Bengaluru eateries raise tea and coffee prices by ₹3 to ₹5

The latest increases follow another round of tea and coffee price rises just a couple of months earlier, amid higher LPG prices and concerns about gas availability. Darshinis and other small eateries serve customers who visit for daily meals as well as drinks, including workers, students and people living apart from their families.

In a statement dated October 29, the Bengaluru Hotels Association said hotels would struggle to absorb the additional milk costs without adjusting their menus. The association said an increase of ₹2–3 a litre would not have required higher charges for tea, coffee or snacks. With the larger rise, it said, hotels would need to charge more for food and beverages prepared with milk.

PC Rao, the association’s president, said consumers were bearing a further burden as hotels passed on their higher costs. He also said ghee, butter, paneer and cheese might become more expensive. Supplies of ghee were already arriving irregularly, according to Rao.

Sharath K, a photographer and theatre artist, said tea and coffee helped him and his colleagues through irregular working hours, particularly during events and gigs. Following the earlier price increase this year, they had started splitting a single cup between two people. At ₹25 a cup, he said, buying several drinks over a working day had become harder to afford, and even a coffee break now required thought about the expense.

Chethan KM, who works in technology, said he normally drank coffee at least twice daily. Living away from his family, he relied on darshinis for most meals and beverages. He said ₹25 no longer seemed worthwhile for an ordinary coffee and was considering black coffee or black tea as cheaper, more convenient choices. In his view, those options could also be healthier, depending on the quantities of milk and sugar consumed.

Engineering student Pavan D said students bought repeated rounds of tea and coffee to remain awake while preparing for examinations, completing assignments and meeting project deadlines. On some days, he said, the drinks accounted for almost everything they consumed as they worked through their academic workload.

Pavan said the increases extended beyond darshinis to neighbourhood petty shops, where tea and coffee prices had also gone up by ₹5. For students purchasing several cups each day, he said, the extra charge accumulated into a noticeable expense. He described the change as an inconvenience during periods when coursework and examinations kept demand for those drinks high.