NATIONAL: Cothas Coffee Co., the Bengaluru-rooted filter coffee house that has been part of South India’s mornings since 1949, has been awarded the Legacy Continuity Award at the FKCCI MSME Excellence Awards 2026. The honour celebrates a rare achievement in Indian enterprise — three generations of unbroken craft, carried forward without ever losing the taste, warmth and trust that founder Sri Krishnaiah Chetty built the name on more than seven decades ago.
The award was presented by the Union Minister of State for MSME Smt. Shobha Karandlaje and former Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister Dr. C.N. Ashwath Narayan at the FKCCI MSME Excellence Awards 2026 — Industry’s flagship platform recognising the state’s most distinguished micro, small and medium enterprises.
Cothas Coffee Co. began in 1949, when Sri Krishnaiah Chetty set out to make a filter coffee so consistent that families would come to know it by its aroma alone. Seventy-seven years on, that promise is kept the same way it always has been — with beans sourced from the estates of Kodagu and Chikmagalur, the heart of Karnataka’s coffee country, and roasted and blended at the company’s 1,00,000 sq ft manufacturing facility in Jigani, on the outskirts of Bengaluru.
Today, Cothas Coffee Co. serves customers through more than 75 company-owned (COCO) stores, general and modern trade, quick commerce and its own retail network, with a product range spanning filter coffee powder, decoctions, instant coffee and cold beverages. Its Liqcaf vending machine business brings freshly brewed coffee, extending the brand into the everyday spaces where people pause for a cup.
“When Sri Krishnaiah Chetty founded Cothas Coffee Co. in 1949, his idea was simple— an honest cup of filter coffee, made with care and offered with warmth. Seventy-seven years and three generations later, that idea is still what gets us going. We are deeply honoured by the Legacy Continuity Award, but we do not see it as ours alone. It belongs to our founder, to the growers in Kodagu and Chikmagalur who have stood with us for decades, and above all to the millions of families who have made Cothas a part of their daily ritual. Their trust is the real legacy we are continuing,” said C.K. Sreenathan, Chairman, Cothas Coffee Co.
“Inheriting a 77-year-old name teaches you that tradition is not preserved by keeping it under glass — it stays alive only when it stays relevant. The filter coffee in the cup is exactly what it has always been. What has changed is how we put it in your hands: a fresh pack delivered through quick commerce in minutes, a familiar taste reaching an Indian household in Toronto or Dubai, a freshly brewed cup from a Liqcaf machine in between office meetings or a cold beverage that carries the same Cothas soul in a form the next generation reaches for. Honouring where we come from while meeting the next generation where they are — that is the balance this award recognises, and the one we hold ourselves to,” said C.S. Nitin, Managing Partner, Cothas Coffee Co., (representing the third generation of the family business.)
The brand carries the taste of South India well beyond its shores. Cothas Coffee Co. exports to the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, the UAE and Malaysia, keeping the global Indian diaspora connected to a flavour that, for many, simply tastes like home. For Cothas Coffee Co., the Legacy Continuity Award is not just a recognition but a reminder to keep three generations of craft alive in every cup, for the generations still to be served.
