This post is an attempt to teach the quintessential lazy bum the art of brewing a quick half-decent (if not great)
What you need:
1)
A coffee filter
This two-tiered marvel of a metal sieve is an essential in
every South Indian household. You can purchase one in most shops that sell
steel utensils, coffee powder, or at select Café Coffee Day outlets (they also
stock cappuccino machines and my birthday is on 13th Jan).
In the absence of a filter, a cheat is to use the separation
method of decantation from a primary school science textbook.
2)
The coffee
As you probably guessed, this is the core ingredient for
that strong, flavourful cup of brown and has to be of the non-instant variety
that is insoluble in water. The alternative to grinding coffee beans at home is
to get it freshly packed from a store that deals in coffee, tea, and/or spices.
Cities like Bangalore, Mysore, Chennai, Hyderabad and Mumbai have a number of
such stores which are usually named on the lines of ‘XYZ Coffee Works’. They
have a variety of blends but I recommend the 85:15 (Coffee: Chicory, the latter
enhances the taste of the brew). That’s what most Darshini hotels in Bangalore
use and they usually have fantastic filter coffee. A good place in Bangalore to
buy coffee is from one of the Fresh n' Ground outlets (that’s how CCD started way back in the 90s) and a freshly packed version of their coffee is supplied every week
to More supermarkets.
3)
The Brewing
The first step is to prepare a decoction. Clean the filter
and fill one fourth of it with your coffee. Now, pour boiling water all the way
up. Care should be taken to pour the water in such a way that it covers and
moistens all of the coffee without the need for stirring. Never stir the decoction
in the filter else fine granules of coffee will fall through the sieve.
Close
the lid of the filter immediately while being extremely careful to not burn
your hands. Leave the filter aside for a few minutes till the decoction is
gathered.
Now to the coffee itself. The measure used in my house is a
150 ml cup with a milk:decoction ratio of 3:1 and a teaspoon of sugar. Mix the
contents well and then boil the mixture. It tastes best when the decoction is
fresh and the sugar is mixed into the milk before adding the coffee. Allow it
to bubble along the sides and take it off the heat.
Finally, the grand finale of pouring the brown. Filter
coffee is generally served in a thick stainless steel tumbler. The beverage is poured from
a height to make a cloud of foam so that cream does not collect on top and mar
the first sip. If done right, your tumbler of coffee will look better than
this:
