The Brewing Method That Makes South Indian Filter Coffee Unique

If you're a flag-flying coffee-lover who digs the brewing ritual as much as the brew itself, then South Indian filter coffee belongs on your radar. Filter coffee (aka filter kaapi) features a bitter, strong, robust, espresso-like flavor, tempered by boiled milk and sugar. It's often brewed from a combination of arabica beans and mild-flavored chicory root. This style of coffee is inextricably linked to its unique brewing apparatus, which needs to be purchased specifically for this purpose. 

The namesake filter device is designed for slow percolation, helping extract the maximum concentration of nuanced tasting notes from those delicate beans, which are loaded with flavorful polyphenols. This is one reason why coffee in India tastes so delicious. It all starts with the coffee percolator, aka the filter, which is divided into two nested chambers. The percolator, like this stainless steel drip maker by Kitchen Mart on Amazon, is made from brass or stainless steel and equipped with a plunger and a lid, not allowing any air to escape. 

You'll also need a small cup and tumbler set called a dabarah, or any two small mugs. To make a knockout cuppa joe, finely ground Indian coffee (like this Brindavan Bold blend by Mysore Concerns) or instant coffee powder is placed into the upper chamber of the filter. First, gently tamp the powder with the attached top plunger, then top it with boiling water to fill the chamber. Next, close the lid. Inside, the coffee sits to brew for 10 to 15 minutes or up to a full 30 minutes. It's well worth the wait, but certainly an exercise in patience.

As it brews, the coffee slowly drips through tiny holes punched into the floor of the top chamber, and collects in the lower chamber. Meanwhile, pressure builds inside the upper chamber as the boiling water is trapped within the airtight seal, helping gravity pull down the concentrated brew (called the decoction). While you wait for those painstaking 10 to 30 minutes, place roughly 1 cup of milk in a saucepan on the stove to boil. Once the brewing time is up, combine the boiled milk, decoction, and a little sugar in your serving mug. Hold up — the coffee still isn't ready to serve yet. Now, the brew gets juggled back and forth between the two small mugs at least three to four times. 

Each juggle increases the frothy head (called the norai) on the finished cup. It's all about aeration here, so try to arch the stream of the pour as high as you can manage without spilling. This theatrical element is a key part of South Indian filter coffee's preparation, not unlike how legendary bartender Jerry Thomas crafted his signature cocktail, the Blue Blazer. This carefully-brewed beverage is a pillar of the South Indian culinary scene at large. Its ritualistic preparation encourages the slow savoring of every cupful. Plus, the filter percolators are typically only large enough to make just one or two cups at a time, yielding both a more dimensional brew in that short coffee and the unhurried appreciation thereof. It's definitely on our list of Indian drinks you should try at least once!