The KAAPI Story

I recently met a group of alumni in Delhi, some of whom are very successful in their careers, but few of us, like me, are still expecting the taste of success. This year we decided to go to visit our college canteen, where we often had coffee together during college days.

After we all met, our conversation soon turned into complaints about our work. I was smiling, as I had nothing much to complain about, nothing related to work at least.

Besides our jobs, we discussed about few common hobbies, like how we coffee drinkers often shared our coffee-making expertise with each other. You know what I like best about such coffee meetings, with so many choices of drinking coffee, all with different, or at times unexpected effects on our health, it’s easy to be confused about the “best” coffee or how it affects our health. So this small group of "experts" from across my coffee lover friends, we have a sort of coffee guidance club.

The canteen manager was so happy to see us all and offered us our favorite coffee, going to the kitchen himself and returning with a pot of coffee he made in a typical South Indian style. He calls it Coppee or that sounds something similar.
But where I get it, at Sleepy Owl they call it KAAPI. And would you believe it, it costs me less than 8 cents per cup?

Image source Sleepy Owl Coffee Shop

When all of us were having our cup of coffee, I could not resist asking the canteen manager about its preparation. He was more than glad to share its recipe. I am posting it here in case any of you wish to try what a cup of South Indian coffee tastes like.

This filter coffee maker looks like a glass tumbler and costs less than $4 (available on Amazon). To make coffee, put a quarter cup of coffee powder in the first part, then put it in the second part. Boil half a cup of water in a vessel and add the boiled water to the coffee powder. Close the lid and keep this traditional coffee maker aside for 20 minutes.

Add half a cup of milk and sugar to a vessel (adding sugar is your choice, but I add one small spoon of sugar in my coffee) and heat it. After 20 minutes, pour the sifted coffee and water mixture into coffee cups on the other side of that coffee maker, and then pour the heated milk into it.

Authentic South Indian Filter Coffee is ready.

I bought the brand suggested by Mr. Subramanyam, the canteen manager, and I can vouch for its great taste.

At the end of our reunion, I was a little sentimental, thinking about what life can do to different people with the same qualifications. We, the old pals, had different jobs or no jobs, financial positions, and positions in society, but I was glad to note that coffee was the bridge that kept us connected.

I love experimenting with coffee flavors. I have tried many flavors of coffee from around the world that are available in India. When I go out of my state, I definitely bring a coffee jar from that place. During my posting in Chennai, I really liked the espresso coffee when I went to Sri Lanka for a holiday. I even bought coffee from there,

Images courtsy Amazon when I bought this item

Whenever I get tired, I definitely make a cup of coffee and drink it. You know, it's been a long time since I drank black coffee. I love it. You can say that I feel happy after drinking black coffee. Black coffee is the most soothing and relaxing beverage for me. Whenever I feel tired, and drink a cup of coffee, I feel fresh, calm, and energetic.

So when one of my friends said that if we drank about three to four cups of unsweetened coffee rather than flavoring our coffee with a lot of sugar, full-fat milk, or cream, and sugar, then it would keep our weight under control. I trusted him. I never take more than one teaspoon of sugar in my coffee and I have no weight-related problems whatsoever (even if Rooney feels I should reduce 1-2 kgs lol).

Finally, I have a sweet memory, when I started earning, I gave myself a coffee maker and that's perhaps the best gift of my life.