“It’s brown and hot! The taste is a kick!
Don’t drink a lot, twill make ya sick!
Dunno bout you cause maybe it’s just me!
The best coffee is the filter one you see!”
So do you take coffee or tea in the morning! Well, many times I do not take anything and it still works! But if you are from the South of India then pure filter coffee it is for you!
In the north, the sweet Masala Chai is preferred!
Since I am an Indian first! I love them both!
You would think it is easy to make the coffee, well if it is instant then yes, but if it is the authentic filter coffee then it is a process!
read on!
First and foremost is the selection of the perfect coffee powder! Even here the taste is different for everyone but there are many who say their own brand is the best!
The powder itself can never be mixed directly with the milk which was once done by someone I know! Her father still drank the coffee since it was her first time!
The selection of powder also has other issues like you have to also see the amount of chicory in the coffee powder! Chicory adds sweetness, a caramel flavor, and a lot of specialness to your coffee apparently but basically it does make your coffee the perfect colour!
There have been countless trials and errors with so many different combination of powders to get your proper fit! Many visits to different places we used to get so many different powders and use them for ‘test’! Most of the times they fail and we get back to our own combination! Occasionally in a marriage or in an old hotel you would get the perfect tasting coffee and if you enquire you can get the powder they use and that is added to the mix for experimentation!
Your coffee needs not only to taste good, but the colour is the most important! If it is not the perfect colour then the lover of filter coffee may not even drink it! Even the level of sugar is like the rocket science! Unlike tea where you have to add a generous amount of sugar, in coffee you must add very little! True coffee drinkers may even drink a sugar less coffee but if they would throw out a sweet coffee! The only coffee which can be sweet is either a bad one or a cold one!
Of course in Bangalore, a sugar less coffee does not mean a coffee with no sugar but a coffee with sugar which is ‘less’ than the normal level! So it still has sugar! There is also a trend to add jaggery to the coffee but that is not authentic apparently!
There are many such hard and fast rules of coffee unlike the tea! You can still over boil the tea which may make it a little bitter but you can NEVER add the decoction (the warm water with the filter coffee) to the milk and boil! If you do that then it will certainly get burnt!
A true coffee lover which is by default filter coffee drinker can find out if the coffee is burnt! He or she can also find out whether you have made the coffee with the first batch or the second! Only the first batch is the best!
You need to use your perfect mixture of powders and set it some time before!
Previously we used to use the filter coffee jar with the small hole in the bottom and now the automatic ones are used! The amount of work involved is really too much if you are the only one who drinks coffee in the house!
After you collect the warm decoction you need to heat the milk separately and then turn off the gas and add the decoction slowly till you get the perfect colour!
Add a couple of more dollops for that for more kick and you have your filter coffee! Washing and cleaning of the filter coffee and the amount of waste it generates is actually a lot! It is a messy affair and more often than not the effort is simply too much!
The best coffee is thus which is made by someone else! Then finally (yes, it is still not over!); the coffee has to be served in that typical brass vessel with the cup and saucer which is called the ‘dawara’! Even that has to be the perfect colour! The colour of the glass and the coffee inside must complement each other! By the way even those brass cups have to be washed and kept in a special way or else they change colour! All that effort for that wake up juice which coffee!
For now, since only I drink coffee in the house and that too when I have time (and patience!); filter coffee is something I drink only outside once in a while!
For routine, it is unfortunately instant coffee powder! I mix a couple of brands to get a proper taste though! Since milk is also something I do not use now, the perfect coffee is a dream! The soy or almond milk simply does not boost the taste of coffee but then that was a hard choice I had to make!
Sometimes though if you have a headache then it is better to take a hot masala chai! or get a head massage! Like one from the Birthday celebrity Jonny Walker! I actually sketched this listening to his ‘Sar jo tera’ song! Though my best Jonny moment is the one in Anand! Murari lal!
Now put fill the powder in the filter of the filter coffee and put hot water and cover nicely and sleep!
Shubh ratri!
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