The Kaapi Project

Home
Australia
Richmond, VIC
The Kaapi Project

Crafters of Melbourne's first locally roasted and freshly brewed Traditional Indian Filter Coffee.

We are a Melbourne based Indian - Italian duo passionate about fine coffee. In the southern states of India, where Indian coffee originates, the word ‘kaapi’ transcends linguistic and cultural differences, and translates to coffee. Our first blend is a take on the centuries old classic Indian Filter Coffee. Crafted in Melbourne, with our finest selection of Indian Arabica coffees along with a healthy dose of chicory, this blend has bold earthy flavours and a heady aroma!

07/06/2026

So refreshing to meet TV superstars who are extremely grounded and supportive!

~ Throwback ~ The Master Swish & Pour, circa 2021

📸 Matt Alice Gary 🤙🏽💛 Loki's guest invites at the event we co-hosted.

Why today? Oh I just finished reading Matt's memoir, Big Mouth. An absolute pleasure to read his writing and brought back memories of his huge personality!
Enjoy the long weekend y'all!

28/05/2026

Filter 🇮🇳 Coffee. with a spot of milk ✨

Smooth As 🤙🏽

02/04/2026

hello Melburnians On SUNDAY 26 April 12:30-3:30pm I'm teaming up with good friends Sakthi .and.varuvals and Chef Gayatri to host a South Indian Mini Feast at our space in Coburg North.

Bringing you a delightful taste of South India featuring all time classics like Podi Idlis, Rasam, Lemon Rice and Mango Kesari, Filter KAAPI and a take home bag of goodies, this is an event you don't want to miss or leave too long to book!

Please share the deets with your local friends and we look forward to seeing you soon ✌🏽❤️

20/11/2025

hey hey 👋🏽 thank you for ordering KAAPI down under, that's freshly roasted & brewed traditionally from our range of top notch Indian coffees. 2 years back or so I remember meeting a friend the first time (artisanal baker) who looked me in the eye and asked, "so how is the business going?" When I replied "it's fun"; he laughed 😅 and yes it is a fun ride! We do have our share of frustrating moments (think couriers!) but who doesn't hey! Overall net positive (highs) thanks to the extremely supportive and understanding lot of you who make it all possible ✌🏽❤️

If you're free swing past for a brew tomorrow ☕

Have a good end of the week y'all ✨

14/11/2025

...it's back! For a short while we're bringing this brew once again. Every aspect of this coffee is truly unique and nothing short of MAGICAL!

'Monsooned' - The monsooning process that these beans undergo is very unique to India. Under controlled conditions, the process replicates how the green beans were once unintentionally exposed to sea breeze on their voyage from India to Britain. This gives the beans their pale ivory white colour. The process also beefs up the beans massively and are some of the largest in screen size.

On roasting, these beans are transformed and take on a very unique shade of brown; you'll often see 2 distinct shades, giving you the impression 2 different roast profiles were blended. The coffee also leaves behind no chaff (during roasting)!

The way we roast and brew this coffee, highlights unmistakable notes of short biscuit, cacao and nuts - especially mixed with milk. As a black coffee, this is very low acid brew for an Arabica of this roast profile, to put in simple terms. It works well for a heavy bodied long black or Kerala Kattan KAAPI. Add a touch of spice and jaggery and you've got something magical ✨

25/10/2025

hi 👋🏽 Suraj from KAAPI here. We've just launched 2 special coffees this season sourced directly from our partner farms in BR Hills, Karnataka (India).

I wanted to take a minute to explain the coffees & our new direct trade efforts.

The first one is an Washed Arabica Peaberry. Peaberries are a naturally occurring genetic mutation where instead of 2 distinct flat beans that usually exist in a coffee cherry, there is just one rounded bean. Only a very small percentage of coffee beans are peaberries. Given their special shape and resulting character when roasted, these are often painstakingly hand sorted to separate them from regular beans. Our Peaberry has a very fruity, unmistakable cherry flavour in the cup and I find it remarkable as a hot batch brew (Batchy!). We've already had a few our customers try and report back the same. If you're a black coffee lover, I definitely recommend trying this out.

Our second coffee is a Washed Arabica of Chandragiri varietal, which is beautiful in a milk based or black coffee. More chocolatey notes shine through making it a delicious choice for a medium strength filter coffee or a flat white. We are also using this coffee to craft YODHA and GAJAH blends, making our lineup of pure coffees all directly sourced Single Origin Indian coffees.

(Being mindful to not make the video any longer), I'll share the details of our new trade alliance and the amazing people who have made all this possible. Stay tuned ✌🏽❤️

In the meantime please head over the website and grab these coffees and let me know your thoughts... Cheers!

14/10/2025

Thrissur (Kerala) 2024. Peeking behind the live popup kaapi counter at the Hyatt breakfast buffet, I saw Bru was on shift. It was a pass for me. For those who didn't see (that), the filter kaapi tasted fine.

DON'T JUDGE JUST YET!

Melbourne 2025. A prominent vineyard venue with a state of the art cafe and restaurant in the city's northside proudly serves Lavazza coffee.

Now that we're comparing apples to apples, where does this leave us?

If it's JUST about taste OR quality, several things will fly. IF it's about supporting the growers, who are doing exceptional work in the field - growing regeneratively with minimum intervention, it's when "great kaapi" becomes better by doing good.

Indian coffee deserves a better platform to be showcased in all its glory, thank you for supporting what we do 🙏🏽❤️

Stay tuned for updates and our newest releases!

17/09/2025

AVAL mugs for your special Kattan Kaapi ⚡
In South India, traditionally, black coffee is a rarity and in Kerala, coffee itself is hard to come by, except when it's a KATTAN. Ours is spiced and sweetened a tad with traditional palm jaggery (karipetti). It's also rarely served in a davara tumbler unlike a classic filter kaapi. We chose these beautiful AVAL mugs which are handmade by Sonia; each bespoke, slowly and thoughtfully crafted. She takes inspiration from the women who have shaped her, capturing memories & traditions she grew up with, working them meticulously into the artwork that you see on these mugs and other clay ware she makes.
📸(1) Fast forward to current times, our kaapi of choice for mornings is a delicately brewed Batchy in an Indian filter. Our lightly roasted Single is perfect for this.

Next time you're at Proppa South, make sure to order a traditional KATTAN or our Indian Batchy, share a picture and tag .naidu_ ✌🏽❤️

10/09/2025

ONAM Season okke alle...so everyone's doing Sadhya - the traditional Kerala style banquet on Banana Leaf. Several lavish, extravagant and festive ones are being organised all across Melbourne ; we've even sent a tonne of coffee to support the mammoth effort our friends & have taken on; who are fully booked out and going at full steam! Amazing hey... anyway here I was marveling at all this & thinking what can a small batch south Indian coffee guy pull off amidst all this mayhem...💥

I'm teaming up with my good friend Chef Ajith to slay some PUTTU during Onam time. No kidding! These steamed rice cakes layered with shredded coconut, served with KADALA (black chickpeas) Curry is a strong contender any time of the day or any time of the year. Can it take on the might of the Sadhya...let's not go there!

Mallus in the house please fill in your non-Kerala friends on the joke and bring them along on September 14 arvo for what's going to be a PUTTU + KATTAN KAAPI POP-UP at Proppa South

Deets & Tickets via Link in Bio thank you!
Isn't Kattan always on the menu? YEP, but ONAM okke alle, so I'm going to take some old school twists and turns up that hill to Wayanad to create something more magical with dollops of .au ghee and .and.varuvals single origin spices to give it more oomph 💥🤙🏽✌🏽❤️

30/05/2025

Folks, there was a typo in the MONTH - instead of 6 (June), 5 (May) was written on some of the orders that were sent out recently. Fear not, all brewed fresh, by hand, dated (with error sometimes) :/ sorry for the trouble. Please email if you have Q's and our team will get back to you. Have a good weekend ✌🏽❤️

Address

Richmond, VIC

Website

http://www.kaapi.com.au/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when The Kaapi Project posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Want your business to be the top-listed Restaurant in Richmond?