A good playlist is a secret ingredient

You probably don't notice the music when you walk into Kaafi. That's the idea. But if it suddenly stopped, you'd feel the room change instantly. Conversations would get quieter, people would glance up from their laptops and the whole place would feel a little emptier. A good playlist is part of the recipe, just like the beans and the milk.

Music sets the pace

What plays in a café shapes how people feel and how long they stay. Fast, loud music makes a room feel busy and urgent. Slow, soft music makes it feel calm and unhurried. Neither is wrong; it depends on the moment.

So our playlists change through the day, roughly like this:

• Morning (8 to 11): gentle and warm. Acoustic, soft jazz, old Hindi melodies. People are waking up and don't want to be shouted at.
• Afternoon (11 to 5): steady and easy. Bossa nova, lo-fi, indie. Good for working, reading or a long lunch.
• Evening (5 to close): a little more energy. Soul, funk, Bollywood classics and the occasional song everyone hums along to.

Our unspoken rules

Over time, the team has built up a few rules about what goes on, and what doesn't.

Volume is everything. You should be able to talk to the person across the table without raising your voice. If you can't, it's too loud, no matter how good the song is.

No surprises before noon. Mornings are not the time for a sudden drop or a dramatic guitar solo.

Mix the familiar and the new. A song you know makes you smile. A song you don't makes you reach for your phone to find out what it is. We like both.

The team gets a say. Every barista adds a few songs to the evening playlist. It keeps things personal, and it means the music sounds like the people making your coffee.

Why it matters to us

Kaafi was always meant to feel like a favourite friend's living room, and nobody's living room is silent. The music is how we make a room full of strangers feel a little more like a group of people who happen to be hanging out together.

It's also why we love our music nights. On evenings like Vinyl & Velvet, we hand the decks to people who live and breathe records, dim the lights and let the music take centre stage for a change.

Ask us what's playing

If a song catches your ear, ask at the counter. We'll happily tell you, and there's a good chance a barista will get very excited and recommend three more. Better still, follow us on Instagram; we share our playlists so you can take a bit of Kaafi home with you.

Now, if you'll excuse us, someone just put on an old Kishore Kumar track, and the whole bar is singing.