India has seen a massive rise in speciality coffee, dominating the F&B scene for years now with artisanal cafes popping up everywhere. Yet, most Indian coffee drinkers still stick to instant brews without grasping what makes great coffee tick, from bean origins to extraction magic. That's exactly what Daily Drama and Coffee Sutra Speciality Roasters' immersive masterclass accomplished: total demystification. Led by Coffee Sutra's founder Dushyant Singh and Daily Drama's Rishabh Bhambri, this three-hour deep dive decoded the science, craft, and creativity behind every cup. From cherry picking in South Indian estates to pulling flawless espresso shots, participants explored beans, grind sizes, extraction ratios, and flavour profiling with single-origin brews. Live slow-brew demos across methods, hands-on cupping of the same bean processed three ways, and founder chats on roast profiles made it click. You smelled fresh grinds, watched pour-over blooms, tasted under- vs. over-extracted shots side-by-side. Hands-on, sensory, delicious, pure coffee clarity.
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The Instructors: Rishabh Bhambri and Dushyant Singh
Rishabh Bhambri brings technical precision to the table. His explanations are clear, methodical, and refreshingly free of pretension. Coffee education can sometimes feel gatekept by jargon. Bhambri breaks it down into understandable concepts without dumbing anything down. He's clearly someone who's spent years not just brewing coffee but teaching others how to brew it properly.
Dushyant Singh, on the other hand, brings the storyteller's touch. As Coffee Sutra's founder and a restaurateur who runs award-winning establishments in Jaipur (including OTH and Rustic), Singh approaches coffee holistically. For him, it's not just about extraction ratios—it's about travel, sourcing, relationships with farmers, and building a complete coffee culture. His ten years in the field and frequent trips to Europe for food and coffee research inform his perspective. When he talks about coffee, he's talking about systems, circles, and connections. Together, Bhambri's technical expertise and Singh's narrative approach create a masterclass that educates both your palate and your understanding of coffee as culture.
From Cherry to Cup: The Complete Journey
The masterclass begins where coffee itself begins: with cherries on trees. Most people who drink coffee daily have never seen a coffee cherry. Bhambri starts by passing around samples of dried cherries so participants can see and feel the fruit that surrounds the bean. Coffee cherries grow on trees in tropical regions between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn, known as the "Coffee Belt." India's coffee-growing regions, primarily Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu, fall within this zone.
Picking and Processing
Once cherries ripen to a deep red colour, they're picked. Here's where processing methods diverge dramatically, affecting the final flavour profile of your coffee.
Wet Processing (Washed): Cherries are depulped immediately, fermented to remove remaining mucilage, then washed and dried. This method produces cleaner, brighter cups with more acidity and clarity. Most speciality Arabicas use this process.
Dry Processing (Natural): Cherries are spread in the sun and dried whole, then hulled later to remove the dried fruit. This creates fruitier, fuller-bodied coffees with less acidity and more complex, sometimes wild flavours. Singh is particularly passionate about this method—Coffee Sutra has a coffee lab in Jaipur where visitors can see dry processing in action.
Honey Processing: A middle ground where some mucilage is left on the bean during drying, creating sweetness and body characteristics between washed and natural coffees.
The masterclass includes samples of the same bean processed in different ways. Tasting them side by side is revelatory. Same origin. Same varietal. Completely different flavour profiles based purely on processing.
Arabica vs Robusta: The Great Divide
One of the masterclass's most valuable segments compares Arabica and Robusta beans side by side—not to declare a winner, but to understand what makes each suited for different purposes.
Arabica Beans
- Grow at higher altitudes (600-2000 metres)
- Oval-shaped with a curved crease
- 1-1.5% caffeine content
- Complex, nuanced flavours with fruity/floral notes
- Higher acidity, sweeter overall
- More expensive (labour-intensive to grow)
- Preferred for speciality coffee
Robusta Beans
- Grow at lower altitudes (sea level to 600 metres)
- Round with straight crease
- 2-2.7% caffeine content (nearly double Arabica)
- Earthy, bitter, nutty flavours
- Full body, low acidity
- Hardier plant, disease-resistant, higher yield
- Less expensive
- Creates better crema in espresso
Dushyant points out something crucial: dismissing Robusta completely is a mistake many coffee snobs make. High-quality Robusta, selectively handpicked and properly roasted, brings body and crema that Arabica can't match. Coffee Sutra's approach is educational rather than elitist—they want participants to understand what each bean brings to a blend rather than memorising hierarchies.
The masterclass includes cupping both varietals. Arabica tastes brighter, fruitier, with notes you can identify: berries, citrus, and chocolate. Robusta tastes bolder, more straightforward, with earthy depth. Both have their place.
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Roasting: Transforming Green to Brown
Roasting is where green beans develop the flavours we associate with coffee. Rishabh explains the Maillard reaction (amino acids and sugars transforming under heat) and caramelisation (sugars browning and developing sweetness and bitterness).
Light roasts preserve origin characteristics; you taste the terroir. Medium roasts balance origin and roast flavours. Dark roasts emphasise roast character over origin, think bold, smoky, chocolatey notes.
Coffee Sutra roasts to order in small batches, which Dushyant explains is crucial for freshness. Mass-produced coffee loses flavour within weeks of roasting. Properly stored speciality coffee peaks 3-10 days after roasting and stays good for 4-6 weeks.
Brewing Methods: Pour Over vs Chemex vs French Press
This is where the masterclass becomes interactive. Bhambri demonstrates three brewing methods side by side, all using the same freshly roasted Coffee Sutra beans.
Pour Over (V60)
- Uses a cone-shaped filter, controlled manual pour
- Brewing time: 2-3 minutes
- Result: Clean, bright cup showcasing subtle flavours
- Requires precision—water temperature (92-96°C), pouring technique (circular motion, bloom time)
- Best for: Light to medium roasts where you want clarity
Chemex
- Uses thicker filters, produces an even cleaner cup than V60
- Brewing time: 3.5-4.5 minutes
- Result: Tea-like body, incredibly clean, delicate
- Visual appeal—looks beautiful on a table
- Best for: Floral, fruity coffees where you want elegance
French Press
- Immersion brewing (coffee steeps in water)
- Brewing time: 4 minutes steep
- Metal mesh filter leaves oils and fine particles in the cup
- Result: Full-bodied, heavy mouthfeel, richer texture
- Best for: Medium to dark roasts where you want body over brightness
Tasting all three side by side reveals how dramatically brewing method affects final flavour despite using identical beans. Pour over highlights, acidity and fruit notes. Chemex is delicate and refined. The French press is bold and textured. The masterclass helps participants identify which style suits their preferences.
Pulling the Perfect Espresso Shot
The masterclass concludes with espresso, coffee's most technically demanding brewing method. Rishabh breaks down the variables:
- Dose: 18-20 grams of coffee for a double shot
- Grind: Fine, but not powder (should clump when pinched)
- Tamping: 15 kg of pressure, level surface
- Temperature: 90-96°C
- Pressure: 9 bars
- Time: 25-30 seconds extraction for 36-40 ml output
- Ratio: 1:2 (18g coffee to 36g liquid)
A perfect shot has three layers: rich crema on top (from CO2 and oils), body in the middle, and heart at the bottom. It should taste balanced, sweet, bitter, acidic in harmony, never burnt or sour.
Rishabh also demonstrates common mistakes: under-extraction (too fast, tastes sour and thin) and over-extraction (too slow, tastes bitter and harsh). The difference in taste is striking when sampled back-to-back.
Converting Instant Coffee Fans
In a chat with Dushyant Singh from Coffee Sutra, I asked how to transition regular instant coffee drinkers to speciality brews. He suggested starting with premium freeze-dried instants like Davidoff, which mimic familiar convenience but deliver richer flavour notes, think smooth chocolate undertones without bitterness. Once hooked, graduate to fresh beans: buy coarsely ground ones for easy stovetop simmering (just boil water, add grounds, steep, and strain) or invest in a French press for effortless, full-bodied extraction in 4 minutes. This gradual approach builds confidence, turning jar loyalists into bean enthusiasts who relish the aromatic ritual daily.
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Demystifying Coffee
The Daily Drama X Coffee Sutra masterclass isn't about transforming casual coffee drinkers into pretentious snobs. It's about demystifying coffee, showing how small variables dramatically affect flavour, teaching you to taste critically, and helping you brew better at home. Whether you leave wanting to buy a V60 or simply appreciating your daily cup more consciously, the experience shifts your relationship with coffee from routine consumption to active appreciation. But for anyone genuinely curious about what's in their cup every morning, it's three hours that change how you taste, brew, and think about coffee forever.