wikimedia commons - just like it is shown here, a copy of the Hindu Newspaper and a cup of filter coffee, a staple in south India.
I came across this community when I read a post by @simplifylife aka Doc. I am a coffee drinker of course and yes, I do love tea too. So, today, I thought of writing about the south Indian filter coffee.
I live in Kerala and ever since I remember, the aroma and taste of south Indian filter coffee have no parallel. I remember walking beside my mother as a small child to go to the coffee powder shop and my mother would instruct the shop guy to mix chickory and give her the best coffee powder. She would then proceed to boil water and pour it into the filter coffee maker made of steel.
The above is a smaller version of what we had. The one with the holes was kept on top and two or three spoons of powder were put carefully. Then boiling hot water was poured and the stick was inserted and the lid was three-fourths closed.
A few hours later, the coffee decoction was collected in the utensil below.
When we wanted a cup of coffee, this decoction was poured into a steel tumbler and hot water and milk were poured and sugar was added accordingly.
Coffee should be drunk hot and not in a lukewarm mode like some of my family members now drink it. Yikes. Anyways, coffee from a filter is still above par and compared to what my mother made, Starbucks comes nowhere near.
As for me, I like instant coffee too and I make our coffee from Bru instant because it is easier and also because we have limited our coffee cups to two a day.
Decades before, I have noticed my mother and others pouring a second trip of boiling water into the same filter and extracting the decoction. This was used to prepare black coffee. Some like my dad's younger brother used to drink black coffee at least two or three times a day and he would linger before the kitchen and my mother would never hesitate to give him a cup. She was so loving to all.
Filter coffee from the hotels
When I visited hotels like Indian coffee houses for breakfast or between travels, I noticed they serve coffee in 'tumbler and davara' as they call it here in the south of India. The coffee should be poured into the davara and mixed well and then drunk. Some serve it in a cup and saucer. Nowadays, I think more about how they clean the cup and saucers and unless I am desperate for a cup of coffee, I do not order any.
Many people have talked and written against drinking coffee but people are so used to drinking coffee and tea that they just ignore such warnings. It has become a part of living that when guests arrive in the house, we offer them coffee or tea as per their wish. In fact, giving water was not considered an act of being welcomed but coffee and snacks meant you could stay and talk for hours. Milk was of course available readily in those days and people never hesitated to treat their guests.
The price of milk is skyrocketing nowadays and I am not even sure how many brands of milk are now in the market.
Do make sure you get the best milk because I have read alarming reports of people substituting real milk with other stuff. It is always best to buy milk directly from a milk farmer.
Thanks to the coffee community, I was able to relive my memories. Hope you get to drink a cup of filter coffee sometime soon.
filter coffee maker image - own
