When you meet a hip and young thing one evening in Guwahati, do ask where it’s headed. The answer will most likely be, “to the BBC.” In Guwahati, where gossipers are called radios, it is hardly surprising that the Brown Bean Café has become BBC.
Although it has grown phenomenally in the past decade, Guwahati still remains a small town. One advantage of this is that everyone receives equal attention. Everyone is someone here. And in this indiscriminate, intimate, information-sharing culture, cafés and teashops play a very important role. In these popular places, caffeine-fuelled patrons gather to share the dirty details. Going by its popularity and the amount of gossip that is generated and shared in one evening, BBC has already made it to the list of the historical hangouts of Guwahati.
Brown Bean Café in Uzan Bazar became an instant hit since it opened in 2008. This is partly due to the fact that it is one of the few places where you can get real coffee in Guwahati and because it is located very close to the river. So if you are in Guwahati, go to BBC. The coffee is good (they make their own) and the accompanying snacks are nearly as spicy as the tittle-tattle. Don’t worry if you are not the gossiping kind. The Brahmaputra is nearby and the park by the river is good for some soul searching.
Brown Bean Café, H.C. Road, Uzan Bazar (opposite Balika Vidyalaya), Guwahati, Assam