Review: Blue Tokai Coffee Roaster’s Fort Branch Is By Far It’s Best

Imagine walking into a coffee store and being awed by the sheer space of it, especially in the busy commercial district at Kala Ghoda in Mumbai. That’s exactly what Blue Tokai has managed to pull off with its new branch in the city – a place full of space serving its signature coffee to patrons in a welcoming space. Here are a few reasons we love the new Blue Tokai Café at Fort.

Spacious

We can’t get over how spacious the café feels as soon as you enter. Multiple seating options, spread over ground and an upper level and beautifully designed, the café is at once welcoming and understated in its elegance. Not to mention the smell of freshly-brewed coffee that occasionally wafts in your direction if you’re seated near the café area.

To find such a huge space and to turn it into something beautiful follows in the footsteps of other brands such as H&M that revamped an entire building in the locality to bring in footfalls. If their success is anything to go by, then the café is sure to do just as well, if not better.

Pet-friendly

https://www.instagram.com/p/B9JLLk-nh6A/

In keeping with another trend that’s becoming common these days, the new Blue Tokai café is pet-friendly. This means no more missing your pet dog at home and coming back to his sulky face when you can rather take him out to the café with you. While craft brewery Doolally has perfected the pet-friendly game, it’s good to see Blue Tokai take the same initiative as well.

Coffee Equipment

Being a leader of the third-wave movement in India, it’s natural that Blue Tokai deals not just in its estate-grown coffees but is also actively involved in the coffee brewing business and sells some hard-to-find equipment in the Indian market.

A huge shoutout to the Fort café is the array of coffee equipment lying in wait for its new owners. From smaller items such as French Press and Aeropress methods of brewing coffee to high-end coffee machines and grinders, this is a place to geek out at all the coffee equipment you want your kitchen and office to shine with.

The only catch? The café isn’t allowed to sell any of the equipment or even give a demo if you request them to. Think of it as window-shopping for coffee equipment.

Events

https://www.instagram.com/p/B8dZclHHlqS/

While the ground floor is where you can sit and order your coffee and food, the upper level has been designed to hold events. We spotted a huge conference room setup and another corner to hold events upstairs that patrons can take advantage of. The upper level wasn’t functioning when we went to review the place anonymously so it’s difficult to guess what price range or type of events will be held there eventually.

All-day work café

The Blue Tokai café at Fort is the first to offer full-day co-working advantages. The setup is all there – from conveniently located plug points at each desk to decent wi-fi coverage, not to mention all of their coffee being just a step away. With the success of Starbucks nearby being largely attributed to these remote workers and the fact that the store is going in for a renovation soon, it’s highly likely that the new Blue Tokai will soon see a surge of this group to its Fort café.

It might be tempting to ask if there was a market in the busy Fort precinct which already has many restaurants, cafes and the OG Starbucks along with a few decent co-working options. However, once you’re inside the new Blue Tokai café, these concerns go out of the window as you find a relaxing spot to sit and enjoy your coffee, knowing fully well that the café has a market of its own even as new patrons keep finding their new coffee hangout in the area.

See Also

Getting High On Sustainability With Woodside Inn’s Wasted Menu

Blue Tokai Coffee Roasters, Plot 17/19, Ground Floor, Wadia Building, Bombay Stock Exchange, Dalal Street, Fort, Mumbai

Timings: 8 AM to 11 PM every day

Gurgl anonymously reviewed this place on February 28, 2020