South Indians and Their Coffee

South Indians love their coffee and they're quite proud of it. The South Indian filter coffee is a decoction extracted from various blends, mixed with chicory and added to boiled milk and sugar. This mixture is then poured vigorously from a tumbler into a davarah and back again into the tumbler. The South Indians consider making the perfect cup of coffee an art form in itself. My father and sister swear by my mother's coffee and will wake up to at least 2 tumblers of coffee in the morning.

Venkatachalapathy researched the origins of coffee in India in his book 'In Those Days There Was No Coffee: Writings in Cultural History'. An excerpt reads

Coffee was closely tied to colonialism. According to Anthony Giddens, a British Sociologist, “Virtually all the coffee we drink in the western countries comes from areas that were colonised by the Europeans.” It is thought that coffee was grown in the Mysore region in the 18th century and was primarily meant for Europe. Ayothidas Pandithar, a radical Dalit intellectual referred to coffee as the drink of the Europeans! The word coolie in the Tamil language is thought of have originated from Tamil workers who worked in coffee plantations for the British empire.

In early 20th century, the Tanjore Gazetteer observed, “Among the higher classes, coffee in the morning is taken. Of recent years, however, a tendency has become noticeable among Shudras, even of the poorer classes, towards the use of coffee in the early morning in preference to cold rice.” The rapid adoption of coffee as the preferred beverage among Tamilians brought to fore people who took it upon themselves to banish the drink! One of them even proclaimed “Filter coffee is more addictive than even beer and arrack!”

By the time India was inching closer to independence from the British, coffee had taken the centre stage among Tamilians. R.K Narayan had observed “A middle-class South Indian cannot feel that he has acquitted himself unless he is able to ask any visitor who may drop in, ‘Will you have coffee?’” Between the 1920s all the way to 1950s, there was an explosive growth in “Coffee Hotels”. These were small restaurants, typically run by Tamil Brahmins, that served good South Indian filter coffee and tiffin. Subsequently, old coffee brands like Narasus and Leo coffee continues to survive and thrive in the midst of modern coffee chains such as Coffee Day and Starbucks trying to change the way coffee is consumed in India.

Ratna Cafe, Triplicane, Chennai. Hungry Forever

These coffee hotels are often called cafes or messes and are each famous for it's traditional filter coffee. My parents swear by the Karpagambal Mess or Ratna Cafe, institutions that have been serving coffee since before their birth. Til date a cup of coffee costs about 15 ₹ (around 2 €). When the first Cafe Coffee Days and Baristas opened around town charging anywhere between more than 100 ₹ for a cup of 'mocha frappe', my parents were quite amazed. Why in the world would you pay to have bad coffee when you could have filter coffee that so much easier on the pocket?

For me, I think the beauty of the South Indian filter coffee lies in the coffee filter and the way it's served.

Decoction being brewed.

Coffee being cooled between the tumbler and davarah. India Food Network

And served. Saffron Trail

Me, I've never been big on filter coffee. I like my coffee black and started drinking it only when I had moved out of home. When I went back, my mother was bemused and slightly astounded that I would drink just the decoction - no milk, no sugar, no nothing. My aunts and uncles would watch me in puzzlement when they came over, smile but also quietly shake their heads wondering why I would do this to myself. In other words, I'm a bad South Indian. Which reflects in my version of blend.