A new home kitchen is serving handy iced coffees with a side of corporate humour. We order in to see how the beverages, and the humour fare in the newsroom
The pint-sized bottles also sport quirky labels. Pic/Kirti Surve Parade
Twenty-eight-year-old Reeva Sitlani recalls, albeit not fondly, sitting in a meeting room with 40 coworkers at her finance firm, and muttering under her breath, “This meeting should have been an e-mail.” Four months, a resignation letter, and some experiments later, her words are now etched on handy coffee bottles that are making their way to corporate offices across the city. Liquid - Coffee But Sassy, Sitlani’s new Matunga-based home kitchen in collaboration with her elder sister Ruchita, serves pint-sized iced coffees with a slice of corporate humour on the labels.
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The package arrives with (in circle) short messages tagged on to them
The coffees arrive in the newsroom in an hour after we place our order. The cloth bags come with a sweet introductory message attached; possibly to prepare us for the not-so-sweet humour that awaits inside. The plastic bottles inside seem to have held the cold temperatures in Mumbai’s searing heat despite the 30-minute travel time from Matunga to our newsroom in Bandra East. Over a call, the sisters share that while they began with upcycled glass bottles resembling beer pints, concerns over breakage in transit drove the shift to the handy plastic bottles.
We get our hands on five of the 21 available options — Americano, vanilla frappe, Vietnamese iced coffee, tiramisu frappe and the newly launched shortbread frappe. For this writer, one of the unfortunate few who carry the curse of lactose intolerance, the iced Americano (Rs 159) is the natural choice. ‘Corporate slavery antidote’ the label reads. While the first sip packs the usual kick of an Americano, it’s a pleasant surprise to see that the drink doesn’t water down even as we reach the bottom. A fitting antidote to the more-iced-than-coffee offerings at some of the larger chains in the city, we say.
(Left) Ruchita Sitlani prepares coffee in her home kitchen (Middle) The labels are pasted to the bottles using a template (right) The coffee is finally poured into the pint-sized bottles
Elsewhere in the newsroom, a large pint-sized Vietnamese iced coffee (Rs 208) has been chugged. The verdict is in — while the coffee is sweet, it has the right blend of bitter for a balanced brew. Unlike other iced coffees, the flavour of the coffee comes through. Co-founder Ruchita shares that they spent four months trying out different concoctions and conducting taste tests within their circles to find the right balance. The kitchen’s newest offering, a shortbread frappe (R249), stands out for us with its thicker and milkier consistency with the same kick of caffeine. While the Vietnamese coffee had sharpness, this one has more body in terms of flavour profile.
The 250ml bottles might be a tad larger than what regular drinkers may be used to consuming in a sitting. That is, unless your daily cup of joe doubles as an ‘emotional support iced beverage’, like the label on the tiramisu frappe (Rs 249) reads. The drink itself is reminiscent of the popular childhood toffee Kopiko, possibly owing to the caramel syrup. Like the others, this one too, carries the bitterness of the Arabica while being slightly milkier and sweeter than the rest.
Reeva and Ruchita Sitlani
As we get our hands on the one that started it all for the duo, the vanilla frappe (Rs 199) that carries with it Sitlani’s passionate dislike for meetings, the labelling decisions seem apt. The frappe is sweeter and creamier with hints of vanilla that we wished were a tad stronger for the flavour to stand out. “We thought all the label combinations through; each tells a story. The sweetness of the frappe is a reference to the sugar-coating you indulge in when you’re in a meeting you want to escape,” laughs Reeva.
For Ruchita, while the labels are a quirky way to get people talking, the drinks remain the winners. “We source our syrups and ground coffee beans from the same vendors that supply to popular chains in the city,” she claims. Reeva, on the other hand, admits that the one-liners seem to be the ones creating all the buzz. “We had a customer who asked for a bottle that read, ‘Boss, can I get a raise?’ on the second day of his job. We had a good laugh while delivering it to his office. We sure hope he still has the job,” she laughs as the duo signs off.
Liquid - Coffee But Sassy
Available on Zomato
Log on to: @liquid_coffeebutsassy
Message 9619192881 (for queries)
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