Quitting his job took Rishwin Devaya back to his roots. Devaya returned to his century-old family coffee estate in Coorg to build his coffee brand, Riverside Coffee. The brand went from selling its coffee beans to commodity markets and exporters to selling directly to consumers (D2C). Today, Riverside Coffee generates ₹2 crore in annual revenue, growing 30% year-on-year.
Fifth-generation family coffee estate's revival
Riverside Coffee began in 1898 with Devaya's great-great-grandfather, who moved to a part of the family's larger estate in Coorg, Karnataka, to look after its paddy fields. A disagreement with his brother led him to settle at the farthest end of the property, Devaya shared during a chat with Livemint.
Introducing D2C model
Keeping coffee at the centre of the business, Devaya's ambition was to change how their family business was operating. Having worked in the wine industry, he had seen how growers could build a brand around their own produce rather than selling it to someone else in the supply chain.
“I remember looking at that model and thinking: we already have our own coffee estate, so why couldn't we do the same with coffee?” he said.
Beyond cultivation, he wanted to get involved in processing, roasting, branding, and selling the final product. Devaya explored what he described as an estate-to-cup model, drawing inspiration from the vineyard-to-bottle approach.
Initial challenges
The transition meant moving away from a foolproof and predictable business model.
Building a consumer-facing brand required significant investments in infrastructure, processing, and marketing, but with no guaranteed return.
“My father still occasionally asks the very practical question: ‘If we can sell this coffee today and know exactly what we'll earn, why are we holding it back?’” Devaya said.
Currently, the brand is offering its products through direct sales, wholesale and online retail, alongside a quaint café and visitor experiences at the estate.
Selling directly to cafés and consumers comes with its own challenges. Buyers may have different taste preferences, budgets, equipment and brewing methods. To compete in today's growing coffee market in India, one needs to do much more than just marketing, he said.
“A bean can taste completely different depending on the machine, grind, water, recipe or brewing method,” Devaya said. “If something is not tasting right at a café, you cannot simply say, ‘the coffee is good’," he explained. To solve this problem, the company likes to educate buyers about coffee varieties, brewing techniques and flavour profiles. It has also explored Excelsa, adding it to a sampler alongside Arabica and Robusta in this journey.
Revenue breakup
Devaya reveals that roughly 58% of the business's monthly revenue comes directly from coffee sales, while the remaining 42% comes from other channels including wholesale, retail, cafe sales, estate experiences and miscellaneous sources. online retail another 17%.
“Our intention was to see how much more of the value around the coffee the estate itself could participate in.”
Effects of climate change
Like other coffee growers, Riverside is also dealing with increasingly unpredictable weather in the country. The estate experienced a rainfall shortage this year, following near-ideal conditions last year and excessive rain the year before.
“Coffee is an extremely sensitive crop. Too much rain can be a problem, too little rain can be a problem; the same applies to heat and sunlight,” the fifth-generation owner said.
“What worries me most is not simply that the climate is getting warmer; it is that the seasons we once relied on are becoming harder to rely on,” he said.
For now, the brand remains focused on investing in marketing and distribution rather than expanding through physical locations, he concluded.
About the Author
Sneha Biswas
Sneha Biswas specialises in covering entertainment and pop culture, with a specialisation on Bollywood, Hollywood, OTT platforms, K-pop, K-dramas, and major developments in the US entertainment industry. She believes in telling stories that balance speed with substance, and in making entertainment journalism contextual, culturally aware, and reader-first rather than purely reactive.<br><br> With over six years of experience in digital media, Sneha currently serves as a Deputy Chief Content Producer at Live Mint. She has spent more than three and a half years with the HT Group and returned to the organisation in February 2025, joining Live Mint to uplift the entertainment section. Over the past year, she has been closely involved in entertainment coverage including breaking news, explainers, trend reporting, box office reports and analysis for the audience.<br><br> Sneha is Google News certified, having completed training focused on newsroom best practices, digital reporting, and SEO-driven content strategies. Her work reflects a strong understanding of audience behaviour, search trends, and the evolving consumption patterns of entertainment news across formats.<br><br> Prior to her current role, Sneha has worked across multiple content and editorial functions within digital newsrooms, building expertise in content planning, editing, and real-time coverage. Her professional interests lie at the intersection of entertainment, internet culture, and global pop trends.<br><br> Working for the National city team, Biswas closely follows global entertainment movements while maintaining a strong pulse on what is happening in India.