Kaapi Tales

As an orthodox South Indian, I hold in all high regard the God of Filter Kaapi. It is steaming, pure frothy, dark and thick. The taste is next to elixir. I dont remember when I had my first coffee... but I remember that even at an age of 11yrs, I used to have it once in a month, a saturday evening/sunday morning special.

Coming from a traditional South Indian Brahmin family, I hear about the Kaapi stories from generations. Once in my ancestral home, my paternal grand mom showed me two tin boxes, sized around 15cms, with a circular opening. She proudly proclaimed that these boxes are "Staines Coffee boxes from London (actually England). Your grandfather used to get them imported when he was alive. (circa 1930s). We used to drink it daily in this glass (showing me a steel glass of with a capacity of around 500ml)". In another story my dad once said that he used to milk the cow and with the fresh frothy milk, he used to drink the coffee. My mom still complains how she was ill-treated in her in-laws place, because she never used to get a bed coffee. She had to finish her morning ablutions, and then ignite the stove to get that chaste cup of coffee. Coffee is considered to be divine form of food. During fasts, two things are allowed to be gulped... fruits and coffee. Then there was a story of a distant relative how he survived his fifteen days of fever by eating bread dipped in coffee.

There are several arguments on figuring out the best number of times a coffee should be had in a day. For my maternal grand-mother, a coffee should be had three times a day (just as the meals) but should be had atleast 500ml each time. for my (late) maternal grand father, coffee is like a water, one keeps drinking it in little quantities every one hour. everyone has devised their own magical number for the day. It may vary from zero (that's my sister... coffee is only for some special occassions) to eight. (one of my uncle, who has vowed to take coffee every time a cigarrette is lit).

Then the discussion on right mix of chicory. Luckily South Indians are habituated to Robusta. So atleast the discussion on Arabica or Robusta seeds does not arise until one goes to the Coffee bars. But still there is always a discussion on the right mix of chicory to coffee. For my family it is 20% of chicory. Personally I prefer something less than 10%.

Then there is the treatise on how to make coffee for the occassion. For the morning first sip, the coffee decoction should be freshly brewed, milk without dilution should be added a thick dark coffee had to be made. As the day progresses the milk and decoction should also be diluted. Kids should always be given a diluted version perhaps a child-lock facility so as not to get addicted. Servants also get the diluted version perhaps cost-cutting. Guests also get the diluted version perhaps because they have already had their meals or tiffins.

Then the reasons for drinking a filter kaapi. There are several hundreds of them. They might be everything from scientific to illogical, from articulate to contracdicting, from facts to myths, but everyone has their own reason to drink one. Here are a few:

My mom for her morning cup: " It is an energizer, it wakes up from morning slumber." My dad for his morning cup: " It keeps you running for hours together without hunger". My dad for his night cup of coffee "It makes you sleep easily". My brother "Drinking coffee is a best form of killing time". Me " I keeps hunger away". One of my maternal uncle for his morning cup "It helps in morning ablutions". My grand mom "How can one think of not having a morning cup of coffee?".