Cothas Coffee

Cothas Coffee has been roasting in Bangalore since 1949, when Sri Krishnaiah Chetty founded the company; it remains run by his family into a third generation. Cothas is credited as a pioneer of the South Indian 85:15 filter coffee blend — 85 percent coffee to 15 percent chicory — the ratio that defines traditional filter coffee across the region.

The beans come from Karnataka's Kodagu and Chikmagalur estates, two of the state's principal coffee-growing districts, and are roasted on German machinery the company has relied on across its history. Cothas is also credited with introducing the freshness valve to Indian coffee packaging, a change that let roasted coffee release built-up gas without letting in the air that stales it — a packaging detail that mattered as the brand grew beyond strictly local sales.

Three generations in, still sourcing from the same Karnataka estates and still built around the 85:15 blend it helped establish, Cothas remains one of South India's foundational filter coffee houses.