The Reason Coffee In India Tastes So Delicious

If you've ever been to India, at least as a food fan, then coffee probably wasn't at the top of your list of foods and beverages to try. With a multitude of varied cuisines, there are numerous Indian dishes and beverages that are relatively-unknown abroad outside of the Indian diaspora, and they are natural items to gravitate towards. Still though, coffee is globally-appreciated, and if you needed a pick-me-up that wasn't tea, maybe you grabbed a cup. One sip is really all it takes to realize that coffee in India is no afterthought. Rather, coffee is carefully cultivated, roasted, and prepared for a brew that is truly world class.

It starts with the sun or, rather, the careful control of sunlight through natural means. Coffee plants in India are mostly grown in shady conditions under a tall permanent canopy of jungle trees plus a lower temporary canopy. This lower canopy can be trimmed and maintained to allow the proper amount of light and water to reach the coffee plants. What's more, the jungle ecosystem used to cultivate the coffee provides rich soil with little need for chemical agents to improve the growth potential or safeguard against pests.

When it is time to harvest coffee cherries — the fruit which contains the coffee bean — in India, machines aren't carted out. Rather, workers methodically hand-pick the fruit to ensure that only those that have properly matured make it off the plant. The beans are then fermented and washed before the sun gets another go around, this time drying the beans before the roasting process. It is a time-consuming process, but one that offers a deeper flavor to the coffee.

With such great coffee available, it should come as no surprise that Indians enjoy a wide variety of coffee drinks. The most famous is undoubtedly the drink with the most unassuming name. Filter Coffee is evocative of mediocre diner coffee pots stateside, but in India, this beverage requires an exacting decoction to a more extracted coffee — usually with some chicory added — that is stronger in flavor and caffeine. The result is then mixed with scalded milk and sugar for a rich, creamy, sweet, and strong beverage.

The spices and aromatics of India also make their way into coffee drinks, as evidenced by black ginger coffee. This strong brew has the addition of ground ginger — a truly healthful additive — for a fiery and floral heat, which can be supplemented with black pepper. Bella kaapi is a black coffee beverage that also has ginger as well as cinnamon, cardamom, and jaggery sugar for an almost smoky, brown sugar flavor.