Whats My Poison - Filter Coffee & CLICK

As I have already mentioned here, I have only recently started drinking tea. I was a compulsive Coffee drinker before that and Barista and Cafe Coffee Day were my favourite places to hang out. In fact we (read college friends) used to meet at CCD almost every weekend. Apart from catching up with each others' lives, general chit chat and pulling each others' legs, mugs after mugs of Coffee were consumed, sometimes a combination of Hot & cold. Mocha, Latte, Espresso, Capuccino, Mochachillo, the Frappes, Kaapi Nirvana (an award winner according to them), Irish Coffee, Chococcino, Tropical Iceberg, Arabian Heights, I could go on. I actually remember all these names (some very generic ones) even after so many years!

But Filter Coffee is what I like the best. Although we used to have Filter coffee at home occasionally, I was brought closer to it during my stay with N & her family. Manni's filter Coffee is what I crave for even now!

I like my Coffee to be strong but at the same not overwhelming. I also like a fair amount of milk & sugar in it. Black Coffee is not for me. I remember this Coffee Vendor at Vashi Station (Mumbai) where we regularly stopped for a hot cup every evening after a strenuous day in our Engineering College. I always specified the kind of Coffee I wanted. 'Coffee bhi zyada aur Cheeni bhi zyada' (Strong as well as with a generous amount of sugar)

Since moving to London, I have Instant Coffee (Nescafe Original) at home and Freshly brewed Coffee at every chance that I get to go to a Cafe (Costa being the favourite & Starbucks comes in a close second). Since GM prefers Tea to coffee, I never thought about making filter coffee for just myself, but I missed it.

I was missing it so much that I brought a Coffee filter, the last time I had gone to India. The Steel one with two compartments, one for the coffee powder and water to be put, and the other to collect the decoction.

To make filter coffee (2 cups), take about 3 tsps of the Coffee Powder (the qty depends upon the kind of Coffee powder & your preference for light/strong coffee), in the upper compartment of the filter.

Boil 3/4 cup water and add it to the powder. Place the inner cover on the bubbling water & coffee mixture and press down a few times.

This bubbling Coffee Decoction is my entry for this month's CLICK, where the theme is Coffee & Tea.

Cover the filter, so as not to let the aroma escape, and wait for the decoction to percolate into the lower compartment, usually takes about 5-10 min.

Heat 1 and 1/2 cups of milk, adding sugar as required. Once the milk is boiling, add the collected decoction to it and only heat for a few seconds and take off the fire. Pour into cups or for a more authentic feel, into small steel tumblers and enjoy!

The decoction is not supposed to be heated, but I prefer to add it to the heating milk as I like my Coffee piping hot and adding the decoction later on to the milk makes it lukewarm.

The choice of the Coffee powder depends entirely on personal choice. Back in India it was MTR and another local brand, the name I have forgotten (Should remember to look it up the next time I am there). Here I chose a Coffee powder, produced in Zimbabwe for the sole reason that the 'Best Before' date for this one was the farthest (still only 2 weeks once the pack was opened) :)

Anyway, the coffee was good. Strong, aromatic and flavourful. So much that GM nowadays opts for Coffee instead of Tea if I offer to make it Filtered!