Indian Specialty Coffee Comes Full Circle at Pi’s Coffee in Richmond

The new Pi’s Coffee shop and roastery in downtown Richmond, Virginia. All images courtesy of Pi’s Coffee.

In downtown Richmond, Virginia, Pi’s Coffee is hoping to become a new constant for coffee drinkers with its new roastery cafe featuring Indian specialty coffee. 

Founded by Piyush “Pi” Jessani, Pi’s Coffee expanded from its blue-and-white mobile truck into its first brick-and-mortar cafe on June 24. The 1,800-square-foot storefront in Richmond’s Monroe Ward Historic District carries the same blue-and-white palette onto its century-old facade.

At the bar, a Nuova Simonelli Appia compact espresso machine paired with a Fiorenzato F64 Evo Pro espresso grinder supports drinks including the Gulab Jamun latte, flavored with cardamom and rose, and a shaken Thundai Latte with almond and spices.

Jessani also uses the espresso machine to replicate South Indian-style filter coffee brews. All Pi’s Coffee brews are based exclusively on specialty coffees grown in India and roasted by Jessani on a 5-kilo-capacity Coffee-Tech Engineering shop roaster at the back of the cafe. Green arabica and robusta coffees come primarily from importer South India Coffee Company.

“I wanted my cafe to feature coffee only from India, cutting out a niche for my business,” Piyush Jessani told Daily Coffee News. “I’m working on trying to build and foster connections with more importers and would love to do more to bring more attention to my home.”

Jessani moved to the United States with his family from Bengaluru at age 7 and later studied engineering. During the COVID-19 pandemic, green coffee included in a care package sent to his mother from India sparked a home-roasting hobby that grew into a business.

Jessani’s approach to barista craft and coffee-based flavor combinations has been informed by his previous work as a bartender, which involved wine tasting and mixology. He later sold coffee and drinks at farmers markets and pop-ups before adding the mobile truck. On March 14 of this year, Pi Day, he announced plans for the downtown cafe.

“I was able to foster an appreciation for wines and learned how to pick up on the notes and the delicate nature of that flavor, which helped me in learning how to differentiate in the natural flavors of coffee,” Jessani said. “It allowed me to be able to see coffee in a different way, providing a new and unique approach to my specials menu.”

Pi’s also serves an Indian food menu developed in part with Khushbu, the catering business owned by Jessani’s mother, Kajal “Kay” Jessani. Pi’s makes sandwiches including a chicken tikka grilled cheese and Bombay Aloo panini in-house, while Khushbu supplies dishes including chana masala and saag paneer.

“We’re trying to make our cafe feel like a home. Beyond that, we want to introduce more of my country and story to Richmond, Virginia,” Pi said. “I want to try and feature as many coffee farms as I can and perhaps work my way into the rich wine culture in India too. I don’t know where we will go, but I know that I’ll have fun doing it.”

Pi’s Coffee is located at 123 E. Main St. in Richmond.

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