Cold brew used to be a summer café order. In June 2026 The Economic Times reported that food companies, café chains and direct-to-consumer brands now see cold coffee as a year-round drink for younger Indians, helped by quick-commerce delivery. Yet most coffee drunk at home in India is still instant, and South India's filter kaapi is as popular as ever.
So what actually separates the three? This explainer follows the bean from the estate to the cup, using the Coffee Board of India, FSSAI and ICMR-NIN. It is about how coffee is made and labelled. It does not claim that any coffee is good for your health.
Where Indian coffee starts: cherry, parchment and monsoon
Coffee beans are the seeds of a red fruit, the coffee cherry. The Coffee Board's guide to dry processing, written by scientists at the Central Coffee Research Institute, explains the two ways estates turn that fruit into beans:
- Wet processing (washed, called "parchment" coffee). Ripe fruit is pulped, fermented, washed and sun-dried. The guide gives fermentation times of about 16 to 24 hours for Arabica and 60 to 72 hours for Robusta, with drying to 10 to 11 percent moisture.
- Dry processing (natural, called "cherry" coffee). The whole fruit is sorted and dried in the sun with its pulp on, to 11 to 12 percent moisture. The guide says about 80 percent of Indian Robusta is dry processed, and that Robusta is grown mainly in Chikkamagaluru, Hassan and Kodagu in Karnataka and Wayanad in Kerala.
India also has a processing style of its own. The Coffee Board's specialty coffee page describes monsooning: on the west coast, from June to September, cherry coffee is spread in airy godowns so it absorbs moisture from the monsoon air. Over 12 to 16 weeks the beans swell to nearly double their size and turn pale yellow. That is the origin of "Monsooned Malabar".
Cold brew vs filter coffee vs instant
| Cold brew | South Indian filter coffee | Instant (soluble) coffee | |
|---|---|---|---|
| How it's extracted | Ground coffee steeped in cool water for a long time | Hot water drips through packed ground coffee in a two-part filter, giving a strong decoction | Coffee is brewed and then dried into a powder or granules at a factory |
| Typical blend | Coffee only | Often a coffee-chicory mixture | FSSAI says soluble coffee powder must not contain chicory; a separate instant coffee-chicory standard exists |
| How it's served | Chilled, over ice or diluted | Hot, with boiled milk and sugar, frothed between tumbler and dabara | Stirred into hot or cold water or milk |
| Caffeine per 150 ml cup (ICMR-NIN) | Not listed separately | Brewed coffee: 80 to 120 mg | Instant: 50 to 65 mg |
The 2018 cold brew study in Scientific Reports describes cold brew as "a low-temperature, long-contact brewing method". It found cold and hot brews had a similar pH, while hot brews carried more titratable acids. The smoother taste people describe is real enough to sell coffee, but "cold brew is not acidic" is a myth.
Did you know? What the label has to tell you
FSSAI's beverages chapter of the Food Products Standards sets out several coffee products:
- Soluble coffee powder is made from roasted and ground pure coffee beans and "shall not contain chicory or any other added substances". It must have at least 2.8 percent caffeine on a dry basis.
- Chicory means roasted, ground roots of Cichorium intybus.
- Coffee-chicory mixture must contain at least 51 percent coffee by mass, and the percentages of coffee and chicory must be marked on the label. The same 51 percent floor applies to the instant coffee-chicory mixture, on a dry basis.
So when you pick up a pack of filter coffee powder, look for the coffee-to-chicory ratio. If the pack says it is pure coffee, there should be no chicory in the ingredients.
Two home checks from FSSAI
FSSAI's DART household tests include two for coffee powder:
- Chicory check. Add a teaspoon of coffee powder to a transparent glass of water. Coffee powder floats; chicory begins to sink.
- Clay check. Stir half a teaspoon of coffee powder into water, wait five minutes and look at the bottom. Clay particles settle; pure coffee powder leaves none.
Chicory is allowed when it is declared. These checks only show whether what is in the pack matches what the label says.
Why cafés and cold coffee keep growing
The USDA Foreign Agricultural Service's India Coffee Annual, May 2026, forecasts India's domestic coffee consumption at 1.58 million 60-kg bags (94,800 tonnes) in 2026/27. It expects household soluble coffee to be around 73 percent of domestic consumption, and notes that India's per-capita consumption, 0.04 kg, is far below the global average of 1.3 kg. It also describes fast growth in specialty cafés in cities such as Bengaluru, Mumbai and Jaipur, more interest in origin, processing and brewing methods, and freeze-dried coffee gaining traction.
The Economic Times report adds the flavour side of the trend: on one quick-commerce platform, it said, demand for sugar-free cold coffee rose eight times, and hazelnut and chocolate variants five times, between January and May 2026.
How much coffee fits a day
The ICMR-NIN Dietary Guidelines for Indians, 2024 say tea and coffee contain caffeine, which stimulates the central nervous system and induces physiological dependence. They advise moderation so caffeine stays within 300 mg a day. They also say tannins in tea and coffee interfere with iron absorption, so tea and coffee should be avoided for at least one hour before and after meals. In pregnancy, they say excess caffeine from coffee and tea adversely affects fetal growth and should be minimised.
A large café cold brew with sweetened milk and syrup is also a sugar decision, not only a caffeine one. Our tea explainer, FSSAI's draft pesticide limits for tea, works through the same caffeine numbers for chai.
Cold brew, filter coffee and instant are three ways of pulling flavour and caffeine out of the same bean. Read the chicory percentage on the pack, count your cups against ICMR-NIN's 300 mg line, and keep coffee an hour away from meals.
This article is general information, not medical advice.
Sources
- Coffee Board of India, Indian Coffee, November 2020: Good management practices for quality coffee during dry processing
- Coffee Board of India: Specialty coffee, processing and monsooning
- FSSAI: Food Products Standards, chapter 2.10, Beverages (other than dairy and fruit and vegetable based)
- FSSAI / Eat Right India: DART, Detect Adulteration with Rapid Test
- ICMR-NIN: Dietary Guidelines for Indians, 2024
- Rao and Fuller, Scientific Reports, 2018: Acidity and antioxidant activity of cold brew coffee
- USDA FAS, May 2026: India Coffee Annual
- The Economic Times, June 2026: Gen Z's love for cold coffee has brands chasing beverage boom
Hero photo: "Memorable Coffee" by K.Sreeram 2603, Wikimedia Commons, CC0. See Credits.
Questions
Is cold brew less acidic than hot coffee?
It depends on what you mean by acidic. A 2018 study in Scientific Reports compared cold and hot brews made from the same light-roast coffees at the same coffee-to-water ratio. The pH of the two was comparable, between 4.85 and 5.13. The hot brews had more total titratable acids and higher antioxidant activity. So cold brew is not simply a low-pH drink, and the study made no health finding.
Does cold brew have more caffeine?
There is no single answer, because caffeine depends on how much coffee is used, the grind and how long it steeps. The ICMR-NIN Dietary Guidelines give caffeine for a 150 ml cup of brewed coffee (80 to 120 mg) and instant coffee (50 to 65 mg). They do not give a separate figure for cold brew, so treat a strong cold brew like brewed coffee when you count your day.
Why does filter coffee contain chicory?
Many South Indian households and cafés use a coffee-chicory blend for filter coffee. FSSAI's standard for a coffee-chicory mixture says coffee must be at least 51 percent by mass and that the percentages of coffee and chicory must be marked on the label. Pure soluble coffee powder, by contrast, must not contain chicory.
How can I check coffee powder for chicory or clay at home?
FSSAI's DART household tests suggest two checks. Sprinkle a teaspoon of coffee powder on a glass of water: coffee floats, while chicory begins to sink. Stir half a teaspoon in water and wait five minutes: clay particles settle at the bottom. Chicory is legal when it is declared; the test only helps you see whether the label matches.
How much coffee is too much?
ICMR-NIN advises moderating tea and coffee so caffeine stays within 300 mg a day, and avoiding tea and coffee for at least an hour before and after meals because tannins interfere with iron absorption. In pregnancy the guidelines say caffeinated drinks should be minimised. If you have a heart condition, high blood pressure or are pregnant, ask your doctor what suits you.
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