Learn filter coffee
Straight answers to the questions people actually ask about filter coffee.
Coffee, from the beginning
What the powder actually is, and what happens to it before it reaches your kitchen.
- Is coffee powder the same as instant coffee?No. Coffee powder is roasted coffee beans, ground. Instant coffee is coffee that has already been brewed, then dried back into granules. One still has to be brewed. The other has been brewed for you.
- How does a coffee bean become the powder in my kitchen?Coffee is the seed of a fruit. The fruit is removed, the seed is dried, then roasted, then ground. Four steps, and the first one surprises most people.
- Why is coffee roasted?Because green coffee does not taste or smell like coffee. Roasting is the step that creates almost everything you recognise as coffee.
- Why does coffee smell so good, and why does it fade?Roasting fills the bean with volatile aromatic compounds and with carbon dioxide. Volatile means exactly what it sounds like: those compounds want to leave. Grinding lets them.
- Why is my coffee bitter? Why is it watery?Usually these are the same problem seen from two sides. Bitter often means you pulled too much out of the grounds. Watery often means you pulled too little. Neither is fixed by adding sugar.
- Does grind size actually matter?It matters more than almost anything else you control. Grind size sets how fast water can take flavour out of coffee, so it decides whether a given brewing time gives you a good cup or a bad one.
The South Indian filter
Decoction, the tumbler and the dabarah, and why the waiting is the method.
- What is South Indian filter coffee?A concentrated coffee brew, called decoction, made by letting hot water pass slowly through fine grounds in a two-chamber metal filter. It is then mixed with hot milk and sugar and poured between a tumbler and a dabarah.
- What is decoction?The concentrated coffee that collects in the lower chamber of the filter. Strong, dark and not meant to be drunk on its own. It is the base that milk is added to.
- Why is filter coffee served in a tumbler and dabarah?The tumbler is the cup. The dabarah is the wide-lipped bowl it sits in. Pouring between them cools the coffee and builds the froth.
How coffee became ours
How a plant from far away turned into a Tamil morning.
Reading the ratio
What 100% coffee and 80:20 mean, and why neither is automatically better.
- What does 80:20 mean?80:20 means 80% coffee and 20% chicory by weight. 100% Coffee means no chicory has been added. That is the whole of it.
- What is chicory?A plant, Cichorium intybus. Certain varieties are grown for their roots. The root is chopped, roasted and ground, and it has been used alongside and instead of coffee for a very long time.
- Is 100% coffee better than a blend?Not automatically. It is coffee without chicory. Whether that is what you want depends on the cup you grew up with.
Choosing a coffee
Turning all of it into one decision about your own morning.