Coffee Beans Price per kg in India: Retail vs Café, and What You Get at Each Price
25 September 20263 min read
Written by Tiny Tiger Coffee
Is ₹500 for a 250 g bag of coffee fair? And if a supplier quotes your café ₹700 a kilo, is that a bargain?
What the price per kilo means per cup
Nobody drinks a kilo of coffee, so turn the price into a price per cup. At home, a French press or pour-over cup uses about 15 g, so a kilo makes roughly 66 cups. In a café, a double shot of espresso uses about 18 g, so a kilo makes about 55 shots.
A kilo makes about 66 home cups or 55 café double shots.
Price per kg
At home (15 g a cup)
In a café (18 g a double shot)
₹1,200
₹18
₹21.60
₹2,000
₹30
₹36
₹3,000
₹45
₹54
Even at the top of the retail range, a home cup costs a fraction of a café cappuccino. In a café the same sum repeats sixty times a day; our cost per cup calculator lets you put in your own dose, milk and menu price.
What you get below ₹800 a kilo
New café owners often ask why they should pay ₹1,200 when they've been quoted ₹700. Coffee at that price isn't unsafe or fake, but it is a different product: usually commodity-grade, often mostly robusta, and rarely with a roast date on the pack. It can make an acceptable strong filter coffee with plenty of sugar and milk.
For espresso it falls short, and no skill at the machine will put back what was never in the bean. Regulars notice that cup, and they are the customers a café can least afford to lose. We grow our coffee organically and pick it by hand, which can't be done for under ₹800 a kilo, so at that budget we aren't the right supplier.
What you get from ₹1,200 a kilo
What to look for on a bag of specialty coffee: the coffee, where it came from, and when it was roasted.
At ₹1,200 a kilo and above, three things should come with the coffee.
A roast date on the bag. Specialty roasters roast to order and print the date. We roast only after an order comes in, about twice a week.
A named origin. Ours comes from one place, Hoysala Estate in Chikmagalur, Karnataka.
Coffee that has been looked after. Beans need about 10 days to rest after roasting, then stay good for around 60 to 70 days if kept sealed. Our post on roast dates and expiry dates explains what to look for on a bag.
Within the ₹1,200 to ₹2,600 range, the price rises with the share of arabica, the altitude, the processing and how much you buy each month. Our wholesale coffee beans guide for cafés goes through each in detail.
Buying for a café: our price and minimum order
Café orders start at 5 kg and ship free to metro cities.
Price: café pricing starts at ₹1,200 a kilo, depending on the coffee and how much you use each month.
Minimum order: 5 kg, as one 5 kg bag of whole beans, which we can't split into smaller bags.
Price lock: your price is held for six months from your first order.
Delivery: free to metro cities within three working days, and about five days elsewhere.
A café selling 60 coffees a day uses about a kilo a day, so 5 kg lasts a little under a week.
Before you commit, order a Café Sampler: two, three or four of our café coffees, 250 g of whole beans each. Let them rest for 10 days, pull them on your own machine with your own milk, and pick the one your regulars would order twice. Request a Café Sampler. Buying for home instead? Our shop sells every coffee in 500 g packs, as whole beans or ground.
Common questions
What is the price of coffee beans per kg in India?
Specialty roasted coffee beans cost about ₹1,400 to ₹3,000 a kilo in 250 g retail bags (₹350 to ₹750 a bag), and cafés buying in bulk pay about ₹1,200 to ₹2,600 a kilo. Commodity coffee, often mostly robusta, can be found below ₹800 a kilo.
Should I buy coffee beans in bulk for home?
Usually not, because coffee is at its best for about 60 to 70 days after roasting. Buy what you'll finish within a month or so, which for most homes is 500 g at a time.
