What monsooning does to a bean
Why Monsooned Malabar tastes nothing like the green coffee it started as.
How to brew filter coffee
The ratio, the water and the wait: making a strong decoction at home.
South Indian filter coffee is simple once you know the ratio. For two cups, use three heaped tablespoons, about 25 g, of our house filter blend in the upper chamber of a steel or brass filter. Tap it level, but do not press it down hard.
Place the perforated disc on top and pour in 120 ml of water just off the boil. Close the lid and leave it alone for 15 to 20 minutes. The decoction should drip slowly; if it rushes through in five minutes, the grind is too coarse, and if it barely moves after half an hour, it is packed too tightly.
The first decoction is the strongest and the one to use for coffee. Heat 200 ml of full-cream milk until it just rises, add sugar to taste, then pour in about 60 ml of decoction per cup. Pour it between the tumbler and dabarah from a height a few times to cool it and build a little froth.
Rinse the filter with hot water only; soap leaves a taste. Make decoction fresh each morning if you can. It keeps in the fridge for a day, but loses its aroma quickly, and the chicory flavour turns flat by evening.
