Thanks to a call last night with Lakshmi (Vidya), I changed up a few things, and the results are improving. The big difference was the grain size. Instead of using some packaged grind, I used the Breville to grind the coffee beans with a “3” setting – that is Turkish Grind level. That made a huge difference to the dripping speed. In fact, there was no dripping during the blooming period.

Ten minutes later, while meditating, I could hear the sound of water dripping in an otherwise quiet room. Caught between the prospect of a bathroom faucet leaking and my coffee-dripping reaching a modicum of success, I rushed to the coffee counter and was delighted to find no bathroom leaks!!

I still have a long way to go. While the decoction was strong, the coffee (with milk) did not hit the richness of what I have tasted in my South Indian friends’ houses. I wonder whether using skimmed milk is part of my problem.

Also, I can’t get the end result to be piping hot. Do not get me wrong — it is coming out hot — around 160 deg F. But, in my friends’ houses, I can barely hold the tumblr!

The experimentation shall continue…