Latest / Coffee People Podcast / Shonali Paul, the Founder of Paul John Caffeine Co., Brings Indian Coffee Stateside.

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Shonali Paul, the Founder of Paul John Caffeine Co., Brings Indian Coffee Stateside. · Coffee People Podcast

• 0:00
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  Now that was smooth. Interesting, I read in to the
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  show and whenever you're ready I'll get started.
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  Awesome. I'm ready.
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  Great. Then I'll say, hey everyone,
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  welcome to the Coffee People Podcast presented by Rostar
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  Coffee Packaging. A big thanks to them for
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  supporting not only this show, but businesses of all sizes.
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  I'm your host, Ryan Waltz, Welcome and thank you for being
• 1:13
  here today. It's the first episode of Season
• 1:15
  15. You can find the Coffee People
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  Podcast on any of the major platforms and YouTube.
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  Subscribe to our recently revampednewsletter@coffeepeoplepodcast.com.
• 1:26
  We're here virtually today with the founder of Paul John
• 1:29
  Caffeine Coffee, Shonali. Paul, check out Paul John
• 1:33
  caffeine.com while you're listening today.
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  Shonali, welcome to Coffee PEOPLE.
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  Thank you, Ryan. Thank you for having me.
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  Very excited to to dive into it. I'm excited you're here for this
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  first episode. I'm on the road traveling a
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  little bit, so this is a little bit chaotic, but it's kind of a.
• 1:53
  Season. That's incredible.
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  It's kind of exciting. It's when I said it out loud
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  there, I kind of had a, oh, this is cool.
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  Like we've been doing this for a while and I want to kind of use
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  that as a prompt to go back in time and kind of find out.
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  I did a little bit of research on you and you know, your family
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  and some of the things you have, but I'm wondering if you have
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  some memories of coffee or a first coffee experience that
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  stands out. That might have been the seed to
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  set you down the path you're on now, which we'll get to in a
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  minute. Yeah, for sure.
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  I mean, so I'm from the South of India.
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  And so that's a region where we we actually do drink coffee more
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  than we drink tea culturally. And so coffee kind of started
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  really early on in my life. And so one of those first
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  experiences, I can't necessarily remember the first time I had
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  coffee, but I very much remember the feeling and nostalgic like
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  feeling around coffee that that very much stemmed from my
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  childhood and like visiting family back in India.
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  And, and the more the experience behind that the coffee.
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  And that's always been, I guess, the budding experience or memory
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  that kind of started this whole journey for me.
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  You mentioned that you're from a region of India where coffee is
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  more common. Maybe then the outside
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  perception would be. Yeah.
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  When you say more common, do you, do you know what do you
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  mean majority do you mean or is it just that it's available more
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  than it might be somewhere else? So we have a coffee growing
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  region in India and that's like on the Western Ghats, which is a
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  mountainous region in the South. And so there are certain states
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  which are predominantly in the South, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil
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  Nadu, which are three states all in that belt.
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  And most of India's coffee is grown there and specifically
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  Karnataka, the state of Karnataka where I grew up in.
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  So that being where most of coffee is grown in India, the
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  people drink that predominantly. Not to say that in in Chai is
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  not not consumed, it is. But the majority, I think, do
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  drink coffee, more so in the South than they do tea like we
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  see or know of in the rest of the world.
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  For anyone listening or watching, I'm going to have a a
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  map on our newsletter that people can find and kind of
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  refer to as we go. You mentioned kind of that that
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  region of coffee growing in India where you grew up.
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  I believe you. So you source coffee primarily
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  from that area too and for your company, Paul John, is it just
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  to stay connected to that world? Is it, you know, what was the
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  motivation? Did you find that coffee to be
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  the thing that you felt best represented what you were trying
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  to do or what? What's the motivation?
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  Yeah. So just like a little bit of a
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  back story, I guess more so on how I kind of got into the
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  business. So my grandfather had some
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  estates in Cord, which is a region on that coffee growing
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  belt. Majority of coffee grows from
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  there. And so he had some estates way
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  back when he was starting his businesses and things like that.
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  He moved from Kerala to Coorg and, and started this.
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  And so he had some estates and it's always been in the family.
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  They still continue to be in the family.
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  In fact, one of the many estates that he had is currently one of
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  our resorts. And so we have a coffee
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  experience center. We have the coffee, you know,
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  part of the estate still still there.
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  And so guests are able to fully experience, you know, the coffee
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  world and like how it's grown and then estate.
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  And, and so that connection to the estate and the coffee
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  growing region definitely sparked the interest and that's
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  where you get most of your coffee.
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  And so we're able to source our beans from that whole region.
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  It's a small world, everyone knows everyone estate owners
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  are, you know, it's generational, it's passed down
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  from from father to son to daughters too.
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  You know, it's it's been multi generational.
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  And so having that full tie of, you know, my grandfather being
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  there and like my dad growing up there and then me growing up
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  there, we have a bunch of friends whose whose fathers or
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  estate, you know, growers and and things like that.
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  So those personal connections help you identify source, you
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  know, you're able to highlight various, you know, regions or,
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  or coffee varieties. And India has a coffee board.
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  And so that coffee board highly, highly regulated coffee in the
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  past, in the recent years, they have made that less strenuous,
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  but you still need a coffee board license to export coffee
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  from India. And so it's not as easy and
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  simple without having those connections and just people that
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  you know, and you know, my grandfather really laying down
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  that foundation to help me be able to very smoothly source
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  coffee from India. Sure.
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  You mentioned both your father and your grandfather and family
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  connections. I know they have a business
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  background. We're not here to talk about
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  them. But what what made you think,
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  you know, I want to follow down into that world.
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  I want to start a business of my own or I want to be part of 1 to
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  the I think believe you went and got your MBA as well.
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  I mean, what made you think this is something that I'm motivated
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  by or inspires me to do it? You know what was your your
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  origin in that way. I, I truly believe that in
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  India, entrepreneurship is, so you see it so commonly, not just
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  my parent, I mean my grandfather and father and you know, family,
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  but just in general, that entrepreneurial spirit is very
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  much there present in, in India. And it never really crossed my
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  mind to go work for, for, for a company, to be very honest.
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  It was, it was always the plan to, to start something, to build
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  something from scratch. And I think I, you know, I was
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  blessed enough to, to never have to worry about that and to
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  always have that as a, as a thought, you know, that I would
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  just start my own business. But I, I truly believe that I've
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  seen, you know, my grandfather, my uncles, my, my, you know, my
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  aunts, my mom, dad, everybody kind of start something and do
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  something on their own. That's I've, I've been able to
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  kind of learn from their, their experiences and kind of always
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  have that thought process growing up.
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  And so I kind of did what I needed to do to best prepare
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  myself for that, for that plan, I guess.
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  Your your website, which I mentioned here at the top, I'll
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  say it again, Paul John caffeine.com, one of the
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  comments on it is that you're a woman and minority owned
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  business. Minority owned in the United
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  States, yes, but you do business I believe, Correct me if I'm
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  wrong, but here but also around the world or India, not just
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  focused on one market. Yes, so actually, so we started
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  off the whole company started with the concept of trying to
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  bring Indian coffee to the Western world.
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  I, I've studied, like you mentioned, I did my MBA, but I
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  did in Switzerland. I did my undergrad here UMass
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  Amherst. And so every time I, I traveled
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  and like moved away from home, I would actually bring like my
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  South Indian filter and the coffee and, and brew it with,
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  you know, with the filter. And so I never found quality
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  coffee here in the US and that's why I kind of started the
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  company. And so we started it here in the
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  US with that intention of bringing quality specialty, you
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  know, specialty grade coffee to the US and kind of highlighting
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  the Indian origin. And so recently though, we've
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  gone back to India and we've, we've started operations in
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  India as well. And like I'd mentioned, we have
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  a, a hotel in Korg, which is one of my grandfather's previous
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  estates when he was alive. And so we have a whole coffee
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  experience center and that's where our grocery is set up and
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  that's where we kind of have our base of operations for India.
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  And so it gives you a full rounded, you know, experience if
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  you were to go there and kind of see how the whole thing works
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  and from start to finish. The so I, I hate that this is
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  like the day that we're talking, but just yesterday the United
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  States put a big, big tariff on products from India, kind of
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  just swept up everything, you know, thing and took 50% is a
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  huge thing. It is I.
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  Can't expect that you have, and I know you've, you've probably
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  been planning for these sorts of things as the, the world has
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  been a little bit unstable recently in the business world
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  in particular, how you know, how do you handle the emotion of
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  seeing the news actually come to fruition?
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  And and do you have an idea of how this is going to impact your
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  business, you know, here or elsewhere or there's a bigger
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  question than it probably should be, but you know, as you're
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  looking forward. Yeah.
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  So, yeah, this this year has been very what's the word?
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  It's been very unsure. We we're not totally sure about
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  like how many things would have been the tariff specifically the
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  50% tariff that is, you know, in effect from now on.
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  Is that my personal opinion is that it, it will come down or
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  I'm hoping, I'm very optimally hoping for it.
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  But like you said, we do prepare for these things.
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  India has like a, a once a year picking season.
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  And so the last year I had brought in a large amount of
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  coffee. We have a large volume stored in
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  Miami already from from the last year.
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  We take that gamble of buying a large quantity and keeping it
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  one, in the hope that your business does well and you just
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  have to bring in more coffee. And two, in the hope that, you
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  know, when the fluctuation in prices and things like that
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  happen, you're, you're, you're able to kind of give yourself
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  time to think about it. And I think especially in
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  today's business worlds, that jump scare of like suddenly just
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  buying something and bringing it over just in a rush because you
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  don't have product is kind of where I think businesses kind of
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  have to think preemptively bring in a larger quantity, take that
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  risk just to kind of give yourself time to fully think
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  about what the next step is or even give time for this to
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  change. Because we, we have seen in the
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  past that these tariffs are not necessarily set in stone.
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  They, they keep changing, they keep fluctuating.
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  There's a good chance it goes up, but there's also a good
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  chance that it goes down. And coffee is something
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  specifically that I hope the, you know, National Coffee
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  Association and, and those kind of associations lobby and kind
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  of have our, our voices heard because America doesn't, doesn't
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  produce coffee besides Hawaii. And we are a large consuming
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  country of coffee. And so we have to get the coffee
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  and for, for a product that we can't produce here, it's not
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  possible. It's just not possible.
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  So I'm hoping that those are things that that change that
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  that stands and something is done because Brazil has 50%
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  tariffs as well. And that really has changed that
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  coffee price drastically because, you know, they're the
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  most, they produce the most amount of coffee in the world.
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  And so any little change to Brazil's price changes everybody
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  else's price. Sure, they're they're dragging,
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  you know, their weight, pulling people along, their logistics
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  affect everyone's. Correct.
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  Yeah. And so, so we're really hope,
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  I'm, I'm personally hoping that we have some time because
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  India's picking season is December, January, February.
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  And so by the time we actually get new crop of coffee, it's
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  really, you know, April, May, that that kind of really lands
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  here. So I am optimistic in that sense
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  that I've preemptively brought in a good large amount of coffee
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  from last year that, you know, the once a year that we, we, we
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  bring in coffee and that's kind of how I've prepared for it.
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  And I think that that's how most coffee companies would have done
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  is kind of have a stockpile of of coffee if they could the best
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  that they can with the situation.
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  It definitely, if you have the ability, it gives you a little
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  bit of a hedge. And it's.
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  You know, smaller, if you're smaller, you're a boutique, you
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  may not. It's harder.
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  And that's where it's going to, you know, depress some of that
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  market. Yeah.
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  And, and that's another, that's another stance that I've had
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  since we actually import coffee ourselves, the green coffee, we
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  source it from estate owners and we bring it and we import it
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  ourselves. We do sell the green coffee also
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  'cause our goal is to kind of highlight India as an origin,
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  not just as us as roasters. So, you know, even in terms of
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  our prices, I've kind of had the stands of, OK, I buy it once a
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  year. This is what my price is.
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  I'm not fluctuating it just because I know I can, I can
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  command a higher price. This is what it is.
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  And that's kind of what I've done with my customers too, is
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  that, you know, I'm going to extend that same pricing
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  stability to you 'cause I have it.
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  And and when the time does come that I have to increase it, I
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  hope you understand that you know I'm doing that because I
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  have to and office everything else.
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  Building foundational loyalty. Correct.
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  That's kind of that that goal. I want to talk and, and get a
• 16:45
  better understanding of Paul John in the United States, You
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  know, who are your customers? Where are people finding and
• 16:51
  trying and drinking Indian coffee?
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  Yeah, so I think it's very, very early on.
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  Again, the Indian coffee aspect is something that I, I spend a
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  lot of time trying to educate in the sense of like trying to
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  explain what it is, explain what it means.
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  I can't tell you how many times I've had to explain that.
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  It's not something that is added.
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  You know, it's not like we add masala to the Chai to the Chai
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  or the coffee that makes it a new coffee, but rather it's the
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  origin of where the coffee is grown.
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  I mean, we could try though. Right, Yeah, we could definitely
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  make the latte that has certain things and we do actually have a
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  blend that blends chicory with coffee.
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  OK. But the concept of trying to
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  explain to them that it's not like we've added spices to it,
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  you know, And so it's, I think that our customers would be
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  someone interested in trying various different origins,
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  trying specialty coffee from different regions with various
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  flavor profiles and kind of just, you know, exploring.
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  And I think more coffee enthusiasts is is our target
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  market because they're they're willing to try something new and
• 18:04
  different and kind of give us a chance.
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  So you there's an education process that people recognize
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  India as an origin as opposed to more traditional flavors they
• 18:17
  might see on their shelf. Is there obviously regionally
• 18:22
  and because of the Terra Firma below it, there's going to be
• 18:26
  uniqueness to Indian coffee. What is it about Indian coffee
• 18:29
  that speaks to you or that you try to convey to people, Hey,
• 18:32
  this is This is why you should give this a chance.
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  I think Indian coffee is so unique because of the fact that
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  it's, it's shade grown, It's something that was grown at the
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  plantations. If you see it, it's just
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  absolutely incredible. It's like up in the mountains,
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  fully canopied over by silver oak trees.
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  And, and every estate is small estate holdings.
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  Most majority of estates in India are small estate holdings
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  and which means that, you know, they take a lot of pride, care
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  and effort into maintaining that estate because that's their
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  livelihood and and so ecologically they they fully
• 19:15
  maintain. Sorry, I'm trying to find the
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  words, but they, they're, they are able to grow coffee in the
• 19:24
  most natural sense. And I don't know how best better
• 19:27
  to explain that unless you see like an image and we have some
• 19:30
  images of estates. But it's very different from
• 19:33
  Brazil and Colombia where it's, you know, it's more like an
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  agricultural concept where they have rows and rows of coffee
• 19:39
  plants. It's all picked by machines.
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  It's very, very industrial. Whereas in India it's, it's
• 19:46
  handpicked. You know, you have pickers that
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  are, they have a good exact bag on their back.
• 19:51
  They go out in the morning, They have to hand pick out these
• 19:54
  these cherries that are ripe, which allows for them to be
• 19:58
  picking the right. Cherries and not the unripe
• 20:01
  ones, letting the unripe ones stay on the plant longer.
• 20:05
  So they do a couple rounds of picking.
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  So you're getting the best quality from that, that, that
• 20:13
  plant. And so, so it's very unique.
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  They even grow other, other plants in the estate.
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  So, you know, you'll have oranges, avocados, papayas,
• 20:26
  pepper, cardamom all grown within the same estate, you
• 20:30
  know, 'cause they have to maximize that, that square
• 20:32
  footage, right? And so, so that infused in the
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  soil, it's all very, I think it's very unique.
• 20:39
  And you can really highlight those different flavor profiles
• 20:43
  in a, in a coffee, depending on, you know, of course, the, the
• 20:46
  processing and the roast times. But, but yeah, I think it's very
• 20:52
  unique and highly diversified. So you're able to really play
• 20:55
  around with just one region. You're able to get so many
• 20:59
  different flavor profiles from from that.
• 21:02
  Sure, and I'd point out just something I have learned in the
• 21:06
  past, but shade growing coffee also traditionally a bird
• 21:08
  friendly coffee, which is always kind of a a good thing.
• 21:11
  Yeah, not. Just birds.
• 21:14
  Not just birds, when you, when you tear down the, the trees and
• 21:19
  the plants, the natural foliage of the, of the area, the
• 21:24
  elephants, the, the bison, all of those animals that are so
• 21:28
  used to the nature, they get fully confused as to where
• 21:33
  they're going when they don't see a marking or they don't see,
• 21:35
  you know what they are they're used to seeing.
• 21:38
  And so that's another thing that a lot of the estate owners are
• 21:43
  very aware of and understand that they are the tenants of the
• 21:46
  land and not the owners of the land.
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  And they try very hard to make sure that they keep it as
• 21:52
  untouched while still making their livelihood, but not, you
• 21:56
  know, fully controlling the environment to the point that
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  you're right, you're causing harm to, you know, the natural
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  inhabitants of it. I love that, you know, working
• 22:06
  in harmony with the land instead of against it.
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  You know, you're not, you're not.
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  It's also a longer term thinking as opposed to stripping the land
• 22:15
  and then having to move on or provide a lesser product.
• 22:18
  Correct. Every year.
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  Yeah, and it's very sustainable that way.
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  They're able to pass the same estate down from generation to
• 22:25
  generation that way and practices that their
• 22:28
  grandparents have told them and you know it, it's still working
• 22:32
  today, so. This show, as I mentioned at the
• 22:36
  top, is presented by Roast, our coffee packaging.
• 22:39
  They've been incredibly supportive of this show and our
• 22:41
  efforts to share stories. Am I mistaken in thinking your
• 22:45
  packages are from Rostar? OK, I thought so, but I didn't.
• 22:50
  Want to? Yeah.
• 22:51
  I didn't want to say it without. And then like, it'd not be
• 22:53
  right. They've also asked me to ask
• 22:57
  people like you if you have advice for burgeoning
• 23:01
  entrepreneurs. You know, they were once a small
• 23:03
  company. They've been growing and growing
• 23:05
  and growing, helping other companies grow as well.
• 23:09
  Lots of small businesses are family businesses.
• 23:13
  So if a young family came to you or a husband and wife or you
• 23:16
  know, whatever it was said we want to start a business
• 23:19
  together, you know, what advice would you offer them?
• 23:22
  Yeah. When you say start a start a
• 23:25
  business together, you mean with with them themselves?
• 23:29
  Just start something. Yeah, a small, yeah, it'll be
• 23:32
  there. It doesn't have to be.
• 23:34
  They don't necessarily have to start it.
• 23:35
  I guess I would say as like a partnership, but just a small
• 23:39
  business. Like we're going to step away
• 23:41
  from the corporate world or our other job, give it a go to do it
• 23:44
  on our own. I think maybe that's more of the
• 23:46
  value there is like I'm going to go try it on my own.
• 23:48
  What would you say? Because you've been through it,
• 23:50
  you're in it, but you've been through that first wave of it.
• 23:54
  Yeah, Honestly, I think that the best advice I could I could give
• 23:59
  somebody is kind of you get as much knowledge as you can from
• 24:04
  from other entrepreneurs like this, you know, and learning.
• 24:08
  I had Mike Ebert, who, you know, helped me kind of formulate a
• 24:12
  lot of things, companies like Rostar that really helped.
• 24:16
  So those are little tidbits that you kind of learn and, and I
• 24:21
  think that the the advice would be to kind of gain as much
• 24:25
  information as you can before you really start.
• 24:28
  You're never going to know any everything, but kind of having
• 24:31
  some arsenal in, in your in your backpack definitely helps you
• 24:36
  look in the right direction. And, and I think that like
• 24:43
  focusing on the product is very important.
• 24:46
  I think focus on the quality of the product and the rest kind of
• 24:52
  follow. When you're when you're proud of
• 24:55
  your product, you'll be able to to talk about it better, you'll
• 24:59
  be able to market it better. And you know, you won't have to
• 25:04
  worry about things like returning customers.
• 25:07
  It's more acquiring new customers and that's something
• 25:09
  that can be done. It's and so long as your product
• 25:13
  is good and you're, you can stand by your product, I think
• 25:16
  that that will change your perspective of your business as
• 25:19
  well. You know, you're more proud of
• 25:20
  it, you're more confident in, in shooting your shot when you're
• 25:25
  proud of your product. So I think that that's a that's
• 25:28
  also a really important aspect of just being, being pretty
• 25:32
  proud of what what you are offering.
• 25:39
  Sorry, I I'm laughing a little bit just because of my own
• 25:44
  imposter syndrome anxiety. And so like to say that I've
• 25:47
  done 15 seasons of this show is kind of like I do have this,
• 25:51
  this experience. I should kind of know what I'm
• 25:52
  doing now. We'll get there eventually.
• 25:56
  You know your your packaging from Rostar.
• 26:00
  I'm wondering how do you decide what to share what to tell?
• 26:03
  You know, how does it tell the story of what you do in a way
• 26:06
  that, and I think this is a real challenge, 'cause I always want
• 26:10
  to include all the information about everything, but how do you
• 26:13
  do it in a way that is like appealing to the customer but
• 26:16
  not overwhelming? Yeah.
• 26:18
  Well, one thing that I really like Rostar is that they have
• 26:22
  really low Moqs which allow, because when you're starting a
• 26:27
  business and you're starting that packaging, your packaging
• 26:31
  evolves so many times, like the number of iterations and it's
• 26:35
  small, small iterations. It's like a full stop at the end
• 26:39
  of a paragraph or a line spacing that you want to change.
• 26:44
  And having those low MO Q's really has allowed me to
• 26:48
  specifically keep kind of adding on and taking off what I thought
• 26:52
  was important or what has done well and what hasn't done well.
• 26:56
  And I think that you kind of learn that of like that fine
• 27:01
  line of too much information and, and, and not enough
• 27:04
  information when you kind of make those iterations in real
• 27:09
  time almost. But I do think that I like to
• 27:13
  make things as clear. Like when it comes to coffee,
• 27:16
  sometimes we overwhelm it with so many notes and so many so, so
• 27:22
  much information. The altitude and the things like
• 27:25
  that, you know, it's like it is really nice to know those things
• 27:29
  if you wanted to know those things.
• 27:30
  So, you know, if you were able to go look it up on the website.
• 27:33
  But when you're trying to make a quick pre emptive decision and
• 27:37
  you get too much information, it's kind of almost like nerve
• 27:40
  wracking and you're like, OK, nevermind, I don't want to do
• 27:42
  this, you know. And I think that the flavor
• 27:45
  forward perspective is how you should tackle packaging is kind
• 27:51
  of focusing on the flavor that the coffee is providing because
• 27:56
  that's what people are going to at the end of the day, taste the
• 27:59
  cup of coffee and then associate to that specific blend.
• 28:03
  And then the rest, the rest of it kind of calling out, you
• 28:06
  know, things like women owned and shave grown, those kind of
• 28:10
  things people love to know and see if if it's there, right.
• 28:13
  And so fine line between too much information and and not
• 28:18
  enough information I guess. I love the your your current
• 28:23
  bags have a very distinctive look at the, you know, the
• 28:28
  shades of of brown, the color blocked panels.
• 28:33
  They, they're very easy to like, take all that information and I
• 28:36
  feel. So I.
• 28:38
  Appreciate that. I I need to make sure that I I'm
• 28:43
  the name Paul John, obviously your last name Paul.
• 28:47
  Where does that well, how does that relate?
• 28:49
  What does it mean? Where's it come from?
• 28:50
  Why decide to say I'm going to put that on the back?
• 28:53
  Yeah. So my dad's name is Paul John,
• 28:57
  and he named his first business after his dad.
• 29:02
  And so I wanted to name my first business after my dad.
• 29:07
  We do also have a Paul John Indian single Malt.
• 29:11
  And so kind of we wanted to, it's the same concept of kind of
• 29:17
  highlighting India as an origin. It's not something you think of
• 29:22
  that comes from India single malt.
• 29:25
  But I will say I think we have very good single malts as well.
• 29:29
  And so it was the same concept and the same kind of educational
• 29:33
  backing that we were trying to do in the Western world of, you
• 29:37
  know, highlighting India as an origin.
• 29:39
  And so all that tied together. I just thought it would be a
• 29:43
  good idea to to kind of have it under that family name of Paul
• 29:47
  John and kind of with the same objective of highlighting, you
• 29:53
  know, India and the products that come from from India, I
• 29:57
  guess. What comes next, you know,
• 30:00
  what's the what's the future? Hold for Paul, John, Caffeine
• 30:03
  and for you. Yeah.
• 30:05
  Well, you never know. But I, I would really like to
• 30:10
  see our our bags of coffee more widespread.
• 30:15
  Our goal is to really get into retail outlets more mainstream
• 30:19
  and kind of highlighting. And like I said, our we started
• 30:22
  the company with the objective of really highlighting Indian
• 30:26
  origin coffee. And I think that's where I would
• 30:28
  like to see it more mainstream, kind of have people know that
• 30:33
  India is not just Chai, but or tea is is also coffee.
• 30:38
  And I think that's that's the future goal is to kind of have
• 30:42
  have maybe Paul John associated with that concept of of Indian
• 30:45
  coffee in the Western world. You mentioned this earlier and
• 30:49
  it just came back to me about your green coffee customers and
• 30:53
  we're talking about roast art and how they're working with
• 30:55
  different company sizes. Are do you work with small
• 30:57
  roasters, big roasters, anywhere in between?
• 30:59
  Is there a limit? Yeah.
• 31:01
  Someone's listening to this going, you know, I'd really like
• 31:03
  to try this. Yeah, No, we, we, we work with
• 31:07
  all different sizes. We have large traders that buy
• 31:10
  green coffee from us. And then we also have small, you
• 31:15
  know, CAF individual Cafe roasters that that will buy us
• 31:19
  buy small quantities and certain number of pounds and we're able
• 31:22
  to do that kind of break it up. We're not one of those big
• 31:25
  traders where you have to buy a certain number of pounds of
• 31:28
  coffee or you have to bring in a whole container or it's nothing.
• 31:31
  And I'm quite proud of the fact that we bring in a variety of
• 31:34
  Indian coffee that most people don't have other trade, other
• 31:38
  green coffee traders. Most people know Monsoon Malabar
• 31:41
  as a green coffee from India and maybe a robusta, but we bring in
• 31:46
  six different varieties on a stagnant and then we're able to
• 31:49
  source and bring in, you know, micro lots and various other
• 31:53
  versions because of the connections that we have in
• 31:56
  India. And so, so yeah, we, we can work
• 32:00
  with small, big, medium, any size.
• 32:03
  OK, we'll make sure that we're we've got all these links in the
• 32:05
  show notes and let people connect with you.
• 32:08
  Appreciate that. Yeah.
• 32:09
  Absolutely. Did I miss anything that you
• 32:11
  really wanted people to know today?
• 32:14
  No, I think we kind of covered it.
• 32:16
  I kind of love talking about the Indian coffee and the aspect of
• 32:19
  it. So we covered everything.
• 32:21
  Well, and I'm excited that you gave me a new reason, not just
• 32:24
  the only one, but a new reason to come to India, which is to
• 32:27
  try that single malt with you. Oh yes, because I.
• 32:29
  Don't think it's. Here in the US too, it's
• 32:32
  available in Total Wines. OK.
• 32:36
  Well, I'll look for it. But I also feel like maybe I
• 32:38
  need like a business reason to go to India.
• 32:41
  I think that would be most we. Have a distillery actually, and
• 32:44
  you can go try out all the all the single malts.
• 32:47
  And so, yeah, you're definitely a fan of single malt to give it
• 32:51
  a try. Well, I am, and that's probably
• 32:55
  what I'll have next. But when you happen to be out
• 32:58
  and about and you are stopping in a new cafe and they don't
• 33:01
  have your coffee yet. Yes, but they probably will at
• 33:04
  some point. What are you going to order?
• 33:07
  Oh so I so a lot of people ask me like what's my go to?
• 33:12
  So in a cafe, though, I will, I will get a plane, like if they
• 33:16
  have a drip, I will get a drip coffee.
• 33:18
  I like black coffee, no sugar, no milk, one of those kind of
• 33:22
  things when I'm trying something new.
• 33:25
  And that's solely because I'm in the coffee industry, to be very
• 33:28
  honest, I want to taste it. I want to see, you know, all
• 33:31
  those flavor profiles and be a little nerdy about it.
• 33:35
  But I really do like a coffee with milk and sugar too.
• 33:39
  So it really depends. Mood.
• 33:45
  I can't tell you, you know how much I appreciate your time, the
• 33:48
  consideration to be here sharing some of this information and
• 33:52
  what is a chaotic time in coffee and business generally speaking
• 33:58
  to everyone else. That's our show for today.
• 34:00
  Paul John, caffeine.com. You can find their selection of
• 34:04
  coffees. You can learn more about the the
• 34:07
  story of the company and about Shonali.
• 34:09
  Thank you for tuning into the show The Coffee People podcast.
• 34:12
  You can find us.online@coffeepeoplepodcast.com.
• 34:15
  You can probably see that I'm reading some of this because
• 34:17
  it's a new season and I haven't memorized it yet.
• 34:20
  You can search for it on all your favorite platforms,
• 34:23
  including YouTube, Apple, Spotify.
• 34:25
  Thanks to Rostar for supporting us.
• 34:27
  Check out all their coffee bag options on rostar.com.
• 34:30
  You can also find the rest of our supporters and our sponsors.
• 34:34
  We're going to roll that list here at the end of the credits.
• 34:36
  Don't forget to tip your baristas.
• 34:38
  Thank you for listening, for watching, and of course, for
• 34:41
  drinking good coffee. Shonali, thank you so much.
• 34:45
  Thank you so much Ryan for having me.
• 34:47
  I appreciate it. I hope that was all right.
• 34:51
  Pretty easy peasy, I hope. I was so aware of the lawnmower
• 34:55
  and I knew that was going to happen.
• 34:57
  Just being. The.