"காபி சாப்பிடறேளா" ("Want coffee?")
This is perhaps the most important hospitality question you would face as you enter a TamBram household. Thirty years back, it was insulting to even ask. As you sat on the "thinnai" of your host, the lady would send through her daughter, a "gooja" full of frothing,steaming coffee, no matter what time of the day it was. There was no question of you NOT being a coffee drinker - every TamBram was a confirmed coffee drinker, and even if you weren't you'd soon be, thanks to the aroma of the "degree kaapi" that would permeate the entire house. A tambram child was said to have stepped into adulthood with his/her first cup of coffee (usually mixed with Bournvita) in his./her sixth standard.
Coffee drinking has changed since. Now we have westernized "cafe"s where you are exposed to world coffee, but for someone who has grown tasting coffee made in a filter from beans home-roasted and hand-ground, nothing comes close, except when you have a looming deadline at work, at which point, a double shot espresso is God-sent.
The coffee-making process would start with the purchase of two types of coffee beans - Plantation A and Peaberry (which was called "feebri"). The peaberry was a round seed, and packs more caffeine than the Plantation A (known as the "flat berry").
The next step would be to roast them separately in a cast iron kadai to golden brown, with an oily layer on top. The "trrrrrnnng trrrrnnnng" sound as the coffee beans are stirred in the iron pot with an iron ladle, accompanied by the aroma of roasting coffee is an incomparable duo, soon disappearing from the Indian domestic scene.
This golden brown roast is the "Full Roast". American coffees are light or medium roasted while the French double-roast it. It is interesting to note that the amount of caffeine in coffee decreases with the degree of roast. So, the light and medium roasted coffees (New England Coffee, Cinnamon Coffee, breakfast blend etc.) are higher in caffeine than the Indian roast, and French roast retains minimum caffeine.
The next step would be to grind them in a hand-crank cast iron mill. (Image source: Chitra Amma's kitchen.) The powder would be, what coffee experts would call, "medium grind" - neither too coarse, which would lead to weak coffee, nor too fine, which would clog the pores of the filter used. Turkish coffee ("dark as hell, strong as death, sweet as love") uses fine grind. French coffee uses coarse grind.
The Indian hand crank mill belongs to the roller grinder type of coffee grinding. Other methods of grinding such as burr grinding, pounding and chopping are generally not used in India - chopping is done by a few people with an electric spice grinder.
Even if the home-roasting and grinding has all but disappeared from vogue, thankfully the dip-brewing or filter brewing continues to exist in most homes. The manual coffee filter comprises a double decker arrangememnt, with a perforated vessel on top, into which the coffee powder is placed, a plunger to press the coffee powder before just-boil water is poured and a bottom container to collect the decoction.Many homes now use the electric drip brewer these days, but connoisseurs would't be caught dead drinking coffee brewed using one of those.
The traditional "degree" coffee is made by mixing one part of freshly brewed decoction with three or four parts of freshly boiled milk, with one or two teaspoons of sugar. This is then served in a "davara-tumbler" This is a very unique Indian style of drinking coffee, as the rest of the world prefers to drink the decoction directly ("black coffee"). Espresso, capuccino, latte, macchiato, Irish, Turkish and other types of coffee have found instant acceptance in the South Indian culture that places coffee next only to water in its list of must-drink options. Decaeffinated coffee (but why?) has also found takers in a health conscious society.
Unlike the case of nicotine, which is undeniably evil, the health industry has been undecided about the benefits vs. damage of coffee. One section argues that the caffeine is addictive and is therefore a drug. Another section claims that the caffeine helps ward Alzheimer and senility and gives the jolt of energy required for daily activity. Coffee produces acidity, coffee produces nervous disorders, coffee helps brain activity, are the various contradicting reports by various research groups. Perhaps, our own Indian philosophy offers the best solution - "அளவுக்கு மிஞ்சினால் அமிர்தமும் நஞ்சு" (Beyond limit, even ambrosia is poison).
Coffee was introduced to India nearly four centuries ago, by a Muslim pilgrim. History is that Babajan, on his way back from Mecca, picked up seven seeds of Arabica from Arabia and the seven seeds became the fore runners of all the coffee we drink today. Coffee is an important cash crop in India today. It is grown mainly in the southern states of Tamilnadu, Kerala, and Karnataka. Some coffee is grown in Andhra Pradesh and the North EAstern states of Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Tripura, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh. The varieties cultivated in India include Kents, S.795, Cauvery and Sin.9.
To end with an interesting note, a movie - Coffee and cigarrettes and a mystery series titled "Coffeehouse mysteries" are based entirely on a backdrop of coffee.
This is perhaps the most important hospitality question you would face as you enter a TamBram household. Thirty years back, it was insulting to even ask. As you sat on the "thinnai" of your host, the lady would send through her daughter, a "gooja" full of frothing,steaming coffee, no matter what time of the day it was. There was no question of you NOT being a coffee drinker - every TamBram was a confirmed coffee drinker, and even if you weren't you'd soon be, thanks to the aroma of the "degree kaapi" that would permeate the entire house. A tambram child was said to have stepped into adulthood with his/her first cup of coffee (usually mixed with Bournvita) in his./her sixth standard.
Coffee drinking has changed since. Now we have westernized "cafe"s where you are exposed to world coffee, but for someone who has grown tasting coffee made in a filter from beans home-roasted and hand-ground, nothing comes close, except when you have a looming deadline at work, at which point, a double shot espresso is God-sent.
The coffee-making process would start with the purchase of two types of coffee beans - Plantation A and Peaberry (which was called "feebri"). The peaberry was a round seed, and packs more caffeine than the Plantation A (known as the "flat berry").
The next step would be to roast them separately in a cast iron kadai to golden brown, with an oily layer on top. The "trrrrrnnng trrrrnnnng" sound as the coffee beans are stirred in the iron pot with an iron ladle, accompanied by the aroma of roasting coffee is an incomparable duo, soon disappearing from the Indian domestic scene.
This golden brown roast is the "Full Roast". American coffees are light or medium roasted while the French double-roast it. It is interesting to note that the amount of caffeine in coffee decreases with the degree of roast. So, the light and medium roasted coffees (New England Coffee, Cinnamon Coffee, breakfast blend etc.) are higher in caffeine than the Indian roast, and French roast retains minimum caffeine.
The next step would be to grind them in a hand-crank cast iron mill. (Image source: Chitra Amma's kitchen.) The powder would be, what coffee experts would call, "medium grind" - neither too coarse, which would lead to weak coffee, nor too fine, which would clog the pores of the filter used. Turkish coffee ("dark as hell, strong as death, sweet as love") uses fine grind. French coffee uses coarse grind.
The Indian hand crank mill belongs to the roller grinder type of coffee grinding. Other methods of grinding such as burr grinding, pounding and chopping are generally not used in India - chopping is done by a few people with an electric spice grinder.
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| Image source |
Unlike the case of nicotine, which is undeniably evil, the health industry has been undecided about the benefits vs. damage of coffee. One section argues that the caffeine is addictive and is therefore a drug. Another section claims that the caffeine helps ward Alzheimer and senility and gives the jolt of energy required for daily activity. Coffee produces acidity, coffee produces nervous disorders, coffee helps brain activity, are the various contradicting reports by various research groups. Perhaps, our own Indian philosophy offers the best solution - "அளவுக்கு மிஞ்சினால் அமிர்தமும் நஞ்சு" (Beyond limit, even ambrosia is poison).
Coffee was introduced to India nearly four centuries ago, by a Muslim pilgrim. History is that Babajan, on his way back from Mecca, picked up seven seeds of Arabica from Arabia and the seven seeds became the fore runners of all the coffee we drink today. Coffee is an important cash crop in India today. It is grown mainly in the southern states of Tamilnadu, Kerala, and Karnataka. Some coffee is grown in Andhra Pradesh and the North EAstern states of Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Tripura, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh. The varieties cultivated in India include Kents, S.795, Cauvery and Sin.9.
To end with an interesting note, a movie - Coffee and cigarrettes and a mystery series titled "Coffeehouse mysteries" are based entirely on a backdrop of coffee.
That's really interesting. I had no idea coffee was such a part of life of Tamil Brahmin life. See, I just learned two new things in this post!
ReplyDeleteLG, loved this post. To this day, I brew my coffee using the good old filter. It is the one ritual I love and my mornings are infinitely richer because of it. I think I started drinking kaapi in 3rd standard. :)
ReplyDeleteMargy
ReplyDelete"Two" new things? What would the second one be?
Lakshmi
I am never fully awake in the morning until the coffee permeates my soul.
Readers, Both Gayathri and I are in the middle of our respective, much deserved vacations..we have been alternately gallivanting all over Tamil Nadu, not wasting the sun's rays. We will get more active here in a week or two. Please don't give up on us just yet.
I Looooooooooooooooooooove coffee... not necessarily filter kaapi.... nescafe does it for me :-) Just cannot imagine myself to be a 'tea person'.
ReplyDeletewriterzblock, nescafe? Is that even coffee? ;)
ReplyDelete