Wake Up and Smell the (Indian) Coffee

There are few things in life as reassuring as a mug of good hot coffee in the morning. Like a warm hug, its unmistakable aroma lifts your spirits, reminding you that everything will be all right – it’s perhaps the best way to begin your day.

The South Indian Coffee

India has quite a strong coffee culture – especially in the southern states - and the best coffee here can only be had in the homes of its people! Despite the availability of a confusing array of coffee blends and types, most south Indians (including yours truly), who have coffee running through their veins, will swear by the traditional home-made filter coffee. Learning how to make your own brew is almost like a rite of passage, a survival skill, if you will. It makes you feel all grown-up and mature. Sitting there on your couch sipping your favourite cup of coffee, brewed just the way you like it, even as you scan the day’s newspaper, is kind of an established ritual in many south Indian homes, so much so that it is now clichéd.

The Perfect Brew

To make good filter coffee, all you need is this simple unassuming ‘machine’ called the filter. Usually made of brass or stainless steel, the traditional filter has two parts: a removable perforated top container where the coffee powder is placed, and another container below it where the decoction is collected. All you have to do is place a few spoons of coffee powder on the sieved top half, pour some hot water over it, and wait for a few minutes until the decoction collects below. It’s normally had in a ‘davara-tumbler’ (a stainless steel or brass equivalent of a cup and saucer) practically any time of the day, any number of times; you will not be judged, trust me.

The proof of a good coffee, however, lies in its blend and also where it comes from. So that coffee powder you use is absolutely critical – it can make or break your coffee. And it’s a pretty big deal. The predominant species of coffee grown in India are Arabica and Robusta. While Arabica has a slightly sweeter, softer taste with traces of berries, Robusta is a tad harsher, grainier and has more caffeine. Most Indian coffees are made from peaberry, a type of coffee bean, and sometimes it is mixed with the roots of chicory, a woody herbaceous plant. Roasted chicory gives coffee an earthy taste; while purists cringe at the thought of using coffee powder with chicory (it’s blasphemy), it is nevertheless used as a common additive by many large coffee brands.

A Brief History of Indian Coffee

Coffee plants need to be grown in shade and require an altitude of about 1,000m to 1,500m and an average temperature of 23 degrees Celsius to 28 degrees Celsius. Once the white coffee flowers bloom and ripe, they are hand-plucked and dried in the sun. The beans are then segregated, blended, roasted and ground. The history of coffee in India dates back to the 17th century and it is believed that Baba Budan, an Indian Muslim saint smuggled coffee beans to India from Yemen, while returning to Mysore (in the southern state of Karnataka) from his pilgrimage to Mecca. He apparently planted these in the Chandragiri hills of Chikmagalur, also in Karnataka. Under British rule, coffee grown in India was exported to England, and gradually the coffee subculture spread in the predominantly tea-drinking regions of India.

So the next time you have Indian coffee, serve it on one of our coffee tables and raise your ‘davara-tumbler’ to the legend of Baba Budan!