Bought this coffee bean packet from the Indian coffee place that goes by the same name in Atlanta. Ground it and then did the normal “filter kaapi” process. Did not come out as well. I now realize that the distinct flavor and aroma comes from the chicory that is added to coffee beans in the traditional South Indian coffee.
Made two big changes… got myself a vessel to heat up the milk in the oven. And thanks to a tip from Lakshmi, changed the decoction-to-milk ratio. For the first time, my memory cells from Taramani days were awakened!!
In a side story, our CHRO, Nicole, was in South India this week for work. This was her first trip to India. I had asked her to try “Filter Kaapi”. Apparently, after a fair bit of hesitation, she tried it.
And now we have “Plus One” for people who love South Indian “Filter Kaapi” !!!
Got myself a bag of South Indian coffee powder from Hyderabad. The result was remarkably close to what I remember of the Taramani coffee we used to drink while at IIT Chennai. I am still not forgiving my South Indian friends for feeding me coffee that had 20% chicory in it, though 🙂
My next frontier to solve is the temperature. I used the thermometer today to monitor it. The milk itself is at 170 deg F. But once I do a few pours from the dabara to the tumbler to get the froth, the temperature drops to 140 deg F. The stainless steel vessels lose heat very quickly.
I want steaming hot coffee like my South Indian friends give me.
Microwaving does not feel authentic. None of those Taramani tea stalls had microwaves. So, I have a mental barrier. Plus, I am not putting any stainless steel vessels in the microwave. Resorting to ceramic feels like giving up on the art of South Indian Filter Kaapi.
I welcome your ideas!
… I am convinced, is to give you time to clean up all the stainless steel utensils required, in the meantime. Making a cappuccino in the machine didn’t require this many utensils.
In the meantime, I need the following to keep testing and tasting.
1. Dark roast coffee beans mixed with chicory. I have to admit that when I found out that South Indian coffee uses chicory, I was a bit deflated. Historically, chicory was added to coffee to cheat customers when coffee beans were in short supply. But apparently, I need that to get the authentic South Indian coffee smell and taste. Haver ordered on Amazon now.
2. Use full-fat milk. I am balking at this one. Being a bit afraid of lipids (and with my LDL levels high), I have trained my palate to enjoy coffee with skimmed milk. Maybe I will settle for 2% for a while.
3. The third one, I need help from experts. I cannot get my coffee to be steaming hot. Do you folks boil the milk? What do you do when you need it only for one person? That is 8-10 ounces of milk at most.
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…
