Manan, founder of Grindmine, in the tan leather apron
The Story · Since 2024

Coffee for the moments worth remembering. that’s the whole job.

Grindmine started in 2024 because every wedding had bad coffee. Two years later, we’ve poured at 200+ events, taught 380+ alumni how to brew, and helped 12 cafes rewrite their menus. The bar still travels in the back of the same Mahindra.

Founded 2024 · Chandigarh 200+ events · 12,000+ cups 5-person crew · one Mahindra
0
Events poured
Across Tricity, Punjab, Delhi NCR · since Jan 2024
0
Cups hand-poured
Weddings, corporates, Brew Dates, pop-ups
0
Brew Date alumni
87 Sunday workshops · 4.9★ avg rating
0
Cafes upgraded
3-recipe pilot · 30-day refund promise kept
01 · The story

It started with one bad wedding coffee.

Sec 17, December 2023. Manan was at a friend’s wedding. The coffee, on a freezing Chandigarh night, was instant. Lukewarm. Powdered milk. He went home, set up an espresso machine on a folding table, and three months later he was pouring at his own cousin’s reception.

Manan with a guest at a live coffee bar
Manan · founder · at every event

The Manan version.

Manan didn’t want a cafe. He’d worked in one, briefly, in Bangalore — long hours, thin margins, nothing personal. What he wanted was the coffee to be the experience: hand-poured, beginner-friendly, warm enough that a Punjabi uncle who hates espresso would still try a cortado.

So Grindmine is the opposite of a cafe. The bar travels. The barista is always Manan. The menu changes per event. The cup is always the same Ikkis-roasted bean. Two years in, the apron’s the same tan leather it started as — a little more scarred.

WhatsApp Manan
02 · Milestones

Two years. Seven moments that built the brand.

  1. Jan 2024

    The first wedding

    120 cups at a cousin’s reception in Mohali. Manan and one assistant. Folding table, one espresso machine, hand-cranked grinder. The bar paid for itself in cups by 11pm.

  2. Apr 2024

    The Ikkis handshake

    Joint roast profile built with Ikkis Coffee Roasters — the same bean for the wedding cup, the cafe pilot, and the home kit. Co-brand has been on every bag since.

  3. Aug 2024

    The first Brew Date

    8 guests in the Sec 7 studio. Two hours, three brews, one recipe card to take home. It sold out via a single Instagram story. Brew Date #87 was last Sunday.

  4. Feb 2025

    The brass-lantern cart

    Built by hand in Sec 26. Six feet of stagecraft. The photo your photographer keeps circling at every wedding. Still the only one of its kind we use.

  5. Jun 2025

    The first cafe pilot

    30-day menu upgrade for a cafe in Sec 9. Espresso program lifted from 40 cups/day to 110. The 30-day refund clause was never invoked. Twelve cafes since.

  6. Dec 2025

    10,000 cups

    Crossed the cup. Counted on the back of a Brew Date worksheet. Manan still does the math by hand.

  7. May 2026

    The Brew Kit waitlist

    800+ on the list before the subscription officially opens. The same bean. Mailed monthly. Pan-India. Launches August 2026.

03 · The supply story

Why Ikkis? Why one roaster?

A specialty coffee bar lives or dies on its bean. We could change roasters every six months. We don’t. Here’s why the Ikkis co-brand is on every bag.

01

One profile, end-to-end.

The bean you sip at a Hyatt wedding is the same one in your home kit. Same origin, same roast curve, same calibration. No bait-and-switch between the cafe and the cart.

02

Roasted within 7 days of brewing.

Ikkis roasts on demand for the week ahead. We never serve a stale bag. The 14-day-from-roast cap is in our contract.

03

Joint cupping every quarter.

Manan + Ikkis’ head roaster cup new lots together. We taste-block any origin that doesn’t hit 84+. Estate Reserve hits 86+ every batch.

04

Co-brand — not a sticker.

Every cup wears both badges. Every cafe we audit gets an Ikkis bean recommendation. The handshake has been in writing since Apr 2024.

The supply story

Ikkis Coffee Roasters · small-batch · origin-traced

Based out of Bangalore. Specialty grade only. Profile co-built with Grindmine. Distribution: just us, plus their flagship cafe.

Visit Ikkis →
04 · The promise

What we are. What we aren’t.

We aren’t

× A cafe

  • No fixed storefront, no menu board on a wall
  • Not a chain — we don’t franchise
  • Not a tea brand pivoting into coffee
  • Not a hot-take influencer brand — we actually pour
We are

✓ A specialty coffee experience brand

  • Live coffee bars for weddings, corporates, fests
  • 2-hour Brew Date workshops every Sunday
  • 30-day Coffee Menu Upgrade pilots for cafes
  • One roaster (Ikkis), one apron (Manan), one beans-to-bar promise
As mentioned in

Featured for the brass-lantern cart, the Brew Date Sunday workshops, and the Ikkis co-brand.

Three ways to taste it

Coming from the story? Here’s where to land.

Book a wedding bar → Reserve a Brew Date → Cafe pilot →