During your time in Bhutan, if you desire an authentic cafe experience, Ambient Cafe, located in the center of Thimphu, is the place to be. In addition to blending and roasting coffee, the cafe also serves a range of vegetarian food. They offer freshly made juice as well. The last time I was there, I had their chickpea and eggplant burger, something new for me. Not much of a coffee drinker, I enjoy getting their juices, which have a life of their own with inviting names such as “Flu Fighter,” “The cure,” and “Wake me up,” to name a few. Plus, the owners are very welcoming.
Ambient Cafe was established in 2009 as a restaurant for a bed and breakfast. The owners Letho and Junu, partners with a now teenage son, ran the place as a restaurant for a bit before they converted it into a cafe. The name, Ambient Cafe, was given by a friend.
Letho, one of the owners shared that at the time, it was a risk converting the place into a cafe.
They bought their first furniture for the cafe from the money they received after a large catering event, while the place was still a restaurant. And the first coffee makers were bought with money lent from Letho’s mother. “We had to let it go,” Letho said when he spoke about the early days of starting the cafe. Both he and his wife believed that because they were in their prime they would not give up easily– they would give their all for the cafe to work and succeed, which it has.
However, the cafe’s story begins a couple of years earlier, in Bangalore, a city in South India, where the cafe currently sources its coffee beans. Letho was only a student when he first encountered coffee while studying in Bangalore. His first experience with coffee was bitter, literally and figuratively. He visited the coffee chain Cafe Coffee day, and without much knowledge and experience with coffee and being a broke student, he ended up ordering an espresso, the cheapest on the menu. He shared that he didn’t like the taste. Later he and a friend bought their own coffee beans and not knowing how to prepare them, his friend stirred the beans, draining the coffee into another cup.
When asked about the future of the cafe, Letho appeared reflective. He shared that it was up to his son. “Son?” I said, surprised. “Yes,” he smiled. Citing Buddhism he said that we never really know if this place will exist in the future. It’s uncertain.
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