Yay! It’s here, mine and this year’s first JWB Weekend Activity. In the hope of a fun-filled day I, Komal and Ruchika headed to Curious Life on a not-so-cold winter morning. is one-of-a-kind cafe that roasts the coffee it serves.

We had just entered the place and were introducing ourselves to the owners, Anndddddd….

There went Komal, to the guitar that laid in the corner and started singing.

Ruchika and I rolled eyes in turmoil as she was the one in-charge today. ( Lavanya, we missed you)

Finally, we settled and started our chit-chat with Ms. Manu Singh (She insisted us not to use the valediction Dr. despite being a Ph.D. Scholar)

“Curious me” awakened to this suddenly, Curious Life, indeed!

I knew we were there to learn about coffee and how it is roasted, blended and served. But “Ms.” Manu had some story of her own to tell, and we were more than happy to hear it.

Ok, I’ll make this more fun. Here it goes!

Once upon a time, a girl so beautiful, decides to serve her society. She dedicates her 24*7 to cancer research. Finally, she is crowned with a doctorate in Medicine. She feels accomplished and starts her career as a professor. She is happy as she thinks she is living her dream.

Time flies, monotony grips her, starts choking on her as each day feels the same – and nothing excites her anymore. But for the sake of her family’s happiness, she drags herself for some more time.

Until one day, a lad comes by. Magic wand in one hand, coffee beans in another, he says, “Why so serious? What is it that you want?” Lets out a sigh, she replies, “I wanna be alive. I don’t want to limit myself.”

And so, the lad takes the girl with him to a land where he is a coffee roaster, and she is a baker, and they live happily-ever-after.

Impressive, Ha?

Erggghhhh…. Back to business.

We moved to their work area where Neeraj and Manu tried hard to explain the technicalities of coffee and asked about what we knew of coffee.

While I was busy digging my head for something intelligent to say, Komal modestly admitted, “I just know that if it smells good, I drink it.” We just nod our heads in embarrassment.

Manu tried suppressing a chuckle, and Neeraj lost all hope of us.

Being ‘coffee amateurs’- a term coined by none other than our leader Komal, Manu showed us the air press way to brew coffee.

To me, the air press machine looked like a huge injection. Sorry guys, I guess I’m just hopeless.

See, the most important thing we learnt was the Rule of 15 ( More important because out of all they explained, I remember it thoroughly.)

They elucidated that the flavour and aroma of the coffee are at its finest when it reaches you within:

1. 15 months from harvest.
2. 15 days from roasting
3. And 15 minutes of grinding

After our hot and cold brewed coffees had been prepared for drinking, Neeraj told us that the term for Coffee tasting is Cupping where samples are collected from all over India, following that the selection is approved. He further explained that it’s like wine-tasting and rolling the tongue while sipping the coffee will leave a lasting flavour in the mouth.

Coffee tasting time!

Who hopped on to try it first? Komal, obviously! (I hate her for chopping her locks off)

Hmmmm…. I tried hard to decipher her reaction. A couple of minutes later she says,”Aftertaste of the coffee is good, it lingers.”

Well, Ruchika cleverly picks up the cold-brewed coffee, I had my eyes on. (Yes, the one who is pretending to write is the culprit. I was the one jotting down, I promise)

Finally, my turn came, and for the love of cold- coffees in general, the iced-coffee gets my vote.

Amidst all this, there came a squawking sound of the roaster, their mean machine.

Neeraj put green beans inside the machine for roasting, and we instantly offered to help to which he humbly declined by explaining that it was too technical.

Seeing us disappointed, he quickly added that we could test the color of roasted beans against the green ones.

Ruchika took a handful of roasted beans and took in its heaving aroma.

Oh about that, I swear felt dizzy and high by the coffee and its aroma.

And till the time beans were roasting, we decided to bring our photographer Sanchit in front of the camera and clicked him with the coffee that he thought was a bit bitter for his taste.

We were excited to return to our office and show off our knowledge of the coffee. Exiting, we had to ask them why the name The answer left me spellbound.

It’s more about the Life than Coffee. After all, Coffee is just a part of it.

Photo Courtesy: