The best coffee in Hyderabad

What is it? A part café, part design statement anomaly that sits adjacent to the city’s beloved Durgam Cheruvu Lake, with robusta sourced from their 400-acre in Sakleshpura, Karnataka. 

Why we love it: Because it’s architect Naina Polavarapu’s brainchild, and it shows in the converted shed, tiered seating, and furniture made from fallen trees. The coffee, obviously, lives up to the interiors, with the robusta’s flavours coming out best in the Vietnamese Iced Coffee or the much more indulgent Salted Caramel Popcorn Frappe. Their food menu’s just as good – you can’t go wrong with Chimichurri Chicken Toast, the Bombay Masala Sandwich, the ‘Excellent’ Mezze Platter, and the New York Cheesecake, which, mercifully, stops short of being the overbaked mess you’d end up finding elsewhere. 

Time Out tip: LastHouse hosts a pretty eclectic range of events that range from pottery sessions to soap making workshops to pet adoption drives. Keep an eye on their socials so you don’t miss out – they do a fabulous job with their posters.

Price: ₹1,500-1,800 for two.

Timings: Daily. 8am-10pm.

Address: Adj. Durgam Cheruvu Road, Amar Co-Operative Society, Doctor's Colony, Madhapur, Hyderabad, Telangana 500033

What is it? One of the newer entrants on the Hyderabad coffee snob block, and far better suited to the term ‘coffee carnival’ over coffee shop, since it’s spread out over 60,000 square feet, with its very own private screening room, coffee knowledge room, and a mini restaurant with a private chef for hire. Oh, and a massive Loring S70 Peregrine Roaster, that can roast up to 70 kilograms of beans at a time. 

Why we love it: Their menu’s wildly inventive, sampled best through their cold brew platter, which comes with six different kinds of brews, including Tender Coconut and Apple Cinnamon Nitro. Great food to accompany great coffee: my picks are the Roast Breakfast, Penne Parmesan and Cream, or the cult-favourite Roast Jerk Chicken.

Price: ₹1,200-1,600 for two. 

Timings: Daily. 7am-1am.

Address: GAR, Laxmi Pinnacle, Venkat Nagar, Banjara Hills, Hyderabad, Telangana 500034

What is it? A coffee shop founded in 2022 that played a sizable role in turning the chai tide by introducing folks to stuff like espresso tonic and orange coffee. Hyderabadis also love the  ‘Japandi’ style interiors, which combine Japanese simplicity with Scandinavian warmth.

Why we love it: Because they do the more experimental things on their menu really well. The Valencia Orange Coffee’s a fresh take on a hot brew, and the Vanilla Cream Cold Brew’s surprisingly delicate and absent of the heavy handedness of most vanilla-based drinks. The Cranberry Cold Brew’s for the particularly adventurous. The food’s similarly high-quality – the Black Hummus Toast is the clear star, though the simpler avocado and chicken versions are equally well made. Their pastas are dependable too – but don’t load up, or you won’t have space for dessert. Their French Toast is marvellous.

Price: ₹1,500-2,000 for two.

Timings: Daily. 7am-11pm.

Address: Plot 1069/A, Road No. 45 Jubilee Hills, Nandagiri Hills, Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad, Telangana 500033

What is it? A two-level café that’s quickly become Gen Z’s new favourite place to hang out at. 

Why we love it: Daak’s Tote Bag Coffee has relegated latte art to a thing of the past. It’s served in a glass shaped like a tote, and the best part’s that the glass itself is reusable and washable. They also do an Iced Beerbutter Latte (an ode to the Harry Potter universe), which blends espresso with caramel, butter, and milk – many say it’s better than what you get at the Harry Potter Universal Studios. But the really decadent item on the menu has to be the Tissue Bread, which arrives in the form of 50 layers of buttery dough that peel apart like origami, served with both Nutella and pesto dips, making it a great café snack for groups that can’t decide between sweet or savoury.

Time Out tip: Pig out. Order the Tote Bag Coffee, tear into that Tissue Bread, and just take that Instagram picture if you really want to. Gen-Z doesn’t judge. 

Price: ₹1,200-1,500 for two.

Timings: Daily. 7am-12 midnight.

Address: Plot No: 1293, Road No. 63 A, Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad, Telangana 500033

What is it? An experiment that began out of founder Sooraj Toopalli’s garage back when the pandemic hit, and now a much loved neighbourhood gem in Jubilee Hills. 

Why we love it: Sometimes it’s a relief to open a menu and see stuff you recognise instead of spending ages decoding what each drink might entail. Toops keeps it simple with its cappuccinos, flat whites, cortados and cold brews, with oat and almond milk options, but features a wide variety of Indian-grown coffees from different estates – Ratnagiri Estate’s 80-Hour Fermented Naturals and Salawara Estate’s Anaerobic Ferment Honey, for instance. We also love it because it’s a great place to spot Tollywood stars, who often drop in for a quick takeaway when they’re on the move. 

Time Out tip: I know what I said about them doing simple stuff, but some of their experimental drinks are outstanding. The Mazagran, for instance, is a citrusy, tonic-topped cold brew made for summer.

Price: ₹800-1,000 for two.

Timings: Daily. 7am-8.30pm.

Address: Plot no, 1316/A, Rd Number 66, Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad, Telangana 500033

What is it? A leafy haven in a quiet cul-de-sac in Jubilee Hills, spread over 1,500 square feet and much loved by laptop-wielding professionals.

Why we love it: Black Fuel sources all their coffee from smallholding farms in Araku in Andhra Pradesh, making it a sustainable venture that supports small businesses. The quality shows up in all the classics, like their cappuccinos and mochas, but also in signature drinks like the Black Coconut and Black Orange. Food-wise, the Pesto Breakfast Open Toast and Almond Toast are your best brunch-time bets, Bakery items like their croissants and chocolate cake do the trick for dessert. 

Time Out tip: Watch out for curated art exhibitions hosted regularly at their lovely premises. Their socials update regularly. 

Price: ₹1,200-1,500 for two.

Timings: Daily. 8am-9pm.

Address: 114/A, Road Number 10, Sravanthi Nagar, ICRISAT Colony, Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad, Telangana 500045

What is it? The word karaf, in Arabic, means the vessel used to serve coffee. The folks at Karafa’ve make sure their vessel’s got the very best – the café serves coffee that’s sourced from around the world, including estates in Africa and Asia.  

Why we love it: Because they’re playful with their coffee. The Nitro Brew’s silky but bold, and the Cheese Coffee sounds awful but tastes delicious – it combines the creamy savouriness of cheese with the robustness of the roast perfectly. They also do a Coffee Mojito that, again, shouldn’t work, but does. The founder, Ajita Challa, says that if you pay attention, the beans taste subtly different. The Ethiopian ones, she says, are slightly fruity or flora, while the South American ones pack a more intense flavour.

The food, actually, almost outshines the coffee – their classic butter croissant’s light and fluffy, their Pistachio White Chocolate Cookie’s perfectly nutty and not too sweet, and the Hummus Toast is the perfect Sunday afternoon meal. All their chocolate-based desserts, by the way, are made from Indian chocolate, all sourced from the Godavari area in Andhra Pradesh. 

Time Out tip: The best time to visit is late mornings and late evenings. Mealtimes in the day are taken over by ladies who lunch. And they lunch very seriously. 

Price: ₹1,500-2,000 for two.

Timings: Daily. 7am-11pm.

Address: Plot no 1182, Road No. 45 Jubilee Hills, Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad, Telangana 500033

What is it? A design-first coffee shop that has a massive outdoor space featuring lots of sunlight, husk-covered canopies, and murals on the wall. 

Why we love it: Their menu’s huge, with over 72 coffee options. That may feel hard to navigate for folks who feel overwhelmed by choice, so here are my favourites – the Pistachio Cappuccino, which feels mildly reminiscent of mithai, and the Whipped Tiramisu Latte, which, to be fair, comes closer to dessert. Food-wise, the Ema Datshi Rice Bowl is very popular, and comes close to the Bhutanese original, with the cheese-to-spice ratio done perfectly. They also do a Green Velvet Crunch Toast, which marries two breakfast classics: avocado and berries.

Time Out tip: They’ve got tons of board games so this is a great café to kill time at. 

Price: ₹1,200-1,500 for two.

Timings: Daily. 7.30am-12 midnight. 

Address: Tan Coffee, near Hitech City Flyover, Siddhi Vinayak Nagar, Madhapur, Hyderabad, Telangana 500081

What is it? A great place to taste single-origin coffee sourced from their very own 148-acre estate in Madikeri, Coorg. 

Why go? Their food menu veers more towards spins on Indian classics instead of going down the typical Italian-American route. Granted, they’ve got their smoothie bowls, but they’ve also got crispy chicken cutlets, as well as an homage to the classic Kolkata Singara. They do brilliant cutlet sandwiches as well – the vegetarian one is sort of better than the chicken version, if you ask me. Even the coffee does a good job of advocating for Indian flavours – the Gondhoraj Cold Brew does it best by marrying Bengal’s famous Gondhoraj lime to the single-estate Arabica Queen of Madikeri.

Time Out tip: The owner, Sarita Sarkar, has a knack for recommending coffee if you’re confused.

Price: ₹1,000-1,500 for two.

Timings: Daily. 7am-9pm.

Address: 1227 Road, 62A, Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad, Telangana 500033