Filter Coffee

For any hard core south Indian the day begins with a cup of aromatic, freshly-brewed filter coffee or decoction coffee – the whiff of coffee is very invigorating and sipping this hot beverage energizes you instantly as if it were a morning fuel for the body.  This post is for a very dear friend, Samir Dholakia, who loves coffee but has never prepared the traditional filter coffee by himself.   

   

Filter coffee maker in available in stainless steel.  The decoction can also be prepared in an electrical coffee maker.   

The steel coffee maker consists of 4 parts –

• a cylindrical container at the bottom
• a container with holes that is placed on the top
• a lid
• a plunger

Coarsely ground coffee powder is available in stores, but it is better to get it from the coffee merchandiser where you can choose your coffee beans and get it ground – this is more aromatic.

Ingredients:

Coffee powder, 4 to 5 tsp

Milk

Sugar to taste

Water

Method:

1. Boil the water.
2. Assemble the coffee containers.  Put the coffee powder into the top container and place the plunger and press down the coffee powder.
3. Pour the boiling water into the top vessel.
4. It will take around 10 minutes for the decoction to collect into the bottom container. 

1. Boil the milk. 
2. Take a cup, pour hot milk into it, add required amount of sugar and add decoction.
3. Stir with spoon and sip away.
4. Alternatively, the coffee is poured into a steel tumbler and with the help of a flat-bottomed small bowl (called davara in Tamil) the coffee is transferred from tumbler to davara two to three times to get the frothy layer to the coffee.