The Journey
(This is a note written by Pallav Haria, Founder)
I was an Exchange student Living in Sao Paulo, Brazil (2013-14). I had just finished schooling and had travelled there to live their life, to learn about their culture. It was exciting, and I had no idea what was in store for me. Before Brazil, I had never really had coffee. There definitely was some instant coffee involved, but it wasn’t until I lived there that I discovered the taste of real coffee. My friends and I would sit in the backyard drinking brewed coffee from an electric drip machine and just sit there for a couple of hours, connecting. We would fill our tumblers, and go for a walk to a park or sit by the lake. The coffee was just magical, but to be honest it was those moments surrounding coffee that I fell in love with. Coffee is romantic.
In 2017 I travelled to Mexico to meet up with my friends from Brazil. It was a short trip. I had planned to go visit friends in multiple cities for about 2 months. During this travel, I fell in love with a city called Merida. It is a colonial city located in Yucatan, about Three hours from Tulum. Conde Nast also named it the most beautiful small city in the world. So when I was leaving, I promised myself to go back there. So after 8 months, I moved. I got a nice little house with a huge front yard, a mini windmill and a dog. I lived there for a year doing a few jobs, while also working at a cafe called Estacion 72. While I was working there I learnt a lot about the basics of coffee. The basics of roasting and brewing. I learnt a lot by talking to people, local roasters who would bring their coffees to the cafe and being trained by a professional. It was during this time when I had a clear goal of what I wanted to do ahead.
In 2019 I came back to India. Very soon after that, I started moving around the country visiting farms, roasters and talking to and being trained by professionals in the industry and from the coffee board of India. I started reading books and blogs about coffee. It took me two years to have a final and a clear path in my head to start Tulum. I was sure and secure of what and how I wanted to do it. And I can say it with pride that I am a coffee roaster now, and the founder of Tulum Coffee.