Conventionally, pressure cookers have been used only to make food. However, Mohammed Rozadeen touched new milestones by modifying the ordinary cooker and converting it into a pressure cooker operated coffeemaker. This modified cooker is now being used to boil water and generate steam. Through a long delivery pipe, which has a regulator, high pressure steam is used to make frothy and tasty coffee.

Rozadeen alias J P Ustad was born in Motihari, Champaran, Bihar in 1963. Champaran has a special place in the history of the country because Gandhi perfected the instrument of Satyagrah (Quest/Search for Truth) in 1917, after succeeding in reducing the soaring rate of exploitation of indigo farmers within six months. This experience eventually led to the call for full freedom in 1929.

Coming from a very poor background, Rozadeen could not study at all. His father died when he was only ten years old. While his father was alive, he spent his time playing marbles, gulel, kabaddi and catching fish from the pond and the river. Things took an unexpected turn after that. His mother was burdened with a family of seven to support. Starting in his early teens, he has spent over three decades of his life working as a mechanic of bicycles and rickshaws, and in battery manufacturing and repairing works. Presently, he has taken up the job of a gas and electric welder. He has a small thatched shop on rent wherein he does all his welding work. He lives with his wife, four daughters and two sons. While his two elder daughters are married, his younger daughters are still pursuing their studies. His sons, still in their teens, discontinued their studies after class eight and have been working as plumbers in Motihari ever since. He came to know about NIF through Ahmed Hussain Ansari (NIF’s collaborator) in 2007. Ansari briefed him about the activities of NIF and encouraged him to send entries to the NIF competitions.

Area of study: Bihar borders with Nepal to the north; Sitamadhi and Sheohar to the east, and Muzaffarpur to the south while Gopalganj shares boundaries with it on the western side. Motihari boasts of a population of 101,506 and is well connected by road and rail. While the average annual rainfall of the town is 1241mm, the maximum and minimum temperature of the town is 460Cand 50C respectively. In Motihari, one will find vast stretches of flat and fertile land. The major harvested crops in this region are paddy, wheat, sugarcane, maize, pulses, oilseed etc. The major sources of irrigation are tube wells, lift irrigation and canals. The horticulture crops include mango, guava, litchi, banana and several more.

The Idea

Whenever Rozadeen would attend marriage parties, he used to observe the people that thronged at the coffee stall. As he reflected upon their everyday habits, it struck him that not many of them actually drink coffee on a normal day. Most of them drink tea instead. Moreover, coffee is not easily available in many places and most tea stall owners only cater tea. The electric coffee making machines were indeed quite expensive, considering they were priced above Rs. 5,000 and were also out of reach for most of the roadside vendors. Rozadeen hence contemplated over producing a device at a low-cost; one which would help him augment his finances and supplement the income of tea vendors as well. He thus conceived this idea in 1993 and since it commanded a considerable investment, he had to freeze the idea till it could be monetarily brought to fruition. In order to minimize errors in the coffee making process, he generally put aside time to gather the much required information. His income was not sufficient to kick start the enterprise and an investment of a few hundred rupees without the guarantee of success was too risky a proposition. Nevertheless, he proceeded to execute his plan of innovation over a period of a few months and started investing thousand by thousand in rupees. Finally, he arrived at a prototype with the help of an old cooker and tubes of copper. To achieve this, he had to take a loan of Rs 2000 from one of his friends, which he repaid later.

The coffee cooker

The innovation is essentially a pressure cooker modified in such a way that it has a copper delivery pipe affixed to its lid. This pipe facilitates the transfer of steam generated inside to a container outside. Fabricated from locally available material, this artifice is composed of just an ordinary pressure cooker fitted with a copper pipe, a pressure releasing valve actuated by moving a lever (screw driver originally used). Gas welding, which is Rozadeen’s profession has enabled the copper pipe to be fitted on the top of lid, along with the valve. 

It is fabricated from local available material. Cost break up (in rupees) of the device is given below:

Copper pipe 2 ft long – Rs 50, Tap pipe – Rs 30, Screw driver – Rs 10, Tap bolt – Rs 10, Labour charges – Rs 100.

The cost of a pressure cooker depends on its size. The device can be fitted on any size of pressure cooker. He has made the tip portion of the copper pipe thin to create more pressure at that point.

The water is boiled inside the cooker. Once sufficient steam pressure has been produced, it is released by shifting the lever upwards. The delivery tip of the copper pipe has been deliberately constricted so as to generate more pressure at the point of release of steam. The safety valve below the handle and the whistle has not been touched. Rozadeen has named it as ‘JP Ustad coffee cooker’.

The price of this self-devised coffee cooker is directly proportional to its size. While a new 10 litre capacity cooker is available at Rs. 2000, a modified old one costs Rs. 750. Similarly, a new 5 litre cooker costs Rs 1000 and an old one Rs. 500. If someone brings his own cooker, he does the modifications in only Rs. 250. Pressure cookers cookers of all sizes support this modification. There are other coffee makers available, but in this case the novelty lies in generating the steam in pressure cooker and directing it through a delivery pipe into a jug containing coffee powder, milk and sugar. NIF has filed a patent in his name for the coffee cooker in the year 2010 under the following patent number 253/KOL/2010.

Diffusion and feedback

Taking a 50 per cent advance, Rozadeen has decided to prepare coffee cooker only on demand due to dear of loss. He has sold over 1500 such coffee cookers in Motihari and other areas, namely, Bagaha (Indo Nepal border), Dhaka, Bairgania (Sitamarhi district), Raxaul, Bettiah, Sugauli, Samastipur and many other places. The demand is the highest during the winter season.

This low-cost coffee cooker has good potential in road side hotels, tea stalls, small dhabas and other places where customers have a fair choice to order between tear and coffee, or both. More importantly, coffee lovers can make coffee to their heart’s content at home. One just has to change the lid of the cooker and the pressure cooker gets converted into a coffee cooker.

Nowadays, this coffee cooker is a common sight at any tea stall in Motihari. Feedback was collected from many tea stall owners who had been using this coffee cooker for years. Most of them said that it has increased their clientele as it has drawn in the people who prefer coffee over tea. They agree that the cooker is economical and affordable. One cup of coffee cups is usually sold at Rs 6-10, depending upon the size of the cup. The taste of the coffee is different from that from an electric espresso machine. It feels and tastes soft and frothy more like a cappuccino than an espresso.

Rozadeen is looking for support to scale up his innovation. Presently he is making the cooker on demand only. He wishes to have some support so that he has make and keep 5-10 pieces ready for customers as many of them come from different districts. He was felicitated during the 22^nd Shodh Yatra in Bihar, organised in 2008-09. A story on his innovation was done by a prominent newspaper, Dainik Jagaran in November 2008 and also by ETV channel during the Shodh Yatra. “Paisa hoi tabhina dimaag badhi” quipped Rozadeen when asked about any other idea.

He claims that not much change has come in his life after being in touch with NIF and financial support has not been provided to him by NIF. When asked his views about NIF he said “NIF is doing well for the grass root people like us. But NIF takes more time in processing. Whatever the work is to be taken it should be completed as soon as possible.”

NIF’s Micro Venture Innovation Fund (MVIF) sanctioned and disbursed Rs. 24,000 to Rozadeen to help him execute the Product Development & Trial Marketing for his coffee cooker enterprise.

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Mohammed Rozadeen can be contacted via NIF info@nifindia.org or directly at

Mr. Mohammed Rozadeen

Sinha market

Dharmasamaj Road, Motihari

East Champaran

Bihar, PIN- 845401

M.No. 09931872941