Coffee, conversation and the NCR's cafes

If you’ve got good company and time to kill, earn yourself some heart-warming conversation over coffee. The best place to head to would be a café and the city’s seen a lot of those mushrooming in the recent past. We’re not just talking of the Barista or the Café Coffee Days, although they are the majors in town. Read on for more café gyan, take your pick and sip away.

Much before the newcomers arrived, United Coffee House was the hotspot for gupshup over coffee. Visit it for a cup of nostalgia. But, if sporting new age is your mantra, try the Costa Coffee. Giving the usual cafes some serious competition is this UK-based coffee-shop chain, now in Delhi. What sets it slightly apart is its interesting selection of brews and an elegant décor, faintly reminiscent of an English café. The coffee beans are roasted according to Italian style and ensure that perfect cup of frothy espresso. Though the coffee here comes in sizes small, medium and large, small is what most people can really stomach.

Costa has on its menu some excellent lemon or chocolate-chip muffins, with a gooey interior, to complement your coffee. Other short-eats include a range of biscottis, pastries, cookies, sandwiches and paninis. For those who don’t take much delight in bean-based brews, Costa offers an array of frappes, teas, and hot chocolate shakes.

Another contender stoking up this bean mania is Qwiky’s. Try the unusual mocha chai, the coffee-flavoured tea! Housed in a shopping mall, Qwiky’s is most popular with those looking for, well, a quick shot of caffeine amidst a tag-chasing spree. Café Nescafe too provides “instant’” coffee gratification.

Yankeeland’s reps Barnie’s and Beans n’ More—good hang-outs for the young-at-heart—know their brew as well. There may be nothing spectacularly unique about Unicafe, but its cheerful ambience attracts quite a few looking for their caffeine fix to perk up a dull afternoon. Uniqafe’s got the usual cappuccinos, lattes and espressos done well. But, if you still seek a unique cuppa, do try Copiluae, an Indonesian coffee with bold overtones of rich chocolate, at Café Uno.

And if none of these turn you on, settle down in a plush sofa at Café Coffee Day sipping on traditional Indian coffee or a vegan shake (for all the health freaks) with some sizzling brownies. Or down a Caffé Mexicano with some chocolate excess cake at Barista.

Cheers to coffee, we say.