I am big coffee fan. I have tried various stuff right from most of the Indian varieties to the African Varieties to Columbian coffee to Hawaiin Kona to the famous Kopi Lupak. However I like any coffee as long as it has been roasted recently.
However, I prefer all these varieties in only 1 form - drip coffee. I don't like espresso. I also don't like any coffee which has milk/cream in it. I like drip coffee with just some Sweetex. Unfortunately, most coffee shops in India don't serve drip coffee, so I have make do with Americano (americano is espresso diluted with hot water).
In the US, every coffee shop sells drip along with the more expensive yuppy coffees.
My current drip coffee maker is Prestige (cost around 1200 or 1300 Rs). Earlier one was Morphy Richards (cost around 2000, but got spoilt in 3 years). In the US, I had a 10$ Mr. Coffee Coffee maker.
Coffee which has been roasted recently tastes the best. When the coffee has been ground is not as relevant as much as when it has been roasted.
I have easily found fresh roasted ground coffee powder in Pune, Hyderabad & Mumbai. You usually get Peaberry, Robusta & Plantation. Some shops also sell few other varieties like Premium Peaberry or Mysore Nuggets.
In Pune, you can get it at Kumardhara (they have 2 outlets - one in Aundh, & one in the City). In Mumbai, most of the suburbs have atleast couple of coffee roasting/grinding shops tucked away in some corner alley. For a drip machine, you need to get the coffee powder ground to a medium rough grind. It's very difficult to convince the shops to grind it to a rough grind. For filter coffee, everyone prefers a fine grind, hence you have to fight it out with the coffee shops to grind it rough enough for your drip machine. Not once, but everytime you go to them. They refuse to accept that people may want a rough grind.
Peaberry is a very smooth coffee. Robusta is harsh. I prefer a 70-30 Peaberry-Robusta mix - just peaberry is too light/smooth for me.
Some people also like to add a bit of Chicory to the mix. Chicory is ersatz or duplicate coffee - it looks & tastes similiar to coffee but isn't coffee. It was for adulteration of coffee or during war times when there was a shortage of coffee. However some people found that adding some chicory to real coffee improves the taste of coffee - so it's common to find Chicory-Coffee mix in both South India & the south of the USA.
I, however, don't like Chicory - one reason is that most of the local coffee roasting shops have pre-ground Chicory which is very finely ground - so doesn't go well with the medium rough grind I buy.
One of the most expensive coffees in the world is Kopi Lupak. Monkey swallow coffee berries which then goes into their stomach - the coffee beans remain undigested but it gets refined by the gastric juices in the monkey's stomach. The undigested beans are excreted by the monkeys. People in Indonesia collect these excreted coffee beans & package & sell them. This is amongst the most expensive coffees in the world. I have drunk it a couple of times - for free though.
The South Indian filter coffee is very similiar to drip coffee in method of preparation. In both these ways of making coffee, there is no pressure applied like in an espresso. It's all by gravity. At my parent's house where is there isn't a drip machine, I have a filter coffee decoction diluted further with hot water.
I don't think I can wake up & face a new boring day without the smell & taste of freshly brewed coffee.
That said, when I don't find brewed coffee, I can easily manage with instant :-)
Actually I can get by with any swill as long as it's black & tastes atleast a little like coffee.
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Originally Posted by unoczar By the way, i do intend to go n try the "real coffee". Anybody knows where i can get them in hyd??? |
http://www.coffeeday.com/freshngroun...LocatorNew.asp
It's been a long time, so my memory is fuzzy, but I used to buy coffee from a Fresh'n'ground store which was located at the end of the road you take to go from Srinagar Colony to Jubilee Hills.
There is also a different coffee roaster somewhere in Ameerpet.