Wednesday, September 18, 2013

The simple joys of filter coffee

Today I am going to discuss another love of mine....coffee...its one of my indulgences. I simply love a great cup of coffee, it needn't be from an espresso machine, my absolute favourite is rather cheap...a South Indian filter coffee cup.....of course I never stop at just one cup it has to be at least two (their servings after all are rather small is my self justification and aren't we getting used to those huge mugs at a CCD/Barista).

Luckily for me most of my friends love their cuppa of filter coffee too, this joint Ram Ashray in Matunga is one of my top places for a guaranteed great cup of coffee, they have a separate section for families/women and service is brisk, so you are seated within minutes and the coffee placed in front of you as soon as you want it, its always freshly brewed and fragrant! (they have great medhu vadas too, which Harish can confirm)

I am the odd one out in my family being the solo coffee drinker in a house of tea lovers, leading me to speculate for years when I was mucho younger (especially on days I fought with mom over something trivial) that I had to be a case of mixed up babies....you know the stories our film makers so love to repeat time and again where the wrong baby gets taken home. I always assumed that there had to be coffee loving parents somewhere out there......which explained my coffee addiction. Never mind that I look like my parents and there is frankly no doubt about my genealogy...but still.

I have been consciously cutting down on coffee for the last few months after reading that it escalates the symptoms of pre-menopause (me being in that state at present). Hence my Krups coffee maker which was used almost 2-3 times a week by me and which made the house smell heavenly like a Barista, has seen very seldom use in the last few months. (basically since my diagnosis I have been maniacally trying to remove anything that can worsen symptoms and adding new food items and things which will "supposedly" make life easier) So I made the difficult switch from coffee to tea, tried that for a few months and gave up, I like tea but it just doesn't wake me up or pep me up like coffee. Honestly I don't even miss it.

Also for a while now I have been wondering why my Krups drip machine coffee can't produce the taste of filter coffee, so after researching online I discovered that the filter coffee decoction is that much more concentrated, enhancing the taste of the coffee. The coffee grounds stay in contact with the water longer and the ensuing decoction is hence much stronger. That explains why drip coffee always tastes slightly lighter to me when compared to a cup of filter coffee.

Yesterday I decided that instead of making 5 cups of coffee in the Krups machine and wondering if its making things worse for me every time I partake a cup, I should occasionally indulge myself rather than abstain completely from caffeine. Also instead of having it in the morning (my usual indulgence), which might lead to greater hormonal imbalance, evening consumption seemed a practical solution. Towards that goal getting something which made less decoction seemed to be a workable plan to me. So, yesterday evening I ventured to the South Indian Stores at Matunga and got myself a 2 cup filter coffee maker...Yay!!!

Less coffee, but concentrated doses and no wastage. Of course I had to use it as soon as I got home..and lo and behold in 20 minutes I was sipping a divine but lukewarm cup of coffee, having not heated the milk enough and my decoction was sitting for a while, so cooled down.
Anyways great coffee has no comparisons, so I was happy with my lukewarm but delicious cup of filter coffee :)

Here is a picture of my frothy cuppa, wish smells could be incorporated in blogs......you just had to have been there :P





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