College Street Coffee House

INDIAN COFFEE HOUSE

College Street Coffee House or Indian Coffee House is a cafe located opposite the Presidency University in College Street, the most famous of Indian Coffee House branches in Kolkata, almost 145 years aged. It has been for a long time a regular hang out and a renowned meeting place (adda) for intellectuals and students (and ex-students) of the Presidency College, University of Calcutta, and other institutions in College Street. It has played an important part in Calcutta's (Kolkata) cultural history and known as the hub of intellectual debates.

From the outside, the Indian Coffee House of Kolkata is nothing more than a rickety board squeezed in between two book stalls. Blink and you might miss the narrow lane that leads to the entrance. It’s only when you make your way through the dark alley and into the giant, loud space that is Kolkata’s Coffee house that you realize it: hidden inside lanes and lanes of bookstores and eateries, a piece of Kolkata’s history is still kept alive in this 145-year old coffee house.

Resonating with the sound of pattering feet of the students on the wooden stairs and heated discussions on Beethoven, Brecht or Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, for hours over a cup of coffee, smoke from the endless number of cigarettes spiraling up to the ceiling high enough to contain at least three stories of present multi-storied buildings and a floor area to match its majestic columns, waiters in traditional uniform of spotless white and red and high, stiff hats, mixed aroma of coffee, fish fry and mutton Afghani and animated conversation between people whose ages are removed from each other by a decade — the same sights and sounds beckoned from every nook and corner.

History

The history of the Coffee House at College Street can be traced to Albert Hall, which was founded in April 1876. Later, the Indian Coffee Workers' Co-operative Society decided to start a coffee joint from the Albert Hall in 1942. Notable citizens were frequent visitors to the place. In 1947, the Central Government changed the name of the place to "Coffee House". The place became a meeting place for the poets, artistes, literati and people from the world of art and culture.

In 1958, with poets and writers held a candle-light `funeral' dinner, Coffee House was closed for the first time, only to re-open the same year with the government stepping in to prevent the destruction of a heritage place. Professors of Presidency College and Calcutta University had rushed off a special petition to the government!

Heritage Place

Amid threats of closure clouding the establishment at intervals, its prestige as a cultural hub only increased with Satyajit Ray, Manna Dey, Amartya Sen, Mrinal Sen and Aparna Sen being regular visitors. Old timers recount how Satyajit Ray would sit in a corner drawing a scene from a forthcoming film and Manna Dey break out into an impromptu song while trying to compose the next couple of lines or explain the song sequence to Soumitra Chatterjee, who despite his failing health and advancing years, still drops in.

Manna Dey in Coffee House

During the Naxalite Movement of 1960s and 1970s, student activists used the place as a hideout. It witnessed many seminal meetings and even political murders.

In 2006, a huge financial crunch kept the co-operative society from undertaking renovation of the coffee house. Though a few companies such as Asian Paints approached the society with offers to renovate the restaurant, the offers were refused due to clash of norms and conditions.

Despite its aversion to cosmetic change, Coffee House trotted into the next millennium. Not that it has managed to maintain its ivory tower existence. The fast-changing face of Kolkata, the invasion of chic coffee parlours and the changing taste of the students with more money at their disposal have landed it in testing times.

Yet take a look at their platter: in spite of escalating costs and incurring a tremendous loss over the years they have kept their rates low. If you decide on a cup of coffee at the end of a four-hour adda, there is a range of coffees — mellow, sweet, caramel, chocolate, mild or spicy — between Rs. 10 and Rs. 12, samosas at two rupees, and plain bread-and-butter at four rupees. Even something as exotic as a mutton or Chicken Afghani is only Rs. 23 a plate.

All for the average student, comprising 70 per cent of the clientele, who still does not have much money to spare, the management would say. A singular instance perhaps, where the management has consistently been averse to increasing the prices.

The price list, the freedom to sit for hours at an empty table and the intellectual aura of the place have never really brought questions about the strategy for survival!

The Indian Coffee House in Kolkata was renovated in the year 2009. With paintings and portraits of great bong leaders like Rabindranath Tagore, the adda has its own old world charm that is unmatched to that of any other place in ‘Calcutta’. The marble top tables and plastic chairs have been participants of an infinite number of stories and conversations.

Café Coffee Days and Baristas have entered the student psyche; it is "cool" to "hang out" in these places with a date but it is infinitely more so to sit over a cup of coffee at the Coffee House and ponder about the intricacies of man-woman equation or the triviality of love. For a city always with a weakness for the cerebral than the cosmetic, this establishment, with its shabby décor and worn out walls, will always remain a cut above the rest.

Subtle Changes

Except if you went close, the snatches of conversation revealed that over the years, politics, literature and music had acquired a subtle flavour of the next management entrance examination and IT units in the city. Old sweepers, who once preserved bills scattered on the floors because they contained complex mathematical calculations or poems on the reverse, hardly find anything of note. Waiters say they do not have to stop working now to listen to an interesting discussion. Those days have definitely gone but the Calcutta Coffee House has desperately held onto its flavours in the dark-brown walls; the stark wooden chairs and tables; white porcelain and steel cutlery.

It is a different experience sitting here and sipping a cup of coffee. It is an inexplicable feeling when you suddenly realise that these are the chairs where some of Bengal's leading intellectuals have sat. Besides, you can walk in anytime without bothering whether you are suitably dressed for the place. Excelling in its simplicity and stubbornly refusing to adopt any cosmetic change, Coffee House has managed to preserve this aura of tradition for at least a century.

Occasional demands from students to add new furniture to brighten up the place have always been briskly pushed aside by the older generation still an important part of the crowd. Coffee House is what it is, largely because of the way it looks ... You just can't change anything here. Albert Hall, as the place was known before the present sobriquet was bestowed by the Central Government, was already a favourite with Rabindranath Tagore and Subhash Chandra Bose and could boast of a legacy of swadeshi meetings. A place that had carved out a niche for itself as the most popular adda joint was thus the easiest choice for the promotion of coffee in a city till then an excellent market for tea.

With its high ceilings, small tables set together and loads of sunlight coming in through the high-set windows, the Coffee House immediately takes you back in time. It hasn’t changed much since pre-independence days, when the place was a water hole for the students of the Presidency College and the Calcutta University. The Coffee house consists of two floors: the ground floor and the first floor. The first floor is simple a veranda that overlooks the ground floor with corridors running across the four walls of the coffee house. With thirty-odd tables on the ground floor and nearly as many on the veranda, the place is constantly abuzz. Laughter, conversation and arguments bounce off the wall – there is never a silent moment at the Coffee House.

Back in the day, when the Coffee House was still called Alberta Hall, it was a hub for the city’s well-known intellectuals and litterateurs. The stories always paint a romantic picture: the writers and poets of the city sprawled out over a table, twirling a cigarette in one hand and nursing a cup of tea with another. Debates, poetry, discussions: the coffee house has seen it all. The likes of Rabindranath Tagore, Subhash Chandra Bose, Satyajit Ray, Amartya Sen and Manna Dey frequented the Coffee House, making it a breeding ground for the inception of many political and cultural movements of the country. The charm of the coffee house lied in the conversations that flowed and the ideas that were exchanged – and many of the café’s patrons reminisce about it to this day.

Famous Patrons

The prestige of the Coffee House increased with regular visitors such as Satyajit Ray, Amartya Sen, Mrinal Sen and Aparna Sen. the Coffee House is of historical significance for being the rendezvous of innumerable versatile people, from its inception to date. Scholars, editors, artists and writers like Ritwik Ghatak, Narayan Gangopadhyay, Sunil Gangopadhyay, Sanjeev Chattopadhyay, Samaresh Majumdar, Subhas Mukhopadhyay, Shakti Chattopadhyay, Craig Jamieson, Sukhamoy Chakraborty, Tapan Raychaudhuri, Barun De and Sumit Sarkar have been just a few among the patrons of the restaurant. In the early sixties of 20th century the coffee house became the intellectual battleground of the famous Hungry generation literary and cultural movement; the iconic poets Malay Roy Choudhury, Samir Roychoudhury brother duo who pioneered the movement were arrested and prosecuted. Several literary magazines owe their origin to the inspiration from the adda sessions at this coffee house. Though popularly known as College Street Coffee house, this branch is actually on Bankim Chatterjee Street. The coffee house is famous for its adda sessions, and as the breeding place of several political and cultural personalities and movements. Many people come here just for the sake of adda and just being a part of the long talking sessions. Several talented and illustrious persons from different streams have been thronging this renowned adda for a long time.

In Popular Culture

The Coffee House has been memorialized in a famous song sung by Manna Dey titled Coffee House'er shei adda'ta aaj aar nei (That Coffee House adda is long gone now). It has preserved the heritage of the famous Coffee House through the ages. Films like Detective Byomkesh Bakshy have been shot here.

What To Eat & Drink?

Hanging Menu

Chowmein and cigarettes are the constants here. Talk about best evening snacks. They’re here! Coffee House serves some great coffee. “Infusion” being their most popular coffee is sheer delight. With a variety of chicken and fish preparations, Indian Coffee House has the best snacks and chop cutlets.

Cuisines

Chinese, Fast Food, Beverages.

Popular Dishes

Onion Pakoda, Mutton Afgani, Veg Hakka Chowmein, Fish Kobiraji, Chicken Sandwiches, Egg Sandwich

Menu of Coffee House

Average Cost

₹300 for two people (approx.)

Cash only

Adrress: 15, Bankim Chatterjee Street, Kolkata - 700 073

Phones: College Street: +919007798519

Emails: indiancoffeehouse1958@gmail.com , info@indiancoffeehouse.org

What Else?

You can listen to the stories the waiters have to tell here: From people like Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, Sunil Gangopadhyay, Satyajit Ray, and many more. It’s the Adda of many Calcutta celebrities like Aparna Sen, Manna Dey, and Amartya Sen etc.

For the youth, a coffee house is not only a place to buy lattes and Frappuccinos, but also a much-needed urban space. A café offers a neutral meeting place that allows friends and colleagues to get together in an appealing space that is neither a home nor a workplace.

So our old landmark coffee houses are just struggling to fight these competitors and keep floating only on nostalgia? Our observation is that the young generation cares. Indian Coffee House – certainly in College Street Kolkata is still packed with full of young people and students who see the place as not only politically significant but a really interesting place to hang out.

The ambience might have changed a lot over the ages. To my friends, who accompanied me used to be regulars during their college days, commented that what stands now is a mere shadow of what the coffee house used to be in its heyday. However, we feel that the tastes are changing rapidly and even though today’s trendy Starbucks, Barista and Cafe Coffee Day may have posed a huge threat as competitors, they have not been able to match Coffee House’s unparalleled intellectual aura. It still pulls in the eclectic crowd and visitors from far and wide to come here to get a taste of heritage.

The menu is the legacy of the Raj, boasting of items such as Grilled Fish and Baked fish, Fish Fry, Onion Pakora, Chicken and Mutton Cutlet, Chicken and Mutton Kaviraji and Chicken and Mutton Afgani to mention a few. Taste is still the same – and the service in today’s standard is relatively slow, and that’s an expected and accepted tradition in a classic place such as this, as you are there to experience Kolkata and want your experience to be timeless and not rushed!

When you are in Kolkata and planning to catch up with friends and reminiscence about old college days, then there is no other place like this. Look through the plethora of books at College Street, then take a few leisurely steps to COFFEE HOUSE, enjoy the terrific coffee and taste the food that is clean, hygienic and pocket friendly.

During the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic, the house was closed for 103 days and resumed its normal operation on 2nd of July 2020.

If any story deserves to start with once upon a time in Kolkata, it is certainly one of them. So Sit back and relax, for Kolkata’s most timeless coffee house has quite a lot of stories to tell. COFFEE HOUSE is Kolkata’s prized possession. We should not let it close its door!

Thanking everyone,

Dazzling Kolkata...