keep doing it. After that, maybe I’ll just travel.”