Coffee cubism

To make a cup of coffee, all one needs to do is drop the cube in hot or cold water or milk

Online shopping is a rabbit hole, and when an ad on instant coffee cubes by Bevzilla pops up, we stop scrolling. We opt for an assorted flavours pack of 10 cubes and six flavours (Rs 349) without reading much into the-what's-in-it. When it is delivered, we see it has zero refined sugar, is already packed with date palm jaggery, and is rich in iron, calcium and vitamins. To add to that, only 27 calories.

Divisha Chaudhry and Anurag Chhabra

We've got six flavours to try: classic, hazelnut, Belgian chocolate, creamy vanilla and Irish cream. Each cube has 10 mg of caffeine. Being a hardcore sugar-free, black-coffee drinker, we begin with a cup of the classic. With no milk, the coffee doesn't taste that great. Being used to consuming freshly roasted coffee beans, this expectedly lets us down. "You're getting it wrong," a friend who is not snooty about their drink, points out, adding, "Drink it with milk, and give the coffee a chance." And we blend two hot cups of hazelnut and Irish coffee flavours. That is when the cubes come alive. The Irish cream wins a nod, and has a lasting finish on the palate. The hazelnut one has a good balance of sweet and nuttiness. We are happy that the intense taste of refined sugar is cut out with date palm jaggery.

After the anonymous taste test, we reach out to the Delhi-based friends Divisha Chaudhry, 25, and Anurag Chhabra, 24, who started Bevzilla in 2020. The idea, Chaudhry tells us during a phone conversation, was to create a product that consumers could order and enjoy at home. "India is a tea-drinking country that has given rise to a big community of coffee drinkers. Instant coffee has transformed in the past few years with many options in gourmet and flavoured coffees. We identified a coffee bean farmer in Chikmagalur, Karnataka, and started our journey," Chaudhry explains.

Later, we also try a free iced tea pack that has come with our order. With the harsh Mumbai summer stealthily creeping upon us, we make a chilled glass one afternoon. Not overtly sweet, and refreshing, it's a pantry keeper. Coming up next are milkshake cubes that the duo is pretty excited about. The coffee cubes are a fun format for instant coffee drinkers. We wonder if they have options for people who don't like to sweeten their coffee at all, and Chaudhry has good news: "We're coming up with a no-added-sugar version, too."

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