Coffee!
Throughout the world there are many ways to make a cup of coffee. Within a country also there are many ways to make a cup of coffee. And there are many types of coffee: espresso, Americano, South Indian filter coffee, latte, mocha, cold-brew and iced, and many more.
In India, there is a distinct type of coffee named South Indian filter coffee. And the way South Indian filter coffee is prepared differs slightly from one state to another state and within a state in India, especially in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.
South Indian filter coffee is made by mixing decoction (coffee brewed out of coffee filter) with boiled milk and sugar added to one’s taste. Pour the mixture back and forth between the Dabarah and tumbler, using high arcing motions to pour, until the coffee is cool enough to drink. The mixture is thoroughly mixed by transferring the liquid between two containers, two tumblers or between a tumbler and saucer). The South Indian filter coffee is also known as meter coffee, Kumbakonam degree coffee, Mylapore filter coffee, Madras kaapi or and simply, kaapi.
Kaapi is a phonetic approximation of coffee in some parts of South India, or the South Indian phonetic rendering of ‘coffee’. This type of coffee, filter coffee is the drip brew coffee. Kaapi is made by mixing decoction (brewed from coffee filter) and boiled milk. In many hotels across South India, if South Indian filter coffee is served, it is usually presented in dabarah (davarah) and tumbler akin cup and saucer (the way Irani chai is served in Hyderabad’s cafes).
