Hema Coffee Works

People around Subbaiah Street probably know where we are because of the smell of roasting. We’ve been at 74-9-28 for a long time now. It’s a bit of a cramped space with the machines and bags of beans sitting around, but it works for what we do. My uncle started this place and now a few of us just keep Hema Coffee Works going every day. We spend most of the morning roasting and then packing stuff into smaller bags for the customers. It gets pretty loud when everything is running, so we don't talk much while we are actually working. Sometimes the power goes out and we just sit outside on the steps for a bit until it comes back on. That's just how it is here. We don’t have a fancy front office or anything like that. If you walk in, you’ll likely see someone covered in a bit of dust or moving heavy sacks across the floor. It’s mostly just hard work and making sure the grinders are set right. We deal with a lot of local shops who come by to pick up their orders. Sometimes we get behind if a machine acts up, but we usually catch up by the evening. The street gets busy in the afternoons, so we try to get the heavy lifting done early when it’s cooler. It isn't a glamorous job, but it keeps us busy and we have lived in this neighborhood forever.