My Nirvana Brew

 

Coffee by any other name would it smell and taste as good? I’m not so sure.  What’s in a name you say? Well ….. the aroma, the taste, just the idea of coffee…. …to me it simply wouldn’t sound right if it wasn’t coffee!  You guessed right. I am a coffee lover. Not quite the connoisseur, I don’t think.  But my early morning perfect cuppa is at the top of the list of my favourite things.

Is what I have south Indian filter “kaapi"? But doesn’t it look a bit like a Latte? Maybe it is drip brewed coffee? Or perhaps is best described as a hybrid brew, considering I have picked up interesting ideas about coffee brewing along the way during my travels.  What makes it so perfect you ask? Well to be perfectly honest – me! I wouldn’t trust anybody else to make me my morning ‘nirvana’ brew.  I do so like being my own barista.

My coffee corner

I don’t just savour my coffee you know. I also love everything that goes with the idea of coffee. I have a small collection of coffee making apparatus Moka pot, French press, Vietnamese Phin coffee filter, Cone filter. I rarely use all these but I love having them. For my coffee brewing ritual every morning I use my treasured south Indian coffee filter. And yes I love the ritual each morning right from the sense of anticipation as I go into the kitchen to my very own coffee corner.  

 

I start by lightly heating the perforated cylindrical top cup of the steel filter to clear any clog, then place it on top of its ‘tumbler’ cup,  add my “special” ground coffee to the top cup, and pour in boiling water with care and craft. Then I wait, breathing in the aroma as the brewed ‘decoction’ drips down.  I transfer the dripped brew to my coffee mug; add hot foamed milk and sugar. With renewed anticipation I carry the steaming mug of coffee and sink into my cushioned corner. Then..……that first sip……aahhh..…..bliss………

I have fond childhood memories of my mother roasting coffee beans and grinding fresh powder every night ready for the next morning. I remember waking up to the reassuring sound of my parents chatting over their morning coffee. When I was older I remember my mum sending me to the local coffee shop, at least three times a week, to get freshly roasted and ground coffee.  And there were special instructions - peaberry beans, no chicory.  

Over the years a variety of settings have served as backdrop for my trysts with coffee. Starbucks or Costa at airports, cozy coffee places in Italy, sweet little coffee shops in Laos, the iconic Indian Coffee House in Bangalore or a roadside “Kumbakonam degree coffee” place with its unbeatable ambience in Tamil Nadu - I just cannot resist a coffee pit stop.

My perennially brewing infatuation has seen me go on the Seattle Coffee Tour, spend evenings at Bangalore’s ‘Coffee Santhe’ and organize family holidays at coffee plantation Homestays. My personal coffee supplier is from Chikmagalur, India’s coffee county. Every time I call him to place a fresh order we have pleasant coffee conversations. I also keep a look out for write ups by coffee lovers to bask in shared love.  It is coffee after all. You don’t just drink it do you? You experience it.

A favourite day dream of mine is to own a cozy intimate coffee place that is stacked with dog eared books and stimulates creative intellectual conversations among a set of ‘regulars’ over endless cups of coffee.

What is it about coffee and me? I ask myself. The simple answer - I love coffee.