Namisha and Raghunath are a married couple who currently live in Mysore, India and run a company called Ārāmse.
We asked for a look into their personal life and their individual relationships with coffee. As well as this we asked about their many ventures, including a YouTube channel, products, their subscription service and plans for the future.
Namisha and Raghunath enjoying some time away from technology
“Everyone has a different story and relationship with coffee”
Neither Namisha or Raghunath have ever been a barista. In fact Namisha was in the financial market for a long time and Raghunath is a brand designer who has a passion for photography. Still, the couple loves coffee and drinks it daily.
“For me getting back to coffee was ceremonious”
However, Namisha hasn’t always had this connection to coffee. She explained to us how she saw coffee financially and as a commodity due to her background. This all changed when Namisha saw the people coffee affects and the forces that are at play in the industry. She decided not to drink coffee when she was pregnant and when her child was born and she really missed drinking coffee for those 18 months.
Namisha and Raghunath On Creating a YouTube Channel
Namisha and Raghunath created their channel Ārāmse in 2020 and currently have 7.4k subscribers and 183,000 views over 29 videos. Their goal for the channel is to make coffee more inclusive and help people brew better.’ Most of the content they create are reviews of coffee products. The process is to use a product very heavily for roughly two months to really test it for the review.
Namisha and Raghunath were not sure how Ārāmse would be received due to neither of them having experience as baristas. As we know, the coffee community is amazing and welcomed them with open arms.
“It’s like a creative endeavour where you have different opinions and create something together”
It was an interesting project for the two of them to take on due to their different backgrounds in finance and brand design. At the beginning of their relationship, they were making music together. This creativity has followed through into the YouTube channel and it has a uniqueness to it. However, they explained to us how they are constantly learning and experimenting with the channel. The big milestone is 10,000 followers on YouTube and they hope to surpass it this year but they told us they try not to think about numbers and to just enjoy what they do.
On the channel, they have been working with different brands to review products, including both products they bought themselves and ones that were sponsored. A few of the brands they have worked with include Flair Espresso, Nomad Coffee and UniTerra.
Raghunath brewing coffee
One of their aims is to be able to buy everything so they are unbiased. However, coffee equipment can be expensive so they are very grateful to the brands they have worked with, as it’s difficult to import coffee products in India. Ārāmse wants to be a place of collaboration and working with the community, so neither Namisha or Raghunath want to be seen as competitors.
“We’re not trying to pretend to be someone we’re not”
Challenges Namisha and Raghunath Have Faced
Starting Ārāmse, as Namisha described earlier, has taken a lot of figuring out. The both of them struggled at first to figure out a routine, especially with working from home. Interestingly enough, the aim was originally to be tech-free. The both of them ran half-day workshops around coffee and it was going well. Unfortunately, the fourth workshop had to be cancelled due to the pandemic, which totally changed their plans.
“If you don’t have any kind of distinction, you don’t know what day of the week it is”
An image from one of Namisha and Raghunath’s workshops
As with most of us throughout the pandemic, learning to work remotely has been difficult. They described how it’s difficult to find a balance between work and rest, especially as they have a child who they want to spend time with. They have also had challenges with their subscription service and coffee cups. Most of these issues are with shipping due to the prices and difficulties, so currently they are operating within India.
Namisha and Raghunath have created wonderful handmade coffee cups that they described as making you feel ‘grounded’ due to their weight. Each cup is individual due to them all being handmade. They hope to expand their products internationally and even have a plan to open a website app where you can make your own coffee recipes.
What the coffee industry is like in India
“There is a story to tell about Indian coffee”
Due to their home being in Mysore, Southern India, we asked them about the coffee industry there and how it’s different from the rest of the world.
India is only just opening up from its pandemic restrictions but a lot changed with coffee at this time. Due to the restrictions on imports, Indian citizens were required to drink and develop coffee within the country. Both of them are trying to shed light on Indian coffee and its positive attributes as much of the world consider it difficult to find or just doesn’t know about it. Much of Indian coffee is in random blends and people are completely unaware. South India has a long history of drinking coffee due to it being the location of coffee farms but in the north it is less popular. However, there has been an increase of specialty coffee in North India but with Ārāmse, Namisha and Raghunath would like to push this further.
Message to New Coffee YouTubers
We asked the two of them if they have any tips for those of you who have or want to start, a coffee YouTube channel.
“Don’t be afraid to hone in on your voice, what you’re trying to say and how you’re trying to say it”
One of the most important things they recommended is to plan and be consistent. They described how there is a lot of room in the coffee community for new creators and new content can increase the richness of the community. Raghunath recommended Brian Quan to us, another coffee YouTuber who he said has a distinctive style and an interesting perspective in regards to the science of coffee.
If you would like to learn more about Namisha and Raghunath you can find them on YouTube, their website and Instagram. You can view more of our Coffee Stories from around the globe here
