A Toronto coffee shop that specialized in South Indian-style coffee has closed its doors for good as its owners embark on taking the business in a new direction.

Opening the doors of their Little Italy coffee house in December of 2021, owners Shilpa Kotamarthi and Aditya Srivathsan dreamt of bringing their favourite coffee from India to the masses in Toronto — and thus, Madras Kaapi was born.

Specializing in kaapi, a style of coffee popular in South India that's traditionally made with chicory root, the business actually began in 2016 with Shilpa and Aditya selling their beans (which come from a small roaster in Montreal) online.

In the years that followed, the pair began serving their coffee at various pop-ups and markets across the city, ultimately culminating with them opening their colourful College Street brick-and-mortar.

Opening a cafe while the Covid-19 pandemic rages on is no small feat, but Shilpa and Aditya took it in stride, establishing themselves among a number of other cafes in the neighbourhood.

Despite only running the cafe for nearly 3 years, though, it appears as though it's time for a change for Shilpa and Aditya, as they recently took to the cafe's Instagram page to announce Madras Kaapi's closure, effective immediately.

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by MADRAS KAAPI ☕️ (@madraskaapi)

While the brick-and-mortar cafe has closed its doors for good, though, the future is bright for Madras Kaapi, as Shilpa and Aditya tell blogTO about the new direction they plan to take the business in.

"After successfully running the coffee house as a local favourite in Toronto, we decided to pivot our focus to online [and] retail operations to reach more kapeeps near and far," they said, referencing their affectionate nickname for fans of the coffee.

For the immediate future, they plan to continue selling their beans through Madras Kaapi's website, while exploring opportunities to have their coffee stocked in various stores and other cafes.

"We also plan on launching kiosks with our coffee and short bites," they added.

Fans of the brand will also have the opportunity to connect with fellow 'kapeeps' with monthly meet-ups where people can connect over a cup of coffee, launch new products and host events, not unlike the way the cafe has operated over the years.

"We are grateful for the support and love and want our customers to know that this is just the beginning of Madras Kaapi version two," they tell blogTO.

Madras Kaapi was formerly located at 870 College.