Making coffee in South India is an art.
It takes time. It takes technique. It takes experience. It takes mindfulness.
Perhaps it is an art handed down from generation to generation.
Good coffee in South India is SO good, there is no doubt in my mind that it has taken lifetimes to perfect.
Unfortunately, not all coffee in South India is good South Indian Coffee. Unfortunately, the ubiquitousness of instant coffee has meant the demise of the wonderful traditional South Indian coffee in many places. Unfortunately, the quickness of powder, chosen over the hours of making a great coffee, has compromised the taste. But the traditional maker is still to be found, if you seek carefully.
On my recent trip to India I had not had a decent coffee in weeks. It is always a puzzle to me why hotels cannot make a good coffee? Why is that? Someone should institute a study of hotel coffee.
I was staying at the Trishul in Tiruvannamalai, a great pilgrim hotel. I wandered back to the room one afternoon after a tiring day of temple visiting, needing a shower bucket bath and a rest, and said to my room mate - I fancy a coffee.
The man in the corridor took my order, and then took it a second time. Sometimes good things have to be ordered twice.
About 15 minutes after the second order, he knocks and walks straight into our room with a tray, two metal teapot-like jugs, and two cups. Something smelt like heaven. No really, it smelt like heaven. A few rupees later, I am exploring the jugs - one had a very strong black almost syrupy liquid, the other had boiling milk, already sweetened.
We poured the coffee - a couple of tablespoons of the strong coffee, and the rest milk.
We took a sip.
I nearly fell off of my bed.
It was the best coffee that I have ever tasted.
Seriously.
Strong, sweet, milky coffee with a real coffee flavour. A real coffee flavour. Strong. Sweet. Cofffeeeee. Good. Very. Very. Good.
A ritual was established – coffee at the Trishul every afternoon of our stay in Tiruvannamalai. Sadly, it was the only most excellent coffee that I found on this trip. I took to drinking chai, and became addicted to it. But that is a story for another post.
What makes the difference?
There are several factors, as far as I can gather, that make all the difference. And I welcome your comments too.
Firstly, hot water is dripped very slowly through the grounds – it will take several hours, and produces a very strong thick coffee.
Secondly, the milk is boiled. Boiling milk changes its taste – something known to our Asian and Indian neighbours but not generally known or well used in the West. Boiling milk makes it sweeter somehow. We know that it changes the milk – you need to boil milk first to make paneer or yoghurt, so there are some chemical changes that occur during the boiling. But the taste alters also.
Thirdly, boiled milk is easily frothed to get that characteristic top on good South Indian coffee. In South India this is done by pouring the coffee and milk back and forth between the cup, which is made of metal, and a larger, serving bowl also made of metal. The pouring is done in an arc, allowing the person to get a large distance between the cup and the bowl, and this in turn cools the coffee – milk mixture, absorbs prana into the coffee from the air, and froths the milk.
And finally, the love and the pride that the good coffee maker puts into his art surely adds a sweetness to the coffee that cannot be produced by sugar alone.
Reproducing South Indian Coffee at home
Most excitingly, I have managed to buy a South Indian coffee maker and have made some great cups of coffee that take me right back to the Trishul. It is a 2-compartment container with tamper. Ground coffee is placed in the top, boiling water is poured over this, and the coffee collects in the bottom container.
However, I will leave it to the experts to explain in better detail the knack of making it. Just keep in mind that it is not a 2 minute wonder. Good things take time to make. Good coffee can take an hour or two.
Making South Indian Coffee on the Stovetop
There is a great video on YouTube which takes you through the very traditional ritual of making coffee without any special equipment. It is amazing and fascinating to watch the attention that this beautiful brown-amber liquid gets. The result is so good.
Making Filter Coffee
My Diverse Kitchen details making South Indian Filter coffee with the equipment that I described above. Her post describes how to use the equipment and has great photos. The photo on the right comes from this site.
The Yum Blog also has a post that describes this method with a wonderful slide show of the method.
Saffron Trail talks about her Mother-in-law’s method of making filter coffee.
And Salius’ Kitchen writes about making filter coffee with a very old brass filter coffee maker.
Travel Thursday Series
- 10. The Pursuit of Coffee in London
- 9. London in Winter with Flowers
- 8. Chat by the (Kovalam) Beach **** Most popular travel post this past month!
- 7. Geraldine Cox’s Orphanage in Cambodia
- 6. Staying in Pilgrim Hotels in India
- 5. Eating from Banana Leaves in India
- 4. Dosai cooking at the Train Station
- 3. Siem Reap New Market, Cambodia Part 2
- 2. Siem Reap New Market, Cambodia Part 1
- 1. A night in Singapore
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15 responses so far ↓
arundathi // May 10, 2008 at 3:13 am
that’s so true that hotels can’t make coffee - they come out as sweet american coffee, which is just plain bad. i like american coffee for the bitterness and indian coffee for the sweetness and milk - but you cannot combine the two.
yes, the slow dripping of the water through the grounds is essential. its funny that though I’m south Indian, my family always made the worst coffee! its definitely an art! we only offer tea to our guests! lol!
Maybe there is a business in teaching hotels how to make coffee. It is uniformally aweful around the world.
There really must be an art to the coffee making. I am convinced of it.
Srivalli // May 10, 2008 at 3:40 am
lovely post vegeyum!…we love coffee..and the day is not started if we dont’ have…my mom makes the best one of course!..:0)…now I have kind of got the hang!…come down anytime our home for a filter coffee!…
My first activity each morning is to make a coffee too. How lucky you are that your mom makes the best one.
Thanks for the invite. I will be there shortly.
Sasi // May 10, 2008 at 3:51 am
Wow i dint know the best coffee was made in Indian
Im of Malaysia so yea…and yes am the 4th Generation South Indian here
YOu guys speak tamil ??
Hi Sasi, glad to see you here. Welcome. No tamil spoken here, tho. Only memories of wonderful coffee. You are so close to India maybe you could pop over for a cup.
It really is the best.
giniann // May 10, 2008 at 5:10 am
I have a coffee filter for south indian coffee but no matter what I do I can’t seem to duplicate the taste. I blame it on the coffee I use.
Hi giniann. Yes, i think the quality of coffee always depends a lot on the coffee beans that you use. Also, if you watch the youTube video he talks about adding some chickory. Maybe that also adds to the taste. The person on the video is very particular about his coffee blend.
Suganya // May 10, 2008 at 5:47 am
Isn’t that the best coffee? Inexpensive equipment, high quality ingredients and patience - thats the formula
I agree, truly the best. I like your formula. Patience. Yes.
Smita // May 10, 2008 at 6:26 am
ooh - lovely post. I fell in love with coffee in Melbourne
So now I have this impression that Australians really know their coffee 
In Melbourne? Good coffee there - really great coffee in Adelaide. We do really know our coffee, and in Adelaide prefer an Italian style. It is great. But South Indian coffee - well, it is in a class of its own.
TBC // May 10, 2008 at 9:36 am
I *love* filter coffee made the South Indian way. My mom makes the best filter coffee (kaapi- as we call it) ever!
I am a tea person though, and have coffee only during weekends.
Only on weekends? I think my blood flow would dry up if I restricted my coffee to weekends.
tara // May 10, 2008 at 11:15 am
Sadly, the last time I was in India I had not yet acquired my current love of coffee - at that time I was all about the pulled tea, another artful beverage. I will have to feebly attempt this at home to see what I missed.
Hi Tara, what a pity you weren’t able to try the coffee last time you were in India. It sounds like a good excuse to go again ….
Sasi // May 10, 2008 at 3:31 pm
You hafta hit me up - am so intrigue over your blog and your food topic, simply awsome
Rasam , Kaapi , Banana Leaf Rice the bruschetta - and all - its just overwhelming - Keep up the good work - will drop by often - infact am even adding u in my RSS fedd - Cheers mate
Please do dropby my blog
Sasi, thank you! Glad you found some things that you like. I would love to visit your blog, but it did not link properly to your comments.
Aparna // May 10, 2008 at 5:04 pm
Agree with you completely. An “instant/ Nescafe” coffee culture is taking over. I’m not putting this down but it doesn’t come up tp the real thing.
Good filter coffee is scarce in hotels across South India but it is easily available, especially in smaller hotels, in Tamilnadu but one would specificall ask for “filter coffee”.
Btw, there’s one more aspect to making good filter coffee at home and that’s lots of practise. I know!
One more thing. Filter coffee will not produce froth when poured if you use artificial sweetners. Only sugar works here.
Hi Aparna, good to see you settling in to Goa. I have a particular fondness for Sinquerim, Panjim, the Mandovi and many of the tiny fishing villages along the river. Interesting information about artificial sweetners - clearly the sugar adds to its “frothability”. I wonder what other tips there are for perfecting the art of filter coffee?
KitchenGoddess83 // May 10, 2008 at 8:07 pm
Wonderful post on a wonderful blog.
That coffee looks out of this world, please somebody pass me a cup
Thank you so much! I really appreciate it. Yes, let’s have coffee!
Jackie // May 10, 2008 at 11:49 pm
How I would love to try some that original Indian coffee; it sounds delicious!
Hi Jackie, I glad that the yumminess of the coffee comes across in the post. It is quite different to more well known coffee styles (Italian, French, American etc) and just the best.
axinia // May 11, 2008 at 12:56 am
really amazing news! I love India but somehow never tried a coffe there, because the masala-tea is great enough
Hi axina. Next time, see if you can find a great (not instant) coffee.
blog52 // May 11, 2008 at 5:14 am
Great post!
But now you’ve got me craving a real, South Indian coffee. Where to find one….
Only in India, only in India…….
Marika // May 12, 2008 at 11:30 am
Awesome post and great blog - I have appreciated coffee for a very long time. I’ve tried coffee made in the Vietnamese tradition and liked it very much - I am intrigued by the Indian method of making coffee that you’ve so eloquently described. I would like to try it!
Do you know if it is possible to buy the proper metal filter contraption online somewhere? I’ve made some initial searches but have so far come up empty.
I think that you can buy them - just look for south indian filter coffee maker.
I have heard about Vietnamese coffee and it sounds wonderful. I wonder if it was influenced by the French? I suspect so.
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