Eureka! Eureka!

I found it! Its a piece of magic! It will bring world peace...Well, maybe that is a stretch, but think about this - when you have a divine cup of coffee in the morning, the happiness it gives you really lasts all through the day. You would then spend the whole day in a happy coffee buzz and not do something silly like say, start a fight?

My blog readers obviously do not need introduction to madras filter coffee. If I assumed wrong, then check out this wikipedia link for an introduction to heaven-in-a-cup. And while we are on the subject of Madras, here is a really interesting article by Tishani Doshi.

A few years ago, I moved here from Madras. Like any other true FOB desi, I was most distressed by the fact that coffee here, in its most basic form, is AWFUL! It took me two years to adjust both to life in the US and less than perfect coffee. I learnt to make do by using disproportionately large amounts of creamer, or making folgers with lots of milk, aathufying it for all its worth, and telling myself that it tasted a bit like filter coffee.

In 2003, I went to Madras for my wedding and returned with a slim stainless steel coffee filter as part of my "seeru". As a new bride, I found that the one and only thing my accomodating husband expected from me was a good cup of filter coffee. I also realized that I could become completely americanized, but I could never ever get coffee cravings out of my system.

So, every weekend morning started with the same routine - I would grind regular american coffee into a finer powder, boil water and pour it into the filter. It sure sounds simple, but the little devil had a mind of its own. Many days, I would watch the filter all morning, and not even a drop of decotion would percolate through. Grinding the coffee was also a real pain in the wrong place.

Anyway, after many months of lamenting, cursing, and experimenting, I solved the coffee powder problem. I now buy "Eight o clock coffee" - whole arabica beans, dark roast. I then set the instore coffee grinder to the espresso setting and walk out of the store with a fresh bag of super fine coffee. It is so fragrant, that it reminds me of the days when I would walk back home with a prized bag of leo coffee and every passer-by would turn around to catch a whiff.

Well...getting back to the topic (the piece of magic remember?) - I woke up this morning, and I knew i could not battle the coffee filter anymore. After many hours of extensive online research, I reached the conclusion that espresso coffee is probably as thick as decotion. The method for preparing espresso is radically different though. Hot water is forced through coffee powder at high pressure, and then escapes through a spout.

There are a wide variety of espresso machines available in the market, starting from $30 for a simple Mr.Coffee or many hundreds for a starbucks style barista machine. I wanted to go in for something really simple, and hence chose the stovetop "MOKA EXPRESS" machine. Apparently, this machine is a big italian icon, and a great favorite of many european households.

Using the moka express is as simple as a kettle. Just fill the lower compartment with water, place the coffee powder in the filter part, screw the top portion on and place the contraption on the adupu. I followed all the instructions and held my breath. And I think i hit bulls eye! The decotion was prepared in a couple of minutes, and the resulting coffee tasted pretty good. Here is the link to this product in amazon - do check out all the reviews.

Some more experimentation needs to be done - I used turkish ground coffee instead of espresso ground coffee. This caused some coffee grounds to get mixed up with my decotion. Also, i did not tamp the coffee powder sufficiently. However, with a little practice, i am sure i have found the magic keys to heaven in a cup!