These new-age beverage brands are reinventing India’s chai and coffee culture
These small and medium business players are formalising India’s chai and coffee market with innovation and scale.
India’s tea and coffee market, once dominated by unorganised roadside stalls and premium café chains, has been undergoing a major transformation driven by small and medium beverage brands. These emerging players are reimagining how chai and coffee are consumed, blending tradition with innovation.
These players are carving out a middle ground by introducing modern formats, diverse flavours, and scalable business models. From leveraging technology to ensure consistency, to experimenting with localised flavours, wellness-focused brews, and eco-friendly serving options, these brands are reshaping consumer expectations.
By focusing on accessibility, hygiene, and convenience, these brands have become popular, especially among urban youth and working professionals. Their scalable formats and retail presence are helping them accelerate their reach across India and abroad, and even into global markets
Together, they’re not just serving beverages, but formalising and diversifying the country’s chai and coffee culture.
Here are some of the brands driving this change.
Chaayos
Founded in 2012 by IIT graduates Nitin Saluja (IIT Bombay) and Raghav Verma (IIT Delhi), is a chai café chain that has redefined the chai experience in India. Built around the idea of personalised tea, the brand offers over 25 varieties with thousands of possible customisations.
From a single café to more than 200 stores across 10+ cities, Chaayos has grown into a full-stack model spanning beverages, food, and packaged products, with nearly half of its sales coming from online channels.
To ensure consistency and efficiency, Chaayos developed “Chai Monk,” an IoT-enabled tea machine that automates much of the brewing process, while also using AI, facial recognition, and data analytics to streamline payments, support loyalty programmes, and improve customer experience.
Backed by investors such as Tiger Global, Alpha Wave, and Elevation Capital, Chaayos is blending technology with tradition to bring structure and scale to India’s fragmented chai market.
Chai Kings
, founded in October 2016 by former IT professionals Jahabar Sadique and Balaji Sadagopan, is a tea and beverage retail chain headquartered in Chennai. Over the years, the brand has grown to operate over 65 outlets across Chennai, Hyderabad, and Coimbatore.
It offers more than 15 varieties of chai, including traditional options like ginger and masala tea as well as iced and herbal flavours, alongside coffee and snacks.
Chai Kings’ delivery-friendly model, supported by partnerships with Swiggy and Zomato and packaging designed to retain freshness and heat, has helped it reach a broad customer base. The company’s simple store formats and standardised operations have contributed to the organised growth of the tea retail segment in South India.
Chai Sutta Bar
, founded in 2016 by Anubhav Dubey and Anand Nayak, later joined by Rahul Patidar, is a tea-café chain known for serving chai in traditional earthen kulhads, supporting local potters while promoting sustainability.
Headquartered in Indore, the brand has expanded rapidly with more than 600 outlets across 370 cities in India and overseas, including Nepal, Oman, and the UAE.
Chai Sutta Bar offers multiple chai flavours such as masala and chocolate chai, alongside coffee, cold beverages, and snacks like burgers and sandwiches.
The outlets are designed with a rustic, smoke-free ambience to create a social space for youth and families. Chai Sutta Bar’s accessible pricing, wide network of franchise-operated stores, and strong brand presence have positioned it as a significant player in the organised tea and café segment.
Blue Tea
Founded in 2018 by Sunil Chandra Saha and Nitesh Singh, is a Faridabad-based startup that produces caffeine-free, flower-based herbal teas rooted in Ayurvedic principles.
Some of the brand’s offerings include blends made from butterfly pea flowers, hibiscus, chamomile, rose, jasmine, lavender, and Indian spices, marketed as wellness-oriented alternatives to traditional chai and coffee.
The company operates through direct-to-consumer and retail channels, with a presence in over 11 countries, including the US, the UK, and Germany. It sources ethically from more than 200 small farmers, primarily women in Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, contributing to higher rural incomes.
Blue Tea gained wider recognition after featuring on Shark Tank India, which helped accelerate its growth, with revenues rising from Rs 25 lakh in 2018 to about Rs 10 crore in FY 2022, and monthly revenues reaching Rs 5 crore by March 2024. Through its product innovation, farmer partnerships, and global reach, Blue Tea has established itself as a distinct player in India’s organised beverage market.
Chai Point
, founded in 2010 by Amuleek Singh Bijral with early contributions from Tarun Khanna, Gaganjot Kaur, and Tejus Chandra, is a Bengaluru-based tea and café chain that has built a large presence across India.
The brand offers hot and iced chai, coffee, shakes, and snacks, alongside packaged instant chai for retail consumption. With over 170 stores and more than 3,500 workplace hubs, the company operates through an omnichannel model combining cafés, corporate partnerships, delivery, and vending services.
Chai Point has also integrated technology into its operations with proprietary software, AI- and IoT-enabled vending, and digital payment systems. By standardising hygiene and quality, offering B2B vending solutions, and expanding into airports and business parks, the company has created a significant footprint in India’s organised beverage sector and positioned itself among leading players competing with brands like Chaayos, Starbucks, and Blue Tokai.
The Chai Story
The Chai Story was founded in 2016 by Sagar Desai, Yash Agarwal, and Utkarsh Lakhmani. It is a Delhi-based café chain that combines traditional chai with contemporary offerings such as iced teas and bubble teas.
Apart from these, the menu also includes affordable snacks like Maggi and street food-inspired items, positioned to attract students and young professionals.
With more than 50 outlets across high-footfall locations such as malls and universities across the country, the chain has created a youth-focused social setting that blends chai culture with café-style spaces.
By introducing bubble teas in 2021 and standardising chai in a modern format, The Chai Story differentiates itself from roadside stalls and coffee chains, contributing to the growth of organised tea cafés in urban India.
Edited by Megha Reddy