Sundaram Coffee WorksSince 1943
Sundaram Coffee Works

Since 1943,in Chidambaram.

நிரந்தரம்! தரம்! சுந்தரம்!

South Indian filter coffee from a single shop in Chidambaram. Nothing is ground until the order is placed — your packet is made after you ask for it, not before.

Order on WhatsAppSee the six coffees

180, Kasukadai Street, Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu 608001FSSAI 12418004000476

Register I — the hills

It begins in rain,under other trees.

Coffee ripens slowly in shade, high up, where the mist arrives before the light does. We select from established coffee-growing regions of Karnataka and Kerala.

Illustration. Not a photograph of a Sundaram estate.

Register II — the fruit

Coffee is a fruitbefore it is a bean.

What gets roasted is the seed of a red cherry. Skin, pulp, parchment, seed — everything before the roast is the work of removing three of those four.

Five coffee cherries in a row showing ripening: green, yellow, red, deep purple, then dried
Green, yellow, red, purple, dried. Only the red ones are worth picking.
Sorting by hand: the green and the overripe picked out of the heap before it is pulped. Filmed at a working mill — not Sundaram’s own, and not one of its suppliers.
Register III — the roast

A batch lastsabout two days.

Roasting, blending, grinding and packing are all done by this shop. A roast batch is used within roughly two days, and a bulk order is roasted only after it is placed.

Illustration. Not Sundaram’s own roaster.

Register IV — the filter

Four parts,and no electricity.

An upper chamber holds the powder above a perforated plate. Hot water goes in, and over the next several minutes the decoction drips into the vessel below. Then hot milk, and the pour between tumbler and dabarah that cools it and raises the froth.

It is a slow instrument, and the slowness is the point. Nothing about it has needed to change since 1943.

A traditional South Indian brass coffee filter, its domed upper chamber seated in the vessel below
The filter itself: upper chamber, perforated plate, and the vessel that catches the decoction.
Register V — the turn

Then the milkgoes in.

This is the moment the whole thing turns — black decoction to the colour of the cup you actually drink. Poured between tumbler and dabarah until the froth stands up.

  1. i

    The decoction

    What has been dripping through the filter for the last twenty minutes comes out almost black, and strong enough to be diluted.

  2. ii

    Sugar, then milk

    Sugar goes into the tumbler first. The milk must be properly hot — poured cold it flattens the decoction and no amount of pouring will raise a froth.

  3. iii

    The pour

    Tumbler to dabarah and back, from a height, several times. This cools the coffee to drinking temperature and lifts the head of foam that belongs on top.

  4. iv

    Served

    In the dabarah, not the tumbler, so it can be drunk without touching the rim — and, if the house is being generous, with something sweet beside it.

Decoction, sugar, hot milk, and the pour that raises the froth.
83Years
Register VI — the counter

180, Kasukadai Street,Chidambaram.

Inside the shop: a staff member hands a yellow Sundaram Coffee Works bag across the counter to a customer
The shop on 13 May 2024 — the 81st anniversary, to the day. A real photograph, not a recreation.
Rajagopalan N. behind his counter, handing a packet to a customer, the street visible beyond
Rajagopalan N., at his own counter.

Roasting, blending, grinding and packing are all done here, by this shop. The owner puts it at more than 5,000 customers a month.

The whole story
Register VII — the coffees

Six coffees, andthe ratio is on the pack.

Three blends at 80% coffee and 20% chicory, and the same three with no chicory at all. Chicory is a roasted root, not a filler to be embarrassed about — it is what gives South Indian filter coffee its body and its long finish.

Chicory: blue flowers and taproots beside heaps of roasted chicory chips and ground chicory
Chicory — the root, roasted and ground, that makes up the 20%.
Sundaram Signature pack

80% Coffee + 20% Chicory

Sundaram Signature

The refined cup.

500 g — ₹549

Sundaram Classic pack

80% Coffee + 20% Chicory

Sundaram Classic

The everyday cup.

500 g — ₹529

Sundaram Strong pack

80% Coffee + 20% Chicory

Sundaram Strong

The cup that wakes you.

500 g — ₹449

Sundaram Signature Pure pack

100% Coffee

Sundaram Signature Pure

No chicory. Nothing added.

500 g — ₹649

Sundaram Classic Pure pack

100% Coffee

Sundaram Classic Pure

The everyday cup, unblended.

500 g — ₹579

Sundaram Strong Pure pack

100% Coffee

Sundaram Strong Pure

Pure coffee character.

500 g — ₹529

Register VIII — the order

Send a message.We grind it then.

Tell us which coffee and what weight. We confirm the total and the delivery time on WhatsApp, grind the order, and post it.

Order on WhatsApp+91 72001 87285

திரும்ப திரும்ப அருந்தத் தூண்டும்

  • DeliveryInside Tamil Nadu — free from 500 g up, otherwise ₹50.
    Elsewhere in India — ₹50 from 500 g up, otherwise ₹100.
    Counted on the whole order, not per pack.
  • The shop180, Kasukadai Street, Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu 608001
    Also known as Bazaar Street.
  • Emailinquiry@sundaramcoffee.com
  • FollowInstagram · Facebook
  • LicenceFSSAI 12418004000476