psychoactive addictive stimulant of choice – filter kaapi

I love coffee. I am addicted to coffee. On a normal day, i drink upwards of 5 steaming cups. But do not misunderstand me. I am not one of those people – who frequents cafes* and believes that if one goes to a cafe often enough and orders every type of coffee on the menu, one will eventually find a favourite.

Remember Joe Fox’s line from You’ve got mail?

The whole purpose of places like Starbucks is for people with no decision-making ability whatsoever to make six decisions just to buy one cup of coffee. Short, tall, light, dark, caf, decaf, low-fat, non-fat, etc. So people who don’t know what the hell they’re doing or who on earth they are can, for only $2.95, get not just a cup of coffee but an absolutely defining sense of self: Tall. Decaf. Cappuccino.

Being born into a tamil brahmin family in Kochi, South India, this “defining” choice was made for me at birth and I probably started drinking south indian filter kaapi at the age of 2 or 3. Thats right folks, i was hooked to a psychoactive stimulant drug at a very, very young age. It probably explain a lot……. anyway……..

I was very surprised recently, when friends in kerala didn’t know what a coffee filter was! For, in my family, making kaapi is a day-to-day ritual**. (Especially with my grandmum who gets really offended if you walk into the house around 4 in the afternoon and dont go straight to the kitchen looking for your kaapi).

It is my personal opinion that if there is a heaven, its probably coffee brown in colour, smells like freshly roasted and ground coffee. And everyone only drinks filter kaapi, of course.

(Singing the beatles tune – Kaapi in the Sky with Murukku).

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* – Yes, I do visit coffee houses and cafes, but never for their coffee. (I’m sorry – not a fan of ridiculously expensive but equally ridiculously insipid coffee). I always go for the company. Never for the coffee. NEVER.

**-Recipe for Perfection:
We buy freshly roasted and ground coffee poweder (with ZERO percent chickory – i HATE chickory) and prepare decoction using a filter. The filter is usually made of stainless steel and looks like this (these are my grandmum’s):

The scientist in me is itching to explain the workings of this apparatus, so here goes:
The coffee powder (around 3 spoons full) is added to the upper perforated cup of the filter apparatus (which rests on the lower cup). The plunger is places on it gently and then boiling water is added over it. The whole setup is allowed to stand while the piping hot water percolates – slowly and solely by the action of gravity – through the coffee powder. The decoction collects in the bottom cup in about 20 minutes. The decoction is mixed with milk and sugar.
Result – Heaven in a Cup.

Filed under: coffee, kerala, my li'l life

Can you smell the distant rains?

Do you love the smell of the first rain? Do you like to sit in a local bus with the shutters up and the droplets of rain in your face? Do you find yourself smiling when your jeans are soaked below the knees? Do you enjoy jumping in puddles? Do you hold that everything becomes “clean” with the first of the monsoon rains? Do you find yourself glancing expectantly at the western horizon, by the end of may, looking for signs of rainclouds?
Are you finding yourself emotionally attached to a weather phenomenon??
Well, it’s time for you to rejoice! The monsoon is here again (here being kerala, of course)!!!

There’s no doubt that people all over india love the monsoon – but we in kerala believe we own the monsoon. we get the first and best share. and it is true, after all, that people in other parts of the country wait for the rains and then complaint about the HEAVY DOWNPOURs after 3 days of minor drizzling and tickling winds. Yea, the rest of india doesn’t deserve to have the monsoon at all! They won’t be able to handle 3 to 4 months of REAL torrential rains. Unlike us, we wait for it and relish it. We take it further too. for, by the end of may, people here smell the air expectantly and make predictions like “It’s going to rain from tomorrow, i can smell it in the distance…..” in a tone of profound wisdom and with a sagacious expression on their features.
(my father made this exact statement two days ago, incidentally. in this case, he was right – the monsoons arrived in kochi the next day………

anyway, my point with this post is………that
-I LOVE THE RAINS!
-I LOVE KERALA! and
-THE RAINS ARE HERE IN KERALA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
-yaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

PS::: I have found the most WONDERFUL web album featuring photos of the monsoon in kerala. Click here to check it out.

Filed under: kerala, kochi