What filter coffee actually is
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.
It is not coffee with milk added. The decoction and the milk are two separate preparations that meet at the end, and the proportions are a matter of household preference rather than a rule.
The apparatus
A South Indian coffee filter is a tall metal cylinder in two parts. The upper chamber has a perforated base. Coffee goes in it, a perforated pressing disc goes on top of the coffee, and hot water goes on top of that. The lower chamber sits underneath and collects what comes through.
The sequence
- Coffee into the upper chamber.
- The pressing disc placed on top, firm but not compacted hard.
- Water just off the boil poured over it.
- The lid on, and then nothing. Twenty minutes or so while it drips.
- Hot milk, sugar to taste, and decoction combined.
- Poured back and forth between tumbler and dabarah until it froths and comes down to drinking temperature.
Every part of this is slow on purpose. The waiting is the method, not a delay in it.
From the shop
Our coffees, 80:20 with chicory
Ground and packed fresh, only after you order.
