The Context
A coffee fanatic has to be prepared for any condition. Because you never know in what condition might you end up in? So I was stuck in a place where I was on a very temporary assignment so I stripped down my possessions to a bare minimum. So no coffee machine :(
I hated the instant coffee powder and that too having it black in the morning is one of the worst things I could do to start my day and that too I was in a place where coffee is grown.
Preparation
So not willing to commit that sin, I went out the first weekend to buy a south Indian coffee filter. Simple, no moving parts, no electricity needed no mess. Bought a packaged ground coffee powder so that I could experiment. So here is how that experiment turned out to be a success
Method/Procedure
· Take 2-3 table spoons of ground coffee powder into the top part of the filter. Take out the plunger (sort of)
· Tamp it nice and hard. No pressure limitations. Use your muscle power and tamp it nice with the plunger
· Leave the plunger in and pour water at normal temperature. This is because I had no hot water, kettle or any sort of heating device with me.
· The catch is that you will have to do this the night before.
· 1-2 table spoons of coffee take around 4 hours to trickle down with gravity. More table spoons do not necessarily add up. 6-8 hours should suffice for any amount of coffee
· If you are a true coffee maniac, be ready for a not-hot-coffee in the morning. Take out the bottom part and pour into a cup. Add water if needed.
Hmmm.. Tastyyy
It’s very flavorful because
· All essential oils stay
· Its like cold pressed olive oil. It may not be very high on caffeine extraction quotient but the taste and the flavor are great because of the normal temperature water used
How does this happen
It works like this. The water is not hot and the extraction takes place because of long extraction time and the gravity which pulls water down. This gives the water time to absorb the taste and bring it along down to the collector which makes it get the great taste.
No power used no hot water, no mess. Time replaces all of these to create a wonderfully flavorful coffee. The south Indian filter is extremely portable and can be happily replaced with a French press. You just need to have this and coffee grounds. Make a tasty coffee in tornadoes, in power cuts, in forest treks, in remote villages everywhere without making a mess in carrying and making
Desperate times call for desperate measure which might lead to good results