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Coffee from the scenic Araku Valley of Andhra Pradesh, India, was characterized by its unique and distinct flavour. Home to a number of tribals who were both financially and socially excluded, coffee cultivation was promoted with the aim of improving their livelihoods. A number of government and social organisations were actively involved in championing this cause. With the intervention of the Naandi Foundation (Naandi), an NGO, prospects brightened for the Araku farmers. The brainchild of the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Chandrababu Naidu and industrialist Anji Reddy, founder of Dr Reddy's, the Araku Coffee project envisaged to help the tribal farmers produce top-quality coffee that would find markets in the world's leading coffee consuming regions. Towards this end, Naandi provided the necessary backward and forward linkages to the coffee farmers, helping Araku coffee fetch a good price in the export markets. A significant move was the formation of Araku Originals Limited (AOL), a social 'for-profit' entity that would help in the branding and positioning of the coffee, rather than selling it as a commodity. Through its efforts, Araku coffee debuted in Paris, home to luxury coffee and cafes, in March 2017. Plans were on, to open similar luxury cafés in other global markets. These efforts were yielding good results and had improved the lives of the farmers significantly. How these initiatives could be sustained and how they could be scaled further, remained to be seen.