From Bitter Brews to Bold Flavours: Sara Sarosh on Building Impulse Coffees

Influencer Sarah Sarosh, now 26,  identified a clear gap in India’s coffee landscape early on. As a teenager, she realised that quality coffee remained prohibitively expensive for most young consumers, often beyond the reach of an average teenager’s pocket money. 

Sarosh observed that while instant coffee dominated the Indian market at the time, the category itself lacked variety and depth. Most available options were uniformly bitter, leaving little room for differentiated taste experiences.

She set out to create a coffee that removes the bitter aftertaste typically associated with instant variants while introducing flavour-led innovation to the category. What began with three flavours has since expanded into a portfolio of ten.   

Impulse Coffees, launched in 2021, didn’t begin with a traditional city launch the way many beverage brands do. Starting digitally helped the brand as in the early stages, Sarah’s  community was already spread across India and even outside the country, so an e-commerce-led launch allowed her to reach consumers without being limited to a single geography. It also helped test demand, understand consumer preferences, and refine the product before thinking about physical retail.

Mumbai naturally became our first operational hub because of logistics access, distribution partners, and the ecosystem of D2C brands here. But the interesting part was that our early orders didn’t just come from Mumbai; they came from different cities across India. 

In a conversation with Brandwagon Online, Sarosh says, “I consume this coffee two times every day. I will never risk my health and put something wrong in my body. And that's exactly what I'm promoting.”

From Influence to Ownership

“Like many other creators, I initially believed I would start a business only after reaching a milestone such as a million followers. For a long time, my entire focus was on building my personal brand, while Impulse Coffees continued to operate in the background. Once I shifted my attention to the business, I realised how much actually goes into building and running a brand,” Sarosh says.

A significant portion of Impulse Coffees’ early customer base came from the community Sarosh had built as a creator. The introduction of sachets led to a noticeable spike in sales, with nearly 70–80% of the initial uptake coming from this format, as consumers looked for affordable trial options across flavours.

She adds that nearly 40–50% of customers return for repeat purchases, making loyalty a key driver of the brand’s growth.

Brewing Growth, One Step at a Time

For Impulse Coffees, while scaling operations remains a work in progress, sachets emerged as a key turning point for the brand.

“Impulse Coffees remains a lean bootstrapped operation because we’ve intentionally built it as a bootstrapped brand. Today, the core team of 10 people handles everything from product development and supply chain to marketing and operations. We operate primarily through online channels rather than physical retail stores. Our focus so far has been strengthening e-commerce distribution and ensuring that logistics, packaging, and product consistency are strong before expanding offline,” says Sarosh. 

“From a business standpoint, the brand has seen strong momentum, closing the last financial year on a solid note and now on track to grow over 4x in the current year,driven by repeat buys and new customers. We proudly ship to customers in more than 50 countries,” she says.

Flavour Innovation

It began with classic coffee profiles. The first three variants were vanilla, mocha and espresso, positioned for a mass audience. The first experimental flavour was chocolate raspberry, which retained a familiar coffee base while introducing a tangy citrusy aftertaste. While the initial response was moderate, repeat purchases were strong, encouraging further experimentation.

Today, flavour innovation has become a key differentiator for Impulse, with the portfolio expanding to ten variants.

Kacha aam emerged as one of the most surprising performers. Initially introduced as a limited edition because of its unconventional profile, the flavour is now set to return as demand continues to grow. Mocha remains the brand’s best performing and most profitable variant, driven by strong repeat purchases.

With ten flavours now in the portfolio, the brand has observed customers becoming increasingly experimental with their choices. A consumer picking up a strawberry flavour, for instance, is also likely to add a classic espresso to the same order.

Product Pricing

As Sarosh notes, “The more I researched, the more I realised that true authenticity in the brand and its ingredients is only possible at a premium price point.” 

Our products are made using 100% Arabica beans sourced from Chikmagalur and processed through freeze-dried technology, which preserves flavour and aroma without adding sugar or chicory.  For example, our cup costs under Rs 100 vs. Starbucks' Rs 250–400 for home café drinks. 50g jars lead sales, with sachets gaining traction among travelers before converting to jars. Research showed mass-market coffee lacks authenticity, so the brand prioritized quality in premium pricing.

Building a Community-Led Marketing Engine

Transparency has emerged as the brand’s most effective marketing lever. Sarosh frequently engages with her audience through YouTube videos, a format that not only drives significant traffic to the website but also helps deepen the connection with her community.

Impulse Coffees’ marketing approach is built around a quick repair and damage control philosophy. If a particular video or piece of content does not perform as expected, the team identifies the issue immediately, pulls the content and replaces it with a format that works better for the brand. This rapid turnaround and willingness to adapt have played an important role in shaping the brand’s communication strategy.

Future of Impulse Coffees

As Impulse Coffees grows, customers naturally begin expecting more consistency and variety. Ensuring that supply keeps pace with demand is now an important consideration in Impulse’s growth journey. Over the next 12 months, Impulse Coffees plans to focus on expanding its offline presence while maintaining sustainable profitability. 

“Over the next 12 months, we’re exploring collaborations with retail partners and selective offline placements rather than opening multiple standalone stores immediately. The long-term vision is to expand into the broader nutrition-led beverage category in India, positioning the portfolio around products that add value to consumers’ daily diets,” Sarosh says.

Overseas Demand and Supply

International demand has also begun to take shape. Markets such as the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom have shown strong responsiveness to the brand. Canada has also seen interest, although supply there remains limited due to logistical distance.

As the brand has only recently begun international shipping, it is still adapting to the regulatory systems, policies and operational norms across different markets.