Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Art of coffee making:

Not having the daily routine of office-home, for last a few days, made me a coffee addict.
It is been reading…. reading and more reading! To give an effect to this reading-thinking process, i started having “vella kappi”, or coffee sweetened with jaggery. I was making the coffee, the good old way. That is boil water, melt jaggery and add coffee powder. I like it black, so no milk.

How much time I should keep the coffee powder in the boiling water before filtering, what is decoction coffee , Is there a better way to do it, thoughts like this started appearing in my actively thinking mind !

My first instinct was to call amma(mother) and ask. Well, she taught/showed me the way which I am doing now. So she may not know a better way. Oops …now whom to ask, I don’t know any body who gave a better coffee. Mind started wandering for a possible solution. Thinking, more thinking… I took the coffee mug and went to my home 'office' and sat in front of the laptop. Oops ….here lies the answer…a chill went down my spine :) My dear google.

Typing “prep. coffee” , “decoction coffee” etc took me to different websites around the world. I learned about the way Americans make it, how to make espresso and also the beloved Indian filter coffee or decoction coffee.

Making of espresso was over complicated. Or the author wants to convey it like that. He suggests how to do roasting, grounding of coffee beans for espresso. And one should use the ground within 30 seconds :) Else throw it!

There were different methods, with nice names like French press, percolating (to me this was nothing but, decoction, but wrote by some body who misunderstood it!), auto drip, vacuum brewing (It is very interesting, but not worth the effort and money!), concentrate brewing etc.

But the bottom line for all the coffee making except espresso looks same.

You need to make the liquor (brewed and filtered concentrated coffee) first.

You need to have way to filter the powder out. A filter coffee vessel, or even a plain cloth tied to a vessel will do. The filter shouldn't give any taste to boiling water(Plastics, earthen ware etc may have this problem).

Put a few tea spoon full (3- 6 spoons) of coffee powder on the filter and pour hot water (~ 50ml) on the coffee powder. Hot water should be around 90-95 degree C. For that boil water and cool it for 2-3 minutes before pouring.

Add a few drops of the liquor collected to hot water/milk and put sugar or jaggery(if you are using jaggery dissolve it in the water while it is being boiled) to taste.

Remaining liquor can be stored in a closed (preferably air tight) container in a fridge and use it for 3 to 4 days without loosing aroma. Enjoy your coffee..!

5 comments:

Maddy said...

Looks like you have lots of time on your hand!! Nice to see you are blogging after a long gap. It kinda killed me with guilt coz I was wondering if you stopped blogging pissed off with my comments/feedback for the previous ones..

And hey, the final procedure isnt any different from how I make coffee at my home. So next time you visit, well you havent visited have you, anyway, whatever time of the day it is, you will be served coffee.

Keep blogging,
Maddy

RK's said...

Thanks for the comment... But I am afraid, I couldn't make out who is this ...maddy. Sorry abt that , pls enlighten :)

Preetha Nair said...

Coffee ....Interesting!!

Let that fresh essence of thoughts flow more often.
Keep writing

Maddy said...

who else, madhav ==> maddy

RK's said...

Ooooopps ....Sorry Madhav :)