Mysore’s Royal Family Enters the Coffee Game with Berunda

Mysore royals launch Berunda Coffee: why travellers should care

The erstwhile royal family of Mysore has stepped into the coffee business with a new brand called Berunda Coffee, built around a chicory‑free specialty range. For travellers, it’s another reason to pause in Mysuru, not just for the palace and silk, but to taste how Karnataka’s coffee story is evolving.

While details like pricing and retail locations are still emerging, the launch signals something bigger: a historic household putting its name behind what it sees as a premium, purist coffee experience. If you plan to travel through Karnataka’s coffee belt or spend time in Mysuru, this is the kind of small shift that changes what you drink, where you stop, and what you carry home.

From filter coffee to specialty: what’s new here

South Indian filter coffee is famously strong, sweet, and usually blended with chicory to boost body and bitterness. Berunda Coffee is pitching itself as chicory‑free specialty coffee, closer to what you’d find in third‑wave cafes than in a traditional darshini.

For travellers used to classic hotel filter coffee, that means a different flavour profile: more of the bean, less of the additive. Expect clearer notes, lighter body, and a focus on origin and roast, similar to what specialty growers in the Himalayas are doing in Sikkim’s new coffee district.

The Mysore connection: heritage and the two‑headed bird

The brand name nods to the Gandabherunda, the mythical two‑headed bird that’s been the emblem of the Kingdom of Mysore and now appears in modern Karnataka state symbols. Berunda Coffee leans into that visual heritage, tying its packaging and identity to a long local story rather than an invented backstory.

For visitors, this makes the coffee a kind of edible souvenir of Mysore’s royal past: less overtly touristy than palace keychains, but carrying the same crest and myth. It also fits into a broader pattern of legacy families and institutions attaching their names to contemporary food and drink brands, banking on heritage as a marker of quality.

Karnataka’s coffee belt: where the beans come from

Karnataka is India’s coffee powerhouse; regions like Coorg, Chikkamagaluru and Hassan together produce a major share of the country’s beans. While the Berunda Coffee announcement doesn’t spell out exact estates, it would be surprising if the sourcing didn’t lean heavily on these hills.

If you’re planning a road trip from Bengaluru to Mysuru and onwards to Coorg or Chikkamagaluru, this brand becomes another waypoint on the map. Taste a royal‑backed roast in the city, then trace it back to the plantations, homestays and estate tours further west.

What this means for your Mysuru itinerary

For now, think of Berunda Coffee as:

• A new café or retail stop if you enjoy specialty coffee and want something rooted in local culture.
• A gifting option with a recognisable name and backstory for friends and family back home.
• A conversation starter with hosts, guides and drivers about how Karnataka’s coffee scene is changing.

Mysuru has long been a stepping‑stone city rather than the final destination, especially for people hurrying on to Coorg. A branded specialty coffee linked to the royal family nudges it closer to being a place where you linger—over a cup, not just over a quick palace tour.

Specialty coffee and Indian travel: a quiet shift

Across India, coffee is moving from commodity to character. From Sikkim’s experiments with Himalayan terrain we wrote about earlier to curated roasters in cities like Bengaluru, travellers are suddenly spoiled for choice.

For Indian travellers who once looked to Italy or Melbourne for “real coffee”, it’s now possible to build entire days around tastings, roastery visits, and farm stays at home. This sits neatly alongside a broader trend of experience‑driven and premium travel we’ve tracked among affluent travellers.

How to fold Berunda Coffee into your trip

Until more is known about physical outlets and online ordering, a few practical ideas:

• Ask locally in Mysuru: hotel staff, auto drivers, and café workers will quickly know where Berunda Coffee is stocked or served.
• Watch for it in premium stores in Karnataka’s bigger cities, especially Bengaluru and Mysuru, around the gourmet sections.
• Think beyond the souvenir shop: sometimes the better experience is in a small roastery or café that has tied up with the brand, rather than at a palace‑adjacent counter.

If Berunda Coffee leans into tastings, tours, or storytelling events, it could become a minor attraction in itself—one more stop on a southern Indian circuit that already takes in palaces, hills, and homestay verandas lined with drying beans.

For coffee‑first travellers: a route worth mapping

If your travel style is organised around what you eat and drink, Mysuru just gained a new pin on the coffee map. You can now imagine an arc that runs from Bengaluru’s café scene, down to Mysore’s royal‑branded brews, and then into the shaded plantations of Coorg and Chikkamagaluru.

For everyone else, Berunda Coffee is a reminder that destinations are changing in small but telling ways. Sometimes what’s new in a city isn’t a massive attraction or a mega‑event, but a cup of coffee carrying a very old crest, poured in a very familiar steel tumbler.