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This article looks at MOKAI’s second outlet in Mumbai, which expands the brand’s identity into a larger, experience-led space built around coffee and matcha. Structured as a series of interconnected environments, the café uses design elements like Kintsugi-inspired detailing, immersive installations, and a central floating matcha bar to create a layered, sensory experience, framing it as a space where architecture, ritual, and beverage culture come together through a carefully staged journey.
MOKAI’s second outlet in Mumbai builds on what the café has already been doing, but stretches it into a much larger, experience-led space. Designed as a journey that unfolds in chapters, the café moves through a series of environments that reflect its philosophy, visual language, and growing focus on both coffee and matcha. The outer wall carries a reworked artwork of the first cafe, with fine gold strokes running across it in a Kintsugi-inspired design. Elements like Mount Fuji sit alongside a matcha bowl and whisk, marking the transition from an earlier coffee-heavy identity to one that now places matcha at the centre.
Once inside, the café opens into a high-ceilinged space filled with natural light from a transparent roof, with long curtains filtering the rays. The layout is broken into sections so that each part reveals itself gradually. At the entrance, 'Chapter One' introduces the café’s blue-orange uniforms and their role within the MOKAI identity, alongside a small manual pour-over bar with a Korean brewing machine in a dedicated space where guests can watch the process. Behind this, an installation built around slow brewing brings together turtle elements symbolising patience, sculptural twigs, moss, flowers inspired by coffee leaves and berries, and back-painted glass.
Moving further in, the marble coffee bar becomes the centrepiece of the ground floor. Sunlight creates an ombré effect across its surface during the day, shifting as the light changes. As evening sets in, the lighting shifts with it, leaving the matcha bar glowing in a soft rose-quartz tone. Opposite this sits the Kintsugi Corner, where art pieces and plated installations with gold detailing explore the philosophy that shapes much of the space, alongside references to Wabi-Sabi. A Wall of Collabs lines another section, filled with photographs from the café’s partnerships and community. Overhead, origami birds appear suspended mid-air above the staircase, which itself becomes part of the design with a softly glowing stone structure and embedded Kintsugi detail. A nine-foot Great Wave-inspired lighting installation, constructed using origami, extends the visual language further, bringing elements from the façade into the interior as three-dimensional forms.
Upstairs, a balcony overlooks the space below, followed by an “In Stock” corner inspired by a travel luggage bag, with a takeaway counter designed with a luggage handle and tag. Beyond this is Team MOKAI’s Home, entered through a house-style door with a mailbox. Inside, the space is built to resemble a lived-in home, with textured walls, curtains, and everyday elements like a bed, washing machine, and fridge. At the centre sits a large family table beneath a Japanese-inspired chandelier, built around the idea of shared meals. This entire level revolves around India’s first floating matcha bar. Surrounded by water, moss, and sensory elements, it becomes the focal point where guests can sit around and watch baristas prepare different types of matcha. The offerings here lean into adaptogens and wellness-focused drinks, with specially designed crockery and dishes that are exclusive to this floor.
The experience extends into smaller details across the space. Guests can receive beauty face masks as part of their visit, with some matcha drinks paired with sheet masks. A “breakfast in bed” seating option allows guests to sit among pillows with quotes and design elements, while each table is fitted with a telephone to call a barista directly. Even the washrooms are designed as part of the overall narrative, inspired by the streets of Tokyo with cameras, layered mirrors, soundscapes, and hidden speakeasy-style entrances, including a vending machine door. Across the café, soundproof glass separates the interiors from the noise outside, while playlists shift through the day. With this second outlet, MOKAI brings together design, installations, and everyday rituals into a space that moves from one setting to another while staying rooted in its core ideas.
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