Nothing can stop coffee

While most people are willing to curb their consumption practices during a pandemic, the one pleasure that many like to hold onto is a daily cup of well-brewed coffee. “Nothing can stop coffee,” says Marc from Marc’s Coffee, “not even Covid 19.” This enduring popularity of coffee consumption means that Marc’s Coffee – one of Auroville’s fastest growing units in recent years has had to significantly reconfigure its operations in order to meet the demand under such changed circumstances. 

Marc describes the lockdown as a “very interesting and inspiring time” for him, while acknowledging it’s been difficult for many people. “It’s like a pinch of salt has been applied,” he says of life under the pandemic, “but it gets a little too salty sometimes.” While the ongoing uncertainty has been challenging, it has prompted him to explore new revenues for income. 

When the pandemic arrived in March, the unit had three cafés. Marc’s first step was to close the café on Pondicherry’s beachfront, which relied almost completely on tourism, something which vanished under the lockdown. The turnover at Dreamer’s Café in the Visitors’ Centre dropped by 95 percent, but Marc felt it was important to keep it open as a service to the community. The third café, in nearby Kuilaipalyam, was in the process of shifting to a new “fully fledged” space 50 metres up the road when the lockdown struck, so Marc viewed this as a useful time to move equipment and set up the new space without the presence of customers. It is now experiencing healthy trade, which Marc links to the notion that a café visit takes on a  “special” quality in times when people are still cautious about venturing out in public. “Aurovilians want to see something new, see people and have a good time after four months of lockdown,” says Marc. 

The two cafes have implemented certain measures, such as spacing tables further apart, providing a hand sanitiser and a reminder to wear masks, and cashless transactions. While most of this has gone smoothly, Marc says the most difficult aspect has been those few customers who “don’t want to follow the simple rule” of wearing a mask to order at the counter.  “There’s the random rabbit who says ‘It’s a conspiracy theory and it removes my freedom as an individual’. And I say ‘I’m not here to argue, these are the rules to come inside. If you don’t want to wear a mask, order through the terrace.’ I think this is very selfish behaviour. They see us all wearing a mask for eight hours a day, and they can’t even wear a mask for one minute to place an order.” Marc says the “bold move” of stopping cash transactions in the café has made his staff “very happy” as it reduced their anxiety about handling cash that had already passed through many hands. “If we accept money, we need to dedicate one person to it, who uses gloves and sanitizer – it’s a headache.” Customers have now adapted to this method, appreciating its ease and the reduced risk of viral transmission.

The most significant difference for Marc’s unit is the increased interest throughout India from people who want to brew good coffee at home, and who go online and find Marc’s website. This has led to a 100 percent increase in online sales of his own coffee brand (his ‘roastery’), and the unit dispatches many parcels via a courier at the end of each workday. 

The website is able to determine postcodes that are under lockdown, in which case customers are then informed that they’ll receive their order as soon as postal restrictions are lifted in their area.  

To meet the increased interest for knowledge about brewing good coffee at home, Marc conducts regular online classes for groups of ten people. These are promoted on Instagram and provide an extra source of income.  

Branding through ‘experiences’

Marc sees his brand as selling “the experience of coffee” rather than just coffee itself, and he talks about the importance of promoting sustainable values. “People are curious to know: What is the impact of this cup of coffee that we drink every morning?,” he says. “ It’s important for people to know that our brand stands for something, has a vision and clear commitment. If you know where the coffee’s been grown, know the farmer and you know the story, that experience becomes multiplied many times. It’s no longer just a simple sensorial experience of ‘Oh, it tastes good and is waking me up’.” 

For people who want to become coffee professionals or to participate further in the making of the brand, Marc offers a nine-month internship that allows them to come and learn all aspects of the trade. The 900 hours internship includes visits to the coffee plantations in south India from where Marc sources his coffee, so that students can meet the farmers and learn about organic growing techniques and environmental issues. “We are very close to the farmers, we stay there and have conversations as we’re all passionate about producing better coffee.” Students also learn processing, roasting (using an ‘advanced’ Bluetooth roasting tool) and blending techniques. And, of course, the interns learn how to work a coffee machine and create a conducive café atmosphere. Marc views these internships as a part of Auroville’s focus on integral learning, and encourages interns to explore other aspects of Auroville. He plans to eventually open a coffee school to address the shortage of such schools in India and globally, by offering a space where students can “learn everything about coffee”. 

In the coming months, Marc aims to strengthen the unit’s online business, and is currently redesigning the website so that ordering can be faster and “more intuitive”. The revamped site will ask the customer a couple of questions about their coffee preferences and then suggest a coffee type, reducing the customer’s ordering process down to two clicks. The website will also offer brewing equipment and master classes. 

Re-thinking Auroville’s economy for the future

While Marc emphasises that Auroville’s resilience and capacity to self-organise in times of disaster has supported the community well through the pandemic, he argues that it’s important the community reflect on its “addiction to tourism”. 

 “At the moment we open the doors every day to whoever wants to come, and we have no means of influencing who comes, which is a big mistake. It’s becoming like Disneyworld – a huge amount of people coming just to take a selfie with Matrimandir and go. The rivers of people coming spend an average of Rs100 each. We don’t charge entry, yet we spend so much on pathways and watchmen and it’s very hard to maintain the crowds as they start roaming around and get lost, and drop plastic garbage and waste water. It’s not smart for us to provide all these resources just for people to take selfies. And the five percent of visitors who are genuinely interested in Auroville go away disappointed because they haven’t understood and no one has answered their questions, so the experience can create the opposite effect intended.” 

He says that this superficial engagement with Auroville also applies to guests who come for a quick weekend visit, which is contrary to the “original” idea that people genuinely interested in Auroville should come and stay for a couple of weeks and enroll in a programme that is a “learning experience”. He argues that such short-term guests generally don’t have the kind of motivation that Auroville should entertain. “They’re only interested to be in a nice guesthouse where they see foreigners around, or to go to the beach or to Pondy and get drunk because alcohol is cheap there. I’m sorry, if this is the base of our economy – I’d rather be broke than rich.” 

Marc suggests that Auroville should aim to attract “more genuinely interested” people, who stay longer to learn about the community. He proposes limiting the number of day visitors, by making it mandatory for them to make an advance online booking for particular time slots. The Visitors’ Centre  ideally would not accept cash payments, but cash could be exchanged for coupons upon entry for those people without cards. “It should be a completely cashless experience, so that guests understand that we have a local circular economy: what they spend will go back into the Auroville economy and everyone benefits.” 

The main focus of Auroville’s tourism, Marc argues, should shift to guests who book in advance for a curated “experience” of Auroville, which could last for one or two weeks – with one week being the minimum duration permitted. The experiences could be curated according to different themes – such as farming, architecture, design, music, afforestation, new technologies, cooking. “I don’t even call it tourism,” says Marc, “I call it learning.” Marc emphasises that this approach not only makes good economic sense, with such guests spending more than the average day visitor; it is also “more faithful” to Auroville’s aims. 

“So, we should take fewer people, have better programmes, generate more money for the right channels of Auroville’s economy, and give employment to Aurovilians and local people. The outcome would be that guests will have a very good experience of Auroville, and will recommend it to other people as a place to change gear and change perspectives.”

Auroville’s dependency on outside funding is problematic for Marc, and he advocates finding other ways to generate prosperity in the community. In particular, he proposes the establishment of a corpus or investment fund in Auroville. Community members with reserves could invest in the fund, which will be disbursed to help certain units or community projects to grow. He hopes this will appeal to Aurovilians who currently have money in fixed deposits in outside banks, who could instead “invest in Auroville” through the fund, and get their investment back with interest. Marc emphasises that the fund should be professionally run so that participants will have confidence that their investment will be safe. “We need to be more economically self-sufficient,” he says. “With a fund like this, we can see money as energy that flows, rather than energy that stays stagnant in fixed deposits. The Mother’s idea was that money should be an energy or a tool, and not an end, so we need to reflect internally about this.”