Profile Overview
Suhas Dwarakanath owns and manages Benki Brewing Tools, a specialty coffee equipment company based in Bengaluru. Having worked in the coffee industry for nearly 15 years, he is also the lead authorised trainer at the Speciality Coffee Academy of India. Recently, he bagged the 2025 National Barista Championship
In 2003, a teenage Suhas Dwarakanath would cycle past a Café Coffee Day outlet in Bengaluru’s Jayanagar. The then-50-rupee cappuccino was out of reach for most high school students, but for Suhas, it symbolised aspiration.
“All the cool kids were there, they were all well dressed. So I used to go home, get dressed, and go there. It wasn't an occasion for me. It was a thing to do. That's when the whole dream started,” Suhas recalls.
Today, Suhas’s dream has become real with Benki Brewing Tools, one of India’s most influential coffee equipment companies. Headquartered in Bengaluru, it has gone beyond being a trading company for gears like AeroPress, Chemex and Aeropress. It also manufactures equipment, trains baristas, runs coffee shops, and even grows its own coffee. The journey, however, has been anything but straightforward.
Suhas often look back at how the "cool vibe" of coffee shops brewed the dream for Benki
Suhas next to his self-designed pour over setup at Benki Coffee, Jayanagar
From Dubai to Bengaluru
In 2011, while working in Dubai’s retail sector, Suhas entered the world of specialty coffee.
“I didn’t even know coffee came from a tree,” he admits.
But surrounded by colleagues from coffee-drinking cultures of Australia, Britain and the Americas, he began learning. Eventually, he co-founded an equipment distribution business in Dubai.
“I was like a door-to-door salesman, going from one coffee shop to another with an IKEA bag full of manual brewing equipment for pour over, siphons, etc.,” he recalls. “People would laugh at me, saying no one would be buying this and spending time on brewing coffee.”
But slowly, his business began gaining traction.
After exiting the business in 2014, he worked as a brand manager for a coffee company until 2017, when he realised the coffee market back home was stirring. Suhas, now an SCA-authorised trainer and seasoned equipment expert, felt it was time to return.
Manufacturing is fun for me because you get to create something. You get a sense of self-satisfaction in saying that you created it and you are selling it.
- Suhas Dwarakanath
From Dad’s Garage to Benki
Benki Brewing Tools started in Suhas’s father’s garage with a team of two – himself and one hire. His wife pitched in after work hours. The space doubled as office and showroom, outfitted with equipment he’d pre-ordered before returning to India.
From day one, Benki was both a manufacturer and a distributor.
“We had eight global brands we signed up for distribution, and I started prototyping our own equipment as well,” he says.
By February 2017, just a month after launch, their first manufactured product was ready.
Suhas quickly realised the power of real-world engagement. The office looked like a café to visitors, many of whom wandered in thinking it was one. Initially, he offered them free coffee while explaining espresso and brew methods. Eventually, he and his wife bought a blackboard, chalked up a menu, and started charging for drinks.
That impromptu café experiment eventually became the now-iconic Benki Coffee Shop in JP Nagar—a compact, no-nonsense spot serving high-quality brews at affordable prices.
“I think we were the first 180 sq. ft. café in India doing specialty cappuccinos,” Suhas says.
A glimpse from a barista training session at Benki Coffee, Jayanagar
Product, People, and Persistence
Benki grew steadily, if not always visibly. Its core was, and remains, equipment. Today, the company distributes over 50 global brands and manufactures grinders, carbonic maceration tanks, and soon, espresso machines.
A major differentiator, according to Suhas, is Benki’s philosophy: don’t oversell.
“We’re not a sales-driven company. We’re a solutions company,” he explains. “If your café needs a 2.8 lakh machine, we won’t push a 15-lakh one. But we’ll grow with you.”
“When I say this machine works, I mean it because I use it every day.”
This long-game approach has paid off. Many of Benki’s first clients are still with them, having upgraded as their businesses scaled.
“We don’t have an exit strategy,” Suhas says. “This is what I want to die doing.”
Another key pillar is education. Benki offers barista and roasting training, and its café doubles as a learning ground. Customers can intern across functions, from farm to cup.
“We openly share roast profiles, blends, everything,” says Suhas. “Many of our students copy our menu when they start their cafés, and we encourage that.”
Suhas leads by example. He’s competed in India’s national barista championships three times—finally winning after two previous finals appearances.
“I wanted to compete because I wanted to push myself to learn something new. Otherwise, every six months, what you have learned gets outdated,” he says.
“But is there an advantage? A hundred per cent! There is an advantage in terms of marketing and creating a good perception of your company in the industry.”
We don’t have an exit strategy. This is what I want to die doing.
- Suhas Dwarakanath
Made in India, Made to Last
Benki’s latest and perhaps boldest move is manufacturing espresso machines in India—a segment traditionally dominated by international brands. The process hasn’t been easy. Suhas, not being an engineer, had to hire technical help. Prototyping took years, countless iterations, and a lot of patience.
But now, their first espresso machine is ready for launch.
“Manufacturing is fun for me because you get to create something. You get a sense of self-satisfaction in saying that you created it and you are selling it,” Suhas adds. “It might not be the best out there in the market, but then you get better at it as you go.”
The focus is the entry-level commercial market: bakeries, small bars, and hybrid cafés where coffee isn’t the star but needs to hold its own.
“Offices and bars don’t need expensive super-automatics,” he argues. “They need consistent, good coffee.”
While exporting is part of the vision, Suhas is pragmatic.
“India doesn’t yet have the ecosystem to manufacture at scale. Even EV and generator startups struggle,” he notes. “But if the ecosystem improves, we’ll be ready.”
Suhas wants Benki to be a shared identity
During the semi finals of National Barista Championship 2025 at IICF
The Farm, the Forest, the Full Circle
To complete the loop, Suhas also owns a five-acre coffee farm near Chikmagalur, at the edge of a forest. The goal wasn’t to become a large-scale grower but to build a post-harvest school.
“When I consulted farmers, they would ask why they should listen to me,” he says. “Now I say, I have dealt with elephants, droughts, and processing on my farm. Here’s what I learned.”
He has also designed and now manufactures a 100-litre carbonic maceration tank, aimed at small farms entering the specialty market.
The next decade belongs to Indian coffee.
- Suhas Dwarakanath
Where Is the Coffee Industry Heading
Benki has grown from a three-person team in 2017 to 56 people today. Until 2023, Suhas personally handled most of the sales—a workload he admits was unsustainable. Now, he is building a team that can lead independently.
“I want the team to get enough recognition. I didn’t want Benki to be just Suhas. I want it to be Sohinee, Karthik, Aryan, Chetan — all of them,” says Suhas, mentioning a few of his teammates.
He also predicts a boom in mom-and-pop specialty cafés, especially in tier-two and tier-three cities where people have money but few places to spend it. But the biggest hurdle? Trained baristas.
“The demand is there. The equipment is ready. The bottleneck is people.”
Still, Suhas is optimistic. “Coffee consumption is growing 100% year on year. Quality is up. Education is up. The next decade belongs to Indian coffee.”
