—- Catch from Thursday, 5 October 2023 at 8:30pm on SBS or stream free on . —-
It’s one of Bangalore’s most iconic restaurants, with long queues out the door and regulars who have been ordering cups of filter coffee for decades. (or simply MTR, for those in the know) is the first place Luke Nguyen takes his viewers in , a journey through the southern part of the country.
Why there? “Coffee is a way of life in Southern India. It's part of Indian culture,” explains Nguyen. In the first episode, he sits down for a coffee with locals. “It's a social thing. A coffee every morning before work, with the same group of people. They have to have coffee. It's almost like when you have to brush your teeth, you have to have a filter coffee,” he adds.
Most Indian coffee is grown in the southern regions of Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Indian saint back from Yemen in the 17th century. This led to coffee growing in the country, with production accelerating during the French and British colonial rules.
Indian filter coffee, , is in an Indian filter pot, made of stainless steel or brass. The coffee grounds are often mixed with chicory powder, which was initially a way to stretch coffee supplies. It’s served with scalded milk, with froth on top, and sometimes sugar. .
The drink is served “The tumbler and saucer is a good way for you to swish back and forth the coffee to bring it down to the temperature of your liking. It also froths the milk as you’re doing it,” explains Kerala-born Suraj Varma. Baristas can also long-pour the milk themselves to achieve the same result.
Varma sells Indian coffee and equipment via , and holds .
He explains that South Indians love making coffee at home: “The mums or the grandmothers in the house would set it to brew overnight. They would put the coffee into the coffee filter, pour the water, let it steep and drip so that when they wake up in the morning, all they have to do is boil a fresh batch of milk, add the coffee concentrate and add sugar. It’s a ritual.”
Venues like MTR and also carry the Indian filter coffee tradition and are important meeting places. They serve piping-hot coffee alongside snacks like , and .
, the traditional coffee houses are not going anywhere. “You walk into some of these old school places in India which are 80-90 years old, and they’re being run now by fourth or fifth generation owners. They have upped their game so they roast the beans in house,” says Varma.
In Australia, the interest for Indian filter coffee is growing. Since starting his business in 2017, Varma is now offering different blends, as well as single-origins. His pop-ups are where he reaches a wider audience and spreads the gospel of kaapi. . The espresso machine is turned off and Indian filter coffee is the only thing on the menu.
“With the pop-ups, that's when people sort of come to know that there's coffee in India, and tea is not the only beverage. All those conversations happen at pop-ups, in person”, says Varma. “There are local customers who come specifically for their Indian coffee fix on Sundays. So I know that there is an interest.”
