Roast CCX

What’s immediately clear about an institution called Roast Coffee Culinary Xperience (shortened, mercifully, to Roast CCX) is that it’s made by coffee snobs for coffee snobs. How could it not? It’s a mindboggling 60,000 square feet of coffee territory. And that’s shocking, given that it’s located in the prime neighbourhood of Banjara Hills. 

You can rightly imagine that there’s no chance in hell Roast CCX would draw the line at just serving coffee. Nope – the place can house up to 500 people at a time. It’s got a private screening room, a coffee lab for nerds who know what crema and bloom ratios are, and even a hire-your-own-chef setup for intimate dinner parties. It’s an obnoxious Disneyland for grown-ups who love coffee, spread across multiple levels, both indoors and outdoors. 

What’s really surprising, then, is that for all its fancifulness, the heart of Roast CCX is really quite simple: to serve good coffee. And they pull it off with a beautiful, respectable consistency. The proof’s in the pudding: usual suspects like cappuccinos, cortados, espressos and lattes are faultless, and the inventive stuff on the menu tastes like time and effort went into them. Take the Lotus Biscoff Latte, which is a great entry point for starters. It’s subtly crunchy, the caramelly spiciness of the biscuits is blended to a perfect consistency, and the best part’s that it isn’t overly sweet. The cold brews are genuinely fantastic: I’d get the Tender Coconut, Bailey’s Irish Cream, and Apple Cinnamon Nitro variants if I were you.

The coffee’s great because of Roast CCX’s not-so-secret secret: a Loring S70 Peregrine. In fact, it’s far from a secret. It’s their pride and joy, and it ought to be – it’s a gleaming machine that gleams like a freshly-polished spacecraft ready for launch, and manages to roast up to 70 kilograms of coffee in a single session while cutting carbon emissions by 80%. It’s probably the reason why the coffee tastes like it does: clean, balanced, genuinely alive. 

Food-wise, the menu’s a globe-trotting venture with over 600 items that, at first glance, may prompt panic. I’d say the Roast Breakfast’s a fan favourite. Other safe, dependable, and rather delicious items include the Penne Parmesan & Cream Pasta, the Avocado Toast, and the Roast Jerk Chicken. Their bakery’s got some standout items as well – especially the Viral Pistachio Kunafa Tub. Even the Biscoff Tres Leches and the tiramisu are enough to guarantee a second visit. 

Good to know 

That the space is riding the matcha wave with ten inventive drinks and desserts made from AAA-grade Japanese ceremonial matcha. The dairy-free Strawberry Matcha and the Matcha Lemonade are particularly good.