[Gansan]

Originally Posted by PrideRed

South Indian filter coffee use Chicory and I know of folks who even use as much as 40%.

The percentage of chicory in the blend varies from 10% to > 40%. I have settled down to blend of 15% chicory and 85% coffee. I buy Cothas. It is the perfect blend in my book.

Pure coffee powder will give you a brew full of flavor, but no strength (read color). Since South Indian filter coffee uses milk, the drink should have a certain "strength", otherwise it will leave us dissatisfied. Too much chicory will give a lot of strength but little flavor. So the ideal ratio is 85:15.

[papr23]

Originally Posted by Gansan

I have settled down to blend of 15% chicory and 85% coffee. I buy Cothas. It is the perfect blend in my book.

I enjoyed Cothas as long as I had. The yellow pack has 15% chicory I think and doesn't really adulterate the taste. It thickens the decoction. Coffee without chicory tends to be too watery. I too prefer some amount of chicory in filter coffee.

But then I had black coffee made with french press from arakucoffee.in, sevenbeans.co and Blue Tokai for few months and Cothas did not smell or taste the same again. I think its a super dark roast and borderline burnt.

Currently for filter coffee my go to choice is dark roast from sevenbeans. It has 20% chicory.

[mazda4life]

Originally Posted by Gansan

The percentage of chicory in the blend varies from 10% to > 40%. I have settled down to blend of 15% chicory and 85% coffee. I buy Cothas. It is the perfect blend in my book.

We should catch up for a cup of coffee , its my preferred blend as well. In US I used to source Chicory from a supplier in VA after lot of gymnastics. In Bangalore , we are spoilt for some good choices including some independent stores especially in South Bangalore. My cousin runs a roasting and grinding business near to Bangalore and he has a demi-god status in the small town the he is based out of . We prefer our coffee strong and have a trusted dripcafe for many years now, I source my coffee powder from Bayar's currently and its the city roast blend.

[aravind.anand]

My Moka pot arrived, but sadly the coffee from Bombay Island just got shipped today and is about 3 days away from reaching me.

Meanwhile I wanted to try my first ever coffee brewing with the coffee powder that was already at home. Despite it having 20% chicory, the brewed coffee was faaaar better than the instant coffee with chicory I have had and suffered.

The moka pot is so small that it does not even sit on top of the gas stove's pan support, so I used a pan and placed it on top of it. The low flame did not work, so I upped the flame to hear the bubbling noise and then, eventually the magic happened

I had it black, without adding any water to what was brewed, and it tasted very flavourful. But towards the end, there was lot of ground coffee in my cup - perhaps, the coffee has been ground to finely for the moka pot.

I did not use detergents - as many articles on Moka pot advised against that, so just rinsed it off with water and stored all the parts separately.

Now I cannot wait for the coffee to arrive

[Enviroclan]

As an entrepreneur who roasted,ground and sold coffee powder in my home town and left it due to other prospects I have some things to share here.May be it is known to you people in this thread.There are certain things to be followed for a good cup of coffee.It is in the way coffee powder is stored and coffee prepared that decides a good coffee.Coffee powder needs to be stored in an airtight container preferably glass to retain its quality.When exposed to air powder oxidises becomes bitter to taste.So buy it in min.quantity depending on usage.Chicory blend is purely personal and best found trying different blends.Arabica coffee gives a rich flavour and Robusta coffee has strong caffeine content.While preparing boil the water preferably mineral water (hard water tends to alter the brew)switch off the stove add powder to desired strength and close the lid.Keep it aside for at least five minutes for the decoction to mature. Boil the milk ,keep the burner in sim position and add decoction to your personal taste and lo your cup is ready.Sounds simple but with little trials you can arrive at your best. If you over boil the decoction all the aroma being volatile goes up in the air and you are left with bitter tasting coffee.That is where steam percolators are of great help in preparing decoction.Even decoction kept for longer periods loses its taste and aroma.So it is best consumed on the same day.The art of preparing a good cup of coffee gives you the joy of enjoying it. Thank you.

[aravind.anand]

My Coffee from Bombay Island Coffee company arrived today, and I was really excited to try it out with my Moka pot. I could instantly notice that the 'Medium roast' was much lesser roast than what I am used to with my previous supermarket instant coffees. The colour is more orange than brown, but the aroma was nice and flavorful.

Upon brewing, the coffee looked very watery, if I were offered this in a glass cup, I would have actually mistake it for lemon tea it was that light! But I still kept an open mind and tried it. In several reviews for this particular coffee, people had mentioned 'fruity notes' and so I was fairly prepared. But what I detest, is there is a groundnut sort of flavour that is overpowering the coffee.

I am going to try to achieve a stronger brew tomorrow, with perhaps lesser water and a bit more of coffee in the Moka pot to see if the coffee blooms better. Hoping for the best!

So in short - Bombay Island coffee - Thogarihunkal Estate - medium roast is too weak. Next attempt should be with dark roast. Silly question - but can I roast the coffee on the stove to make it darker and richer?

[Red Liner]

Originally Posted by Enviroclan

As an entrepreneur who roasted,ground and sold coffee powder in my home town and left it due to other prospects I .

Great little note. Thanks for this. French press or the decoction maker for black coffee? Or is a steam percolator like you say the best? Which one? Is a moka pot a steam percolator?

[Sherlocked]

Hello all,
My brother will be coming from UK sometime in the early next year and I am planning to ask him to get an Esspresso coffee maker from there.

Suggest you all to recommend a good machine that I can get from UK, preferably under £200. And also some good coffee beans to go. I usually do add some milk.

Thanks.

[raksrules]

I sincerely apologize if I offend anyone here but I like Instant Coffee. On these lines, I need some help if someone can answer them.

Few months back, I started liking coffee more than tea and now I am at a point where I only have coffee, twice a day. I don't have any fascination of a particular brand or so and we always had Nescafe bottle in fridge always. Just to try, I started buying other brands to sort of assess their taste and all.
I tried Bru and I didn't like much. I tried the Grofer's inhouse brand and I liked it and it was literally half price of Nescafe. Tata Grande also I like.

I would request the instant coffee drinkers here to suggest me which brand / variant of brand that I can try?
I drink coffee with milk and sugar and do not like black coffee.

If instant coffee discussion is a no-no, just ignore this post.

[Unni]

Hi Raksrules, a mention of instant coffee might be blasphemous here . Nevertheless, of the instant coffee brands in India, I like Sunrise the most. Nescafe Gold is good too. I find it goes better with long-life milk (personal preference I guess). Although "real" filter coffee with/without milk is better, I rely on instant coffee on a daily basis for its convenience.

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by raksrules

I sincerely apologize if I offend anyone here but I like Instant Coffee. On these lines, I need some help if someone can answer them.

Actually, this thread was created by Sam for your kind.

This is from the very first post.

Originally Posted by Sam Kapasi

And that's why I'm writing this. It's no gourmet guide to good coffee. It's just a guide for those who drink instant coffee. An effort to get them to stop.

[GTO]

Another instant coffee lover jumping to "proper" coffee .

Which one should I buy? I am a black coffee drinker. For taste, my favourite is McDonald's black coffee. This is after trying coffee at Starbucks etc. Just love the taste of McDonald's black. At 2nd place would be the filter coffee you get at South Indian restaurants, but nothing like McDonald's taste for me.

Have loved the black coffee at independent cafes. Had gone to "Perch" in Bandra & their black coffee was the best I had. Asked them, it was some medium roast from Kaffa Cerrado.

Any Nespresso users here? My sis recommends it, but they don't have official presence in India? Overhyped or worth it?

Thanks!

[JoshMachine]

Originally Posted by raksrules

I would request the instant coffee drinkers here to suggest me which brand / variant of brand that I can try?
—-
If instant coffee discussion is a no-no, just ignore this post.

At the risk of getting flagged in this thread (from die-hard coffee lovers who prefer to go the whole nine yards) , I would suggest you to try the ‘Davidoff’ variants - Fine, Espresso, Rich Aroma, Crema etc.

My personal fav is the Espresso.

[zurura023]

Never knew about this thread on Team BHP. Such a pleasant surprise. I usually source my coffee from anyone traveling to India from other nations and store it in my fridge.

I really like Dunkin Donuts coffee as an everyday coffee that I stock up regularly on. I have a Colombian variant and a Brazilian one which were got by friends from US. Got a Egyptian, Vietnamese and Indonesian ones which I picked up during my travels earlier.

The Colombian and the Brazilian are darker roasts and serve well for a cold brew which remains my favourite form of coffee.

Originally Posted by GTO

Which one should I buy? I am a black coffee drinker.

You can start with any medium roast from Bombay Island or Blue Tokai. Even I like the coffee at McDonalds and prefer it over Starbucks.
Get a good moka pot like Bialettis and they serve you well. If you like a lot of coffee get a relatively bigger container - the 4-6 cups one.
Or get a French Press which are relatively easy to find here in India and easier to brew and clean for starters.

Cheers

[Axe77]

Originally Posted by GTO

Another instant coffee lover jumping to "proper" coffee .

Any Nespresso users here? My sis recommends it, but they don't have official presence in India? Overhyped or worth it?

Thanks!

I have been a regular user of Nespresso - have two basic Nespresso machines - one at home and one in office. While I used to buy pods from overseas trips more recently they are available locally too - made by Tata Starbucks. My coffee of choice is almost always black - whether hot or cold, although off late I have moved mostly to cold brews.

Once you properly come over to the dark side (pun intended) McD coffee is never going to cut it. I almost always carry my own cold brew for a couple of days when traveling in the car. I have recently acquired a taste for cold brews and love the ones from Blue Tokai and Sleepy Owl. They are easily available online via their respective websites. Do try their brew bags which are virtually ready to use sorts. Sleepy owl also has a filter coffee but I haven’t tried that yet.

Subko is another popular brand (in fact they have a lovely coffee shop in Bandra as well as Byculla. I know a friend who buys his stock from there but not sure if they sell beans only or ready to drink powder too.

Start with some of these as a beginning and then see where the journey takes you.