You know what the antidote to capitalism is? Intention. It is a modality that values process over speed, quality over volume, and care over convenience. Within cafe culture this manifests as a slow bar. Like the name suggests, slow bar is a space where coffee is brewed deliberately, using manual methods like pour-over or hand-pressed espresso. As opposed to the efficient coffee pipelines of many cafes and franchises, every cup here is made to order, and it’s made with intent.
This slower pace invites something we rarely get — a moment of pause. It opens up room for conversation, for curiosity, for actually tasting what’s in the cup. Slow bars are all about shared rituals and experience as opposed to grabbing a to-go cup of joe on your way to work.
Hinoki, a newly opened Japanese-inspired slow bar in Delhi’s Safdarjung Enclave, brings that philosophy to life with a single-minded dedication to doing one thing exceptionally well. Founded by college best friends Urvi Singh and Deepanshu Saini, Hinoki is a deliberate pause in the city's overstimulated café scene. There’s no food menu yet, and that's entirely by design. The duo has chosen to channel their focus into a single craft — coffee and matcha — and by most accounts online, they’ve mastered both.
The space itself is modest but warm. A few shelves of manga, Shakespearean plays, and board games offer company while you wait. There’s no rush here, and that’s the point. There are also no mechanical whirs of equipment. In fact, Hinoki refuses to install an espresso machine altogether. Instead, every shot is pulled using the Flair 58+, a manual-pressurized machine that allows for better control, consistency, and most importantly, flavour.
Their Iced Mango is already a favourite — espresso poured gently over house-made mango purée, refreshingly light and unsweetened. But it's the matcha that’s earned near-devotional praise. Earthy, smooth, and pure, it has none of the bitter aftertaste or synthetic flavouring you often find elsewhere. Every cup is whisked by hand, just as it should be.
Hinoki is a space that knows what it wants to offer — a beautiful, meditative cup of coffee or tea. While many cafés stretch themselves thin trying to be everything at once — workspace, brunch spot, social hub — this slow bar brings the drink back to center stage. Here, the coffee or tea isn’t something to wash your food down with, it is the main character and that should tell you everything you need to know about how seriously they take there craft.
Follow Hinoki here.
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