South Indian Filter Coffee – Cook Like An Aunty

Recipe video

South Indian Filter Coffee recipe video

Podcast episode

South Indian Filter Coffee: The Next North American Coffee Trend?

Drip coffee, iced coffee, Americano, French Press, espresso, cold brew, Instant Coffee, Turkish coffee, and Irish coffee. North America has seen its fair share of coffee varieties over the years, but one older variety fails to get noticed: South Indian Filter Coffee.

South Indian Filter Coffee is, as you can guess, the traditional coffee consumed in India.

You’ll often hear it called ‘Kaapi’ (khahp-pee) in South India which is where traditional filter coffee is most popular.

Unlike the paper filter we use in the west, South Indian Filter Coffee utilizes a reusable metal coffee filter. Traditionally it’s made of brass, but stainless steel is common nowadays.

The filter is made up of four parts: First the base that collected the coffee decoction. Above that is the filter which has small holes at the bottom that allows water to pass through but does not allow coffee grounds to pass. The grounds are added to this part. Third is a press which sits inside the filter but above the coffee grounds. It compacts the coffee grounds a bit so the water does not pass through the filter too quickly. The fourth part is a simple lid which prevents steam from leaving the filter and adds a bit of a drip coffee element to the filter coffee.

What makes South Indian Filter Coffee unique?

At first glance, you may think that the metal filter is what makes South Indian Filter Coffee unique and there is certainly some truth to that. The metal filter combines elements of pourover coffee and drip coffee.

But there are actually other differences in the preparation that create the distinct taste compared to other coffee preparations.

First, Arabica coffee grounds are mixed with some percentage of chicory root. Anything from 20 to 45% chicory is common; although, most blends use something closer to 20%. This adds a nutty flavor compared to only coffee grounds.

Next, the coffee is brewed using water below the boiling point. The common temperature is 200 degrees Fahrenheit or 93 degrees Celsius. Using a lower temperature water makes the coffee less bitter.

Third, the milk is boiled before it’s added to the coffee which makes the drink creamier.

These three differences along with the metal coffee filter are the most important elements compared to western coffee.

Just as with western coffees, white sugar is a common sweetener now, but traditionally jaggery and honey were used before the 20th Century.

Some South Indian filter coffee purists claim that the traditional brass filter is important for authentic flavor and many restaurants continue to use lage multi-liter sized brass filters to make coffee for their diners. However, many Indian homes now use the less expensive and easier to maintain stainless steel filters.

Indian restaurants often serve the coffee with a frothy top layer and include two tumblers. If you were lucky enough to grow up with a desi grandparent in your home, you may remember them pouring their chai or coffee between these two tumblers to cool and mix them. This is how coffee is served in India.

Madras style serving involves the cup-shaped tumbler face down into the bowl-shaped tumbler. The liquid coffee is inside, but the drinker cannot see it. When the drinker finally lifts the cup up, the coffee pours into the bowl. I’ll include a link demonstrating this unique style in the shownotes:

Serving Madras style coffee

Coffee’s history in the world and India

How was coffee discovered and how did it reach India?

Legend attributes the origin of coffee to the Ethiopian goat herder Kaldi from 800 CE. After his goats ate the red berries of a bush, they became energetic. Then he chewed the berries himself. Excited, he took the berries to monks in a nearby village. After an explanation of what happened, the head monk deemed the berries to be the “Devil’s Work” and threw them into a fire. A powerful aroma filled the room so the monks pulled the embers out of the fire and poured water on it to preserve the smell. The monks drank the water and felt a sense of peace and alertness.

The story of Kaldi is likely fabricated, at least a bit, but scholars mostly agree that coffee beans originated near modern day Ethiopia.

The first credible evidence of drinking coffee is from the 15th Century in modern day Yemen where coffee beans were roasted and brewed similar to how coffee is prepared today. It’s possible coffee was introduced to Yemen from Ethiopia, but historical accounts differ. Coffee became popular throughout the Middle East and North Africa with its production controlled through the Yemeni port of Mocha. Coffee beans were boiled and sterilized before leaving the Arabian peninsula to prevent others from growing coffee.

Indian folklore says that on a pilgrimage to Mecca in the 16th century Baba Budan, a revered Sufi saint from the modern day Southwest Indian state of Karnataka, discovered the Yemeni coffee. Eager to grow coffee at home, he smuggled seven coffee beans in his beard from the port of Mocha in Yemen. Back at home, he planted the beans on the slopes of the Chandragiri Hills in Chickmagaluru district of Karnataka. This hill range was later named after him as the Baba Budan Hills.

English Ambassadors noted that coffee was popular in 1616 at the Mughal court.

By 1760, coffee houses sprang up through India.

At this point, chicory was not part of India’s coffee blend. Chicory is a plant native to France and became a European coffee substitute during the continental blockade of the Napoleonic Wars as Europe could not import coffee. Chicory root has a similar flavor to coffee but no caffeine. It was Europe’s most available and best substitute for coffee.

The British eventually introduced the coffee-chicory mixture called Coffee Camp to India which gained popularity in the coffee houses of South India in the late 1800s.

Chicory was imported from Europe for Indian coffee until the 1950s. Then some Indians attempted to grow chicory in the Chandragiri Hills next to the coffee plantations. Unfortunately the quality was not as good as the imported chicory.

In the 1970s, some enterprising chicory growers moved northwest to Gujarat and successfully grew high-quality chicory for Indian coffee.

Today, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh account for 97% of India’s chicory production.

Where is coffee grown

India is now the world’s sixth largest coffee producer.

Most of the coffee is grown in the dense rainforests of the Western Ghats.

Thick dark green tree leaves climb up and down the Western Ghats mountain range and meet a bright blue sky with puffy white clouds.

This is, not surprisingly, the same region where Baba Budan planted his seven smuggled coffee beans and it’s the center of India’s coffee industry.

Karnataka produces 65% of India’s coffee while 20% comes from Kerala and 15% from Tamil Nadu.

As you can tell from the statistics, all of India’s coffee is grown in these three southern states that have land in the Western Ghats.

Coffee culture in India

Despite chai being the more recent addition to Indian cuisine, it’s much more popular than coffee according to a survey of Indians. Chai is said to be 15 times more popular than coffee as India’s preferred drink.

Chai has two major advantages. The first is the colonial British influence to promote tea in India. You can hear more about that in my podcast episode about Masala Chai.

The other is price. Coffee is more expensive than chai. A chaiwalla can sell a cup of masala chai for Rs 6 which is just a few cents in US dollars. By comparison, a cup of coffee will cost Rs 120, or twenty times more than chai.

Although coffee is less popular than chai in India as a whole, coffee is typically more popular in Southern India. This includes the states of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Karnataka. Not surprising, these states are closest to the Western Ghats where Indian coffee is grown.

Much like in the west, coffee is popular for breakfast though some people will have a second or third cup later in the day.

Cafe Coffee Day is a large coffee chain in India. As of 2021, it had 550 stores in India. The chain even grows its own coffee in India and exports the beans to the U.S., Europe, and Japan. It serves sandwiches, chips, and cookies in its stores. Although, at the time I record this episode in 2023, they have some financial difficulties that may change their status in India’s coffee industry.

Costa Coffee from the UK is the third largest coffee chain in India. It opened in India in the year 2005 and allows franchisees to open shops for 35 lakh INR or roughly $40,000 USD.

Starbucks Coffee from the US is a recent entrant to India. It opened its first Indian store in 2012 in partnership with the large Indian corporation Tata Global Beverages. As of May 2023, they have 341 outlets in India. Starbucks India sells many of the same drinks and foods we find in North America though some are different, such as the India Majesty Spice Blend chai and Tandoori Paneer Rolls.

A smaller but very popular coffee spot in India is the restaurant Sree Annapoorna in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu which has a loyal following of fans who claim it serves the best coffee in India. It started in the 1960s as a snack shop in a local movie theater. Due to the popularity of its drinks, it opened up a separate coffee house. Later Sree Annapoorna’s ownership created a full vegetarian restaurant and as of 2023, they have sixteen locations across Tamil Nadu. I included two YouTube videos about Annapoorna’s coffee in the show notes. Check them out if you are curious about the famous coffee.

Annapoorna restaurant in Coimbatore

Annapoorna: World’s best filter coffee

India hosted the 2023 World Coffee Conference in September of that year. Bangalore hosted the event which saw 2,000 delegates from 80 countries visit. This 2023 iteration was the first time the event was held in Asia. The conference included coffee farmers, roasters, and retailers from around the world as India’s coffee industry hoped to promote Indian coffee as the next popular variety for international coffee enthusiasts. Maybe one day, we will go to coffee shops in North America and find South Indian Filter Coffee on the menu next to espressos and lattes.

In the show notes, I included a video of the 2023 World Coffee Conference by Indian food vlogger extraordinaire Kripal Amanna. It includes video of the booths and a Filter Coffee competition.

2023 World Coffee Conference vlog by Kripal Amanna

How to make South Indian Filter Coffee

Now let’s discuss how to make a traditional South Indian Filter Coffee. If you’re a visual learner, please checkout my video recipe on the Cook Like An Aunty YouTube channel. It will help clarify any questions you have.

The first step is to buy Indian coffee grounds. You can easily find this online in North America. It’s also easy to find at South Asian grocery stores. You want to make sure the blend is a mix of Arabica coffee with about 10 to 30 percent ground chicory root.

If you have an Indian coffee filter, you can pull that out now. If not, you can use a Western paper coffee filter to try out before buying a metal filter.

For the people with the paper filter, put about 2 Tbsp of coffee grounds in the filter.

For those with the metal filter, take off the lid and lift out the press. Put 2 Tbsp of coffee-chicory grounds in the filter portion that has the holes. Then gently drop the press onto the coffee grounds from an inch above. You don’t need to exert any extra force other than what gravity will provide.

Now for either method boil water so it reaches 200 degrees Fahrenheit or 93 degrees Celsius. If you have an electric kettle, set it to this temperature. If you don’t have a kettle, heat water in a pot. Once it reaches a boil, turn off the heat. After 1 to 2 minutes of cooling, the water will be around 200 degrees Fahrenheit.

Pour the water onto the coffee grounds. If you are using the metal filter, use enough water to fill the top portion of the filter. Then put the lid on top of the filter apparatus.

Let the water strain through the filter. This will take 10 to 15 minutes. Many Indian families do this as the last thing before going to sleep at night so it is ready in the morning.

After the coffee decoction is ready, put about 2 cups of milk in a pot. Bring the milk to a boil. You will know that the milk has reached a boil because it will bubble and rise in the pot. Turn off the heat after the milk boils.

Now take the coffee decoction and pour so it fills one-third to one-half of the coffee cup. Fill the rest of the coffee cup with boiled milk.

Many Indian restaurants pour the milk so it creates a frothy bubble layer on top. Then they go back and add just a bit of coffee back on top to add more color.

As mentioned before, the coffee is traditionally served in two metal cups which allows the drinker to mix and cool the coffee by pouring it between the two cups. If you are using a regular mug, feel free to mix the coffee and milk together with a spoon.

Optionally you can add sugar, honey, or jaggery to sweeten the coffee.

If you want to see a more detailed recipe, checkout the recipe on the Cook Like An Aunty YouTube channel or cooklikeanaunty.com/south-indian-filter-coffee (see below).

You can also find all sources and references used to make this podcast episode on the website.

If you enjoyed the podcast please subscribe through your favorite podcast player and most importantly, share this episode with an American born desi in your life. Help us maintain our culture for future generations. You don’t have to be an aunty to make delicious Indian food.

Thanks for listening! And see you next time.