Filter coffee, The Hindu and the good life

There is a section of old gentlemen in Chennai, whose day starts with a steaming cup of filter coffee and a crisp edition of the Hindu. If you are nodding your head and savouring the memories of your grandpa, I am guessing you are from Chennai and you really do not need any lessons on the quintessential filter coffee.

Filter coffee or Madras filter kaapi is known for its rich aroma and strong taste. The most important equipment for preparation of filter coffee is obviously the filter. The filter has two compartments - the upper one having tiny holes on the base, where the coffee powder is placed and the lower compartment into which the coffee percolates to. A plunger is provided to keep the coffee powder in place.

Depending on your tastes and the size of your filter, you can modify the following ingredients:

1. 2.5 teaspoons of coffee powder, my favorite combination is 250 gm Plantation + 250 gm peaberry + 100 gm chicory powder. The chicory gives a distinctive flavor to the coffee.
2. 3/4 of a cup of water
3. Fresh milk (ideally fresh cow milk) at the least the freshest bottle you can lay your hands on
4. Sugar - a minimal amount,as an overdose will kill the essence of the coffee

Lets get to making the coffee now, shall we?

1. Place the coffee powder in the upper compartment of the filter and gently tap it down and place the plunger on top of the powder. Do not push the plunger down in a manner that gives no breathing space for the coffee. Jokes apart, do not pack up the powder tight.
2. Boil the water vigorously, by this I mean the water should bubble up and boil with a lot of vigor, before it is considered good enough for the filter.
3. Now pour the boiling water into the upper compartment and wait.
4. As the decoction is percolating, boil the milk. (on low flame so that it takes just as much time as the decoction takes to percolate)
5. Within 15-20 minutes, percolation should be complete. Add the decoction to the freshly boiled milk along with sugar.
6. In true madras style, pour the coffee back and forth between the davara and tumbler, topping it off with a rich layer of froth.

Your filter coffee is ready, all you need is the Hindu and an easy-chair.

Few interesting Madras filter coffee notations:

Degree coffee - Coffee made with degree milk (pure milk as per the lactometer) and degree decoction (first degree - freshly percolated and the strongest).

Meter coffee - Coffee poured into the davara from (I am not sure of this fact though) the height of one meter, to create the froth without lowering the temperature of the coffee.

Look forward to the next post on the “Black as devil, hot as hell” black coffee!

More Coffee, anyone?

• The art of making Filter Coffee
• How to make make South Indian filter coffee
• Filter coffee
• There’s No Coffee Like Filter Coffee, It’s Like No Coffee I’ve Known……

Tags: coffee, coffee filter, coffee powder, davara, degree coffee, easy chair, filter coffee, Madras filter kaapi, meter coffee, The Hindu, tumbler