Indian filter coffee

South Indian Coffee, also known as "Madras Filter Coffee" or "kaapi" (Tamil phonetic rendering of "coffee') is a sweet milky coffee made from dark roasted coffee beans (70%-80%) and chicory (20%-30%), especially popular in the southern states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The most commonly used coffee beans are Peaberry (preferred), Arabica, Malabar and Robusta grown in the hills of Kerala (Malabar region), Karnataka (Kodagu, Chikkamagaluru) and Tamil Nadu (Nilgiris District,Yercaud and Kodaikanal).

Outside India, a coffee drink prepared using a filter may be known as Filter Coffee or as Drip Coffee as the water passes through the grounds solely by gravity and not under pressure or in longer-term contact.

Preparation

South Indian coffee is brewed with a metal device that resembles two cylindrical cups, one of which has a pierced bottom that nests into the top of the "tumbler" cup, leaving ample room underneath to receive the brewed coffee. The upper cup has two removable parts: a pierced pressing disc with a central stem handle, and a covering lid.

The upper cup is loaded with fresh ground coffee mixed with chicory (~2 tablespooons of mixture per serving). The grounds are gently compressed with the stemmed disc into a uniform layer across the cup's pierced bottom. With the press disc left in place, the upper cup is nested into the top of the tumbler and boiling water is poured inside. The lid is placed on top, and the device is left to slowly drip the brewed coffee into the bottom.

The resulting brew is very potent, and is traditionally consumed by adding 1-2 tablespoons to a cup of boiling milk with the preferred amount of sugar. The coffee is drunk from the tumbler (although a word of English origin, it seems to be the most commonly used name for this vessel), but is often cooled first with a dabarah - "daBbarah" (also pronounced in some regions as 'davarah'): a wide metal saucer with lipped walls.

Coffee is typically served after pouring back and forth between the dabarah and the tumbler in huge arc-like motions of the hand. This cools down the very hot coffee and leaves a thick layer of froth on top. Less dramatically, the coffee can be swirled around gently inside the dabarah to cool it.

Culture

Coffee is something of a cultural icon in Kannada and Tamil cultures. It is customary to offer a cup of coffee to any visitor. Coffee was originally introduced by Baba Buden to South India in 16th century and became very popular under the British Rule. Until the middle of the 20th century traditional households would not use granulated sugar but used jaggery instead in coffee.

History

The popular Indian lore says that on pilgrimage to Mecca in the 16th century, Baba Budan, a revered Muslim holy man from India, discovered for himself the wonders of coffee. In his zeal to share what he’d found with his fellows at home, he smuggled seven coffee beans out of the Yemeni port of Mocha, wrapped around his belly. On his return home, he settled himself on the slopes of the Chandragiri Hills in Kadur district, Mysore State (present day Karnataka). This hill range was later named after him as the "Baba Budan Hills" and one can see his tomb even today by taking a short trip from Chikmagalur.

Rev. Edward Terry, chaplain to Sir Thomas Roe who was ambassador at the court of Emperor Jehangir, provides a detailed account of its usage (1616): :"Many of the people there (in India), who are strict in their religion, drink no Wine at all; but they use a Liquor more wholesome than pleasant, they call Coffee; made by a black Seed boiled in water, which turns it almost into the same colour, but doth very little alter the taste of the water: notwithstanding it is very good to help digestion, to quicken the spirits, and to cleanse the blood."

The British East India Company brought in fresh influences. David Burton, a food historian based in New Zealand writes in his book The Raj at Table (1993) :"India's first coffee house opened in Calcutta after the battle of Plassey in 1780. Soon after, John Jackson and Cottrell Barrett opened the original Madras Coffee House, which was followed in 1792 by the Exchange Coffee Tavern at the Muslim, waited at the mouth of the Madras Fort. The enterprising proprietor of the latter announced he was going to run his coffee house on the same lines as Lloyd's in London, by maintaining a register of the arrival and departure of ships, and offering Indian and European newspapers for his customers to read. Other houses also offered free use of billiard tables, recovering their costs with the high price of one rupee for a single dish of coffee."

So, just when and how did coffee, thus far an Arab / Muslim / European experience, percolate into the South Indian, and particularly, the Tamil Brahmin household? Literature and anecdotal evidence provide some clues, as evoked in this extract from the novel Devadasi by Kasturi Sreenivasan, under Chapter I - The Course of True Lovers (1977):

:"Outside the temple, the petty vendors along the dusty street were doing a brisk trade by the light of smokey oil lamps..."

:"Though Palayam was only a small town, one of its eating places started serving a new drink called coffee. It had been introduced by the British rulers and there were many stories about it. Some argued that, since it was of European origin, it must necessarily be unclean; others said it might be alcoholic. In any case, very few tried it, since a tumbler full cost as much as half an anna, while butter-milk was served free in many places and coconut water including the tender coconut meat was only a paisa. Only the most daring or the wealthy could afford the exotic brew. There was animated conversation about this and about various other things among the men who were slowly gathering in the temple courtyard. They talked about a new thing called a railway which had just been extended to the town from Madras recently.".

Indian filter coffee was popularised by the India Coffee Houses run by the Coffee Board of India since mid 1940s. It became the drink of millions after the emergence of more popular Indian Coffee Houses in mid 1950s. We can read this story in the Malayalam book Coffee Housinte Katha by Nadakkal Parameswaran Pillai.

Indian filter coffee even migrated overseas in the early 20th century to Malaysia and Singapore, where "kopi tarik" (pulled coffee) is a close cousin of the Madrasi coffee-by-the-yard / metre, and was introduced at roadside "kopi tiams" run originally by Indian Muslims.

Trivia

* A term often heard for high-quality coffee is "degree coffee". Milk certified as pure with a lactometer was called "degree milk" owing to a mistaken association with the thermometer. Coffee prepared with "degree milk" became known as "degree coffee".
* Another explanation for "degree coffee" is that chicory beans were used to make the coffee. The South Indian pronunciation of "chickory" became "chigory" then "digory" and finally "degree".
* Yet another explanation is that, when coffee is decocted for the first time, it is called as the first degree or simply as the "Degree Coffee". This has the strongest flavour and the necessary strength to mix with milk without watering down the taste. In less affluent households, in earlier days, coffee was decocted for a second or third time from the same initial load; this became the second degree coffee and naturally, is not as strong. Affluent households drank first degree or the famous "Degree Coffee" only.
* The name derives from the filter used for making the decoction.
* Interestingly, there is a Kannada name for coffee "Boondh Bisneeru". "Bisneeru" sounds a great deal like "bisi neeru," or "hot water," thus leading to speculation that the terms are connected. Although not used currently, this was used by ladies two generations ago. The Tamil name for coffee is "KuLambi"

External links

* [http://www.indiacoffee.org/ Official website of The Coffee Board of India]
* [http://www.indiancoffeehouse.com/ Official website of Indian Coffee House]

References

* Aparna Datta. [http://www.indiacoffee.org/newsletter/2004/april/coffeetrails.html "From Mocha to Mysore: A Coffee Journey"] .
* [http://indiacoffee.org/newsletter/welcome.html Indian Coffee, A Monthly Magazine Published by Coffee Board of India]

ee also

* Coffee filter