Udantya* *dwelling beyond the boundary
Welcome to the third issue of Udantya! ________________________________
This month on Udantya, we explore ‘Coffee’ and all that comes with it! __________________________ Backstage Pass The Essence of Udantya Megaphone A Word from the Editors Spotlight My Coffee Chronicles Darkroom Bean to Cup! Armchair Critic In Those Days There Was No Coffee Jam Session Instant Class! Under This Sun Joy Cardin (of WPR) and her show on Coffee The Weatherman Was Right! A Caffeine Fix! Cameo I The Cup of Life! ©Aparna Vidyasagar
Cameo II Confessions of a Coffee Addict!
BACKSTAGE PASS The very essence of artistic expression is that, it is captured in many different ways. A picture, a word or a tune. Your rebellion, your journey and your destination. Here, we aim to capture it all. Join us or explore with us. Welcome to Udantya. Welcome to our creative space!
Udantya aims to be a collaborative effort. If you have any articles, photos or music you would like to share, please email us at udantya@gmail.com. Future themed issues will be announced a month in advance.
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MEGAPHONE
From the Editors
Coffee Caffe Cafe Kaapi Kohi
For some coffee is caffeine, that essential jolt required to start the day. For others coffee is conversation, a comfortable chair or a favorite book. The flavor of coffee is intricate, delicate and a discovery. Its aroma awakens, soothes and refreshes. Brewing coffee is a challenge and an art, mixed in with a special little trick up your sleeve. Coffee is a foreign word that has a home in many a language. Coffee is an addiction, an experience and an affair of the heart! A Salute! To COFFEE!
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The April issue of Udantya is a celebration of coffee! More often than not, the first words uttered each morning are, “Where’s my coffee?!” Over time, drinking coffee has become an integral part of our psychological well-being; an experience we enjoy through the day. This month, the ‘Spotlight’ is on Namita as she retraces her journey into the world of coffee. The ‘Armchair Critic’ presents “In Those Days There Was No Coffee’, a delightful book on the cultural history of Tamil Nadu, India including a peek into the origins of the ever famous Madras filter coffee. In Jam Session, we share three of our favorite coffee recipes and follow up on the ‘Under This Sun’ photo exhibit. We experiment with video again in ‘Darkroom’; a short film entitled ‘Bean to Cup’. Making a Cameo appearance this month are: Karthik Narasimhan who contrasts his childhood love for Kaapi (Madras filter coffee) and his new found obsession with Kopi (popular Singaporean coffee) in, ‘A Cup of Life!’ JB who unravels his addiction for coffee and the his personal journey in, ‘Confessions of a Coffee Addict’. Samar Khanna shares a poem in Jam Session about a quiet little romance that blossoms over coffee on a rainy day, all thanks to the weatherman! Ananya Ray reveals her secret recipe for a delicious cold coffee in Jam Session. We also want to take this opportunity to thank all of you for your kind words of support, feedback and encouragement! Thanks to you we’ve had no sophomore slump! Also, a very special thank you to our contributors. We look forward to a long partnership!
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SPOTLIGHT
My Coffee Chronicles It was usually on a weekend and my parents would have just finished a movie, and so mom would be up late. She would walk into the room my brother and I shared and ask us if we cared for some late night coffee. Our eyes would sparkle as our heads nodded in complete agreement. We would run into our parents room and cuddle under the covers with dad while mom would start ‘beating’ the coffee, sugar and water concoction. Slowly the aromas of Nescafe would start to surround the room. We all eagerly awaited the minute when the mixture turned that perfect shade of brown and we would get a delicious cup of ‘beaten coffee’! This is the memory that strikes the first chord when I think coffee! Growing up, coffee was always treated like a delicacy and not something we were allowed to get addicted to. In hindsight, it was probably for good reason! It was not something used to keep us functional at odd hours of the night but rather a delicious get-away that made our nights. Quite naturally then when I started college and heard everyone around me speak of coffee as the
first thing that they started their day off with, I was left completely off guard! Names such as lattes, mochas, cappuccinos, and all other tongue twisting caffeine hybrids utterly confused me and I immediately grew averse to incorporating this trait into my life. Instead I stuck to buying a small bottle of Nescafe, keeping it in my dorm room and once every few weeks, treating myself to the perfect cup of beaten coffee. The idea of chai (Indian spiced tea) though was also not an unfamiliar one. It was something I had grown up watching my parents drink at all hours of the day. A quick sip to start the day, a mid-morning beverage, an evening treat or a late night sip – it was always relished! It is probably for this reason that the first time I walked into the local Starbucks during my junior year in college, the first thing that caught my eye was the ‘chai tea latte’. Baffled by the name, I still considered it a safe option amongst the sea of options on that menu board. “Too sweet; why the cinnamon, why so watery and why does this is taste like everything but chai?” – all this raced through my mind but I sipped away silently, not wanting to make a scene but promising myself that I would never go back! Six years later, I find myself sitting at the local Starbucks down the street from my apartment. On most days, words conveniently slip into place but on a few others, my eyes wander in search of an inspirational start. So I pack my belongings and head to the one place that allows me to easily dip into some of my most earnest places. I step in, have a quick chat with my favorite barista, find my corner and sit down with my perfect latte. The earthy tones on the walls mixed in with the rich aromas of roasting beans, blend in with the setting sun of the day
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outside. A sense of warmth takes over my mind. I sit down, my fingers feel the pulse of creativity flowing through them and I begin this piece. How is it that the young college student averse to espresso drinks and baffled by a chai tea latte, finds herself sitting happily and blissfully creative in Starbucks? This change in scenery is attributed to a number of reasons. The most important being the idea of a ‘coffee culture’ that has evolved in my mind. This culture specifically addresses the connection between two things: the first being the way your cup of coffee is made; the care with which your barista grinds the beans, the temperature of the milk used and perfect amount of foam. The second part is the space in which you relish your coffee; the ambiance, which brings the story full circle. Where did you sit? Was it a comfortable couch or a hard chair? The lighting, the art on the walls, the music serenading the store – all this stirs the mood with which you’ll enjoy your coffee. Coffee shops are most often a sea of different noises; the humming of the machines, people’s chatter, that one student typing so hard it seems like the keys will fly off any second, and sometimes and obnoxious gang of high school girls. It is the charm of finding the calm in chaos. If you’re working away on a presentation for tomorrow, all this becomes a backdrop. If you’re sharing a cup of coffee with a friend, it stirs your mood and instigates
conversation. If you’re looking to create some creative energy, it can even provide the first spark. It creates an experience that carries you forward and yearning for it all over again. My experience at coffee shops is all that I just mentioned and many more new experiences that I have yet to discover. Whatever works the magic, I always find myself wanting a cup of coffee to complete my day. That cup which may hold a new experience, bring back a memory, or just be the stimulus; it is a part of me today and has found it’s place in the growing beanstalk of life! To bring things full circle, Starbucks is no longer an unfamiliar place with an alien menu. I have now made the chais and lattes mine tweaking them to perfection. The artwork on the walls are familiar friends and I have my favorite corner booked. And the baristas, well let’s just say it’s lovely to be in a place where everybody knows your name! If you ever find yourself like me, six years ago, puzzled by that menu try the half hazelnut, half caramel latte – it makes for a delicious beginning!
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- Namita
DARKROOM
Bean to Cup! Namita and I belong to two different schools of coffee consumption. I belong to the camp that frequents local coffee shops almost exclusively while Namita frequents Starbucks. Between ourselves, we have often had conversations, discussing our preference for one over the other and the perceived merits of one over the other. We were also curious about how much the source of coffee and the process of making coffee impacts people’s choice of coffee shop. This was the beginning of our concept; an exploration of the journey from bean to cup. We decided that it would be interesting to get some perspective on the conversation by talking to people, falling within a spectrum of coffee preferences. We also thought it would be a fun challenge for us to swap coffee viewpoints, so to speak. I began a project to learn more about Starbucks and the big chain coffee culture while Namita took to the local, independent coffee shops. We hope you enjoy our journey, learning about coffee culture and coffee as it evolves from bean, to cup! http://vimeo.com/23104503
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received by Tamilians in colonial India? These are merely a fraction of the topics expanded upon in the book.
THE ARMCHAIR CRITIC
In light of this month’s theme, I will dwell a while longer on the sections about coffee.
In Those Days There Was No Coffee I found this slim volume hidden between two larger books on a crowded bookshelf in a bookstore in India. The word ‘coffee’ had caught my eye and as I wrestled the book away from its literary prison cell, I found myself completely intrigued by the title- ‘In Those DaysThere Was No Coffee’. It was a cultural history Tamil Nadu, including the history of coffee and coffee consumption, written by the scholar and historian A.R. Venkatachalapathy. A time without coffee was difficult to imagine but a time in Tamil Nadu without the ubiquitous Madras filter coffee was practically inconceivable! Mr. Venkatachalapathy has compiled his many essays on the culture of consumption of coffee, tea and tobacco in colonial Tamil society as well as the socio-political aspects of day to day life, and put together an erudite little book. Page by page, one journeys through time and is always riveted. The book is full of charming anecdotes from history and is extremely well researched (he is after all a historian!). The essays are a fine example of modern Indian writing well in the league of Mr. R.K. Narayan*. Most pertinent to a coffee lover, the book brings to light aspects of coffee and coffee consumption that one would simply not think about. What came before coffee? What role did coffee consumption play in society? And was tea or coffee better
It baffles me that a state and city (Madras) so synonymous with coffee, could at one time have fought furiously to keep coffee consumption at bay! This in fact was the case. The first objection, that coffee was an English import, was understandable considering the colonial climate. However, the objections to coffee were many, varied and not that simple. Coffee was seen as an entity destroying the strong and deep rooted traditions of Tamil society. The drinking of rice starch based drinks in the morning was replaced by coffee in many tiers of society. This was viewed by traditionalists and conservatives alike as the start of cultural decay. In this same vein, coffee was maligned because of people’s inability to keep away from it on religious occasions that demanded austere meals or fasts!
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Coffee was likened to alcohol causing bursts of euphoria followed by depression and not to mention, addiction. Multitudes of essays were written about the faults of coffee, personifying coffee as a villain or seductress. Coffee ruined ones sleep and meddled with ones appetite. If our ancestors had done without coffee what was the need to begin consuming it now? Most interesting were the socio-cultural effects of coffee consumption for women. Coffee was vilified and accused of distracting women from their social and familial responsibilities. A prominent Gandhian once wrote to Gandhi, telling him of how coffee was rendering the women in Madras reactionary and thus of no use to the cause. (Gandhi was perhaps more a pacifist than a moderate during the struggle for Indian independence). The amenable and dutiful women had now taken it upon themselves to make demands of coffee two or three times a day! Mothers who let their children drink coffee were considered irresponsible. Dowagers of various households were not spared the wrath of those anti-coffee. These elderly ladies were meant to be pious and oblivious to worldly needs or cares, and yet here they were, in need of coffee twice and three times a day; succumbing to headaches when they were not able to obtain the same. They took to coffee to cure all failings of health and small maladies, casting aside the traditional remedies for which they were supposed to be the keepers. The fall of the traditional temperament of women was seen as a further sign of decay of Tamil society. Despite facing such staunch opposition in the early part of the 20th century, coffee remained resilient and entrenched itself firmly into Tamil society. By the 1930s coffee hotels had sprung
up all around Madras serving light fare and brewing milky brown filter coffee that is so synonymous with the city today. In a further twist to the socio-cultural impact of coffee, these coffee houses were run only by Brahmins (Iyers and Iyengars who are Tamil Brahmins). The hotels were often simply and unimaginatively named Brahmin/Iyengar hotel or Brahmin coffee hotel. Remnants of this culture still exist but in more secular environment. One of the best coffee houses in my home town of Bangalore, is the Brahmin Coffee bar which brews coffee in the same fashion of the old. They serve some of the best coffee in Bangalore today, which a true testament to the quality and endurance of filter coffee. Coffee also had a very quirky impact on the Tamil language putting Tamil purists who were also coffee drinkers in an insufferable quandary. The purists wished for the language to remain true to it’s Dravidian roots but coffee consumption had become so widespread that there was a definite necessity to have a ‘Tamil’ word for it. This was the birth of the word ‘Kaapi’. The word was somewhat acceptable to most since it utilized Tamil roots and consonants! The Madras Presidency was the political center of the British government in South India. Much the same manner as the Calcutta Presidency gave rise to cultural, political and intellectual icons of colonial India, the Madras Presidency and present day Tamil Nadu gave rise to the same. The book details the birth of Tamil cartooning, with cartoonists taking their cues from both Punch and Indian mythology! Much of the cartooning was political with cartoonists focusing their mirth and wrath at the British and also moderates of the independence movement.
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Several literary figures emerged experimenting with various narrative styles including the autobiography. The Tamil culture underwent an overhaul in during the first half of the 20th century with the orthodox religious society of old hesitantly edging towards secularism. This change led to further contributions to the rich body of Tamil literature. To sum it all up, don’t be deceived by the size of this book. It’s a small book that packs a big punch, with a wealth of information and history on every page. I will recommend this book to lovers of non-fiction and history as well as trivia junkies like myself. And of course to those lovers of coffee who wish to learn about a time when, there was no coffee! - Aparna (Those interested in purchasing the book will find it on Amazon) Notes and Footnotes: *A point of personal prejudice as I hold him in the highest regard and his writing as one of the finest examples of modern Indian literature. The Madras Presidency consisted of present day Tamil Nadu, present day Karnataka, Kerala and coastal Andhra Pradesh. Madras was the capital, with Bangalore serving as a British cantonment.
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JAM SESSION
Immediately add in about two teaspoons of instant coffee. Stir once and take the saucepan off the heat (you don’t want the coffee to lose its flavor). Pour in the milk and let the coffee simmer on medium-low heat. Strain your coffee though a tea sieve.
Instant Class! Instant coffee tends to be the red-headed step child of the coffee family, often frowned upon by coffee purists. Here are three of our personal coffee recipes using instant coffee, that will elevate it far above the mundane!
Sit back and transport yourself to distant lands and happy thoughts! -Aparna
Cardamom Caffe Latte!
Beaten Coffee!
This is my take on Arabic coffee. I love making it because of the lovely aroma of fresh cardamom that fills the kitchen and awaken s my senses; taking me back to my mum’s kitchen in India. The flavor of cardamom blends beautifully with the coffee and makes it incredibly refreshing to drink. What started off as an experiment one day, has become my staple coffee recipe. Now, just drinking plain old instant coffee seems dull and flavorless! Bring about half a cup of water to boil in a sauce pan. Add in as much sugar as you want and let it melt away. Take about 5 cloves of fresh green cardamom and crush gently with a pestle so as to split each clove. Toss into the boiling water.
This is one of the best ways Nescafe can be utilized and is popular in many North Indian households! Take three tablespoons of Nescafe coffee and add one and a half tablespoons of sugar (add more or less depending on how strong you want your coffee to be) and mix with a few drops of water. Beat the two together until a thick light brown texture is made (you can add more water for the process to go faster but you will lose the thick consistency). Boil one cup milk and add water as needed to reduce thickness. In your coffee mug, add a tablespoon (more or less depending on how strong you want your drink to be) of the
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beaten coffee. Slowly pour the boiled milk into your cup and stir along. There you have it, a delicious cup of beaten coffee! - Namita
Iced Cream Coffee! Put one cup of brewed coffee (twice as strong as you would normally drink it), four teaspoons sugar and half cup milk in a blender and mix. Once blended, add three-four scoops vanilla ice cream to the blender, and mix until smooth, and enjoy! If you don’t have the means to brew coffee, double the milk and ice cream and add four teaspoons of instant coffee. Feel free to experiment with different flavors of ice cream too! - Ananya
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Around Town Namita’s first photo exhibit, ‘Under this Sun’, was a huge success with lots of positive feedback from all those who viewed it! We want to thank all our Udantya friends who stopped by and made the exhibit that much more special! We wish Namita many more travels and trigger happy days; and most importantly we wish to see her work grow from strength to strength. In case you missed it, here are all the photos from the exhibit. If you are interested in purchasing prints, Namita can be contacted at namita.azad@gmail.com
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Beat Box Wisconsin Public Radio’s Joy Cardine interviewed Morton Satin, the author of ‘Coffee Talk’ on 3/24/2011. Listen to, or downlaod this episode at http://wpr.org/webcasting/audioarchives_display.cfm?Code=jc a
Caffeine Fix A cup of coffee.
Poetic Justice The Weatherman was Right! The weatherman was right for once. The drops of drizzle and the steam of earth nestled away on these two cushions, where we sit, cupping our favorite anecdotes. With our caffeine laced conversations flowing from one cup to the next. The essence of the roast, intoxicating our words. The cream and sugar drown in our laughter, as we sip that molten bronze. Our senses enveloped by beige bubbles, and we slip into our fiction. The sun dips into the black silk. The bittersweet flavors of farewell, All we leave behind is coffee rings and cookie crumbs. The weatherman was right for once.
My heart still trembles thinking back to your words and the mind quivers at the thought of all the possibilities that have now revealed themselves. Why did I think so much? Why did I not think at all? The questions stand far away now and the answers all so close. This could be the new beginning, this could be a fresh start. But wait, don’t close the door behind! The feeling tastes like a lemon tart, anxiety garnished with confidence. The skies ablaze, welcoming the storm, rounding the rain and then coming up for a breath of sunshine. I want to collapse at your feet. I have to take the plunge yet it all keeps me afloat. We’ll walk says the wise man, we’ll swim the seven seas in pursuit of that island, and then we’ll live. Living a little for you will be death for a part of me. As it all drowns. In a cup of coffee.
- Samar
- Namita
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CAMEO I
The effort that went into brewing that perfect cup was monumental! The whole process began with choosing the right berries and mixing them in the right proportion. This was The Cup of Life! followed by roasting them carefully under the watchful eyes of the matriarch and grinding them to the right consistency. Finally, The d e wityall culminated in brewing that perfect cup; the cherished secret December of every Tamil household! The product, trust me, spoils you for breeze, fresh life! from the previous night’s rain, still The home brewed filter coffee enamors you and had a sting in the enslaves you forever. Nothing else, not even the exquisitely early hours of the crafted coffees of the world, touted as a connoisseur’s delight day. The voice comes close to providing the overall sense of completeness that of M.S you feel with every sip of that cup of perfection. It is pure art, I Subbulakshi say! resonated through the My work takes me to different countries. As faithful as rooms in a perennial attempt to awaken the Lord. Whether she I am to the cup of perfection that I was brought up to love, I am succeeded in her endeavour is up to one’s sense of belief! The just as addicted to caffeine. I do try to indulge in the local tunes funnelled through my ears every morning with renewed offerings of every city that I visit. As if to prove to myself that I vigor as my mother would wake me up with a jolt from my can handle the vagaries of life, I lap up the disappointment that slumber! But the momentary annoyance at the loss of those last each of those cups of coffee invariably turn out to be! Each of winks of precious sleep, would simply melt away, as the stirring these wasted cups only adds to the romanticism that the Madras aroma of ‘filter coffee’ or ‘Kaapi’ wafted through the kitchen filter coffee conjures. doors. It was as if the aroma of coffee was cajoling me to rise and shine! I would come downstairs and haggle with my brother over Today I stand outside my office of Singapore and hold the sports section of the Hindu, all while holding a hot cup of a mug of strong, ‘Kopi’, and it stirs my sensibilities yet again. perfect coffee. These are my staple memories of a typical The Kopi, truly Singapore’s own, is a robust traditional coffee. A morning in Madras! swig of the dark brew is usually customized to suit one’s taste buds. There are many variants of Kopi such as the good old black coffee with sugar- Kopi-O, which becomes Kopi-C with a dollop
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of condensed milk. And there’s the no frills version, just getting to the point with simple plain black coffee or Kopi-O-Kosong. Yet I yearn for the times gone by. The childhood days of innocence, when the smile on my mother‘s face meant all was well with the world. The gentle wisdom of my father’s words, teaching me more about life than grad school ever did! Yet, the Kopi reminds me and reassures me that I have come a long way in life. This is the city where I first found my own apartment; cooked my own meals; cleaned my own house; managed my own finances; made some everlasting friendships. The ‘Little Red Dot’ is truly my home! The Kopi in the friendly neighbourhood hawker centre, brewed by the ever smiling ‘uncle’, who takes immense pride in announcing to you that ‘Thambi! My stall ah, I sell the best Kopi in all of Singapore lah” is simply endearing! From the stirring romance of the filter coffee to the noisy pragmatism of the Kopi, life has come a full circle. Things change, people change and life moves on, trying keep up with the mad rush! There are days you get a sickening feeling of staring at a deep dark hole, a sense of not knowing what’s next in life! But I fear not. I know just what I need- to put me in perspective, to remind me of those little pieces which complete the jigsaw of life, the sights and smells of those cherished times that give me the hope for a new day, and the feeling that life is awesome. To the ‘perfect cup’, the cup of life! - Karthik
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CAMEO II
Confessions of a Coffee Addict “Are you happy now?” I was drinking from a hot cup of coffee on a cool spring afternoon by a small roadside gas station, overlooking one of the breathtaking valleys near Yosemite in California. We were returning from a weekend trip and I had been looking for a place to get coffee all morning. I finally got our party to pull up next to the gas station. We got our coffees and I was immersed in the moment, taking in the surrounding vistas and the coffee, until my friend’s wife came up to me and said, “Are you happy now?”. The question snapped me out of my reverie. As I replied in the affirmative, she casually let me know that moderation was the key to a healthy lifestyle and it slowly dawned on me that she was accusing me of both being addicted to and encouraging her husband’s addiction to coffee! Bewildered, I mumbled a few apologetic words and went back to our van.
How could coffee be an addiction? I didn’t seem to have a physiological dependence on it. I hadn’t heard of anyone financially ruined by coffee consumption. It isn’t banned anywhere and is by far the most popular drink in the world. What makes coffee click? I was curious and I needed answers. And thus began my ‘addiction’ to coffee. For the first time, I started paying attention to the different coffees that we consume and to its socio-cultural impact on daily life. I read books on coffee, looked for local coffee shops wherever I went and tried to develop my palate for coffee appreciation. Amongst the legal stimulants consumed by humanity, coffee is the new kid on the block. While its close cousins—tea and cocoa—pre-date the Christian era, the first stories of coffee begin to appear only about 900-1000 AD. Most of us have heard of the (perhaps apocryphal) Ethiopian goat-herd and his ravenous goats that would eat just about anything including (and fortunately for us), wild coffee cherries. The goats’ jumpy behavior after eating the cherries drew the shepherd’s attention and the rest is history! Christian monks, amongst the earlier adopters, used coffee to stay awake for long nights of prayers. Little did they know that a few centuries later, the same drink would be used by hordes of teenagers to recover from a wild night of revelry! As coffee consumption expanded to the rest of the world, it had to endure numerous attempts to demonize and ban it. Much like my friend’s wife, people were disturbed by coffee’s ability to drive people into over-consumption. Coffee houses across the middle-east and Europe were viewed as places that promote indolence. Coffee was accused of sapping
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the vitality of men. However, coffee endured and its consumption spread rapidly. The Boston tea party and the promotion of coffee as a ‘patriotic’ drink (as opposed to ‘unpatriotic’ tea), entrenched coffee firmly into American culture.
scarred, I limited myself to drinking mochas and lattes with lots of milk, chocolate and sugar to hide the taste of coffee. In rare cases, I would drink coffee in indie cafes that exercised sufficient care to brew a good pot of coffee.
In an interesting parallel, the evolution of coffee consumption in the 20th century closely reflects my journey into coffee. Coffee historians divide it into multiple waves of evolution. The first wave coincides with the post world-war era and the widespread availability of instant coffee to consumers. Companies like Nestle, Maxwell house and Folgers brought coffee to our breakfast tables with some aggressive marketing campaigns. Coffee consumption was all about getting that instant shot of caffeine into the body and feeling good about it. I was riding this first wave of coffee consumption during my undergraduate college days where the Nescafe coffee machines in and around our cafeterias catered to our need for a hot drink.
After college, as I began my first job, I was initiated into the third wave of coffee. This wave of specialty coffees initiated by small cafes across cities like Seattle, Portland and Chicago at the turn of the 21st century puts the focus squarely back on the coffee bean. Roasters and coffee aficionados take extreme care in the process of coffee making, from harvesting to roasting and to final coffee extraction, in order to allow the coffee to express its complete taste and aroma profile. The coffee beans literally sing. It is a sufficiently difficult process with a diverse set of tasks and end results that people get hooked. Coffee appreciation is promoted to a fine art much like wine tasting. Much like any art, it is subjective and can be rewarding as well as frustrating.
The next wave of coffee was ushered in by companies like Starbucks and Peet’s Coffee in the mid- to late-70s. They brought the concept of specialty coffee drinks to the consumer. Coffee could be had in a variety of different formats freshly prepared by specially trained baristas in cafes around the country. I was introduced to espressos on a hot summer day in Chicago by the Navy Pier. I ordered an espresso from a Starbucks café assuming that it would be a hot cup of coffee similar to the ‘espresso coffee’ offered by numerous platform vendors that dot train stations across India. To my utter surprise, I got a shot of bitter dark liquid leaving me wondering how people could drink this horrible concoction. Deeply
Coffee is described with a variety of adjectives, most of them non-standard and perhaps even nonsensical to a lay reader. What does it mean to have a coffee taste like ‘dried flowers’? How do I appreciate a ‘complex’ cup of coffee? Or a coffee that reminds one of mom’s Christmas cake, as one coffee roaster helpfully explained. Having never eaten a Christmas cake before, it is like telling a blind person that something is red. Nevertheless, there are times when a taste or aroma stands out, giving me a smug sense of satisfaction. More often than not, I can only make out only the most basic flavors like fruity, bitter, chocolate-y and so on. Tasting, perhaps, is a talent that is not easily acquired. I have been to a few of coffee
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tastings for newbies and inevitably most people look like deer in the headlights. Do I say something that gives away my ignorance or do I keep quiet and nod approvingly as I sip each coffee? I once told a barista that a coffee tasted ‘smooth’ and he was offended. All I wanted was to convey the lack of bitterness. Apparently in the world of coffee, smooth is equivalent to plain and as you can imagine, it is rude to call someone’s effort that! At the end of the day though, coffee speaks for itself and each person creates their own vocabulary to express it. If you don’t agree, then you can go (fill in the blanks with your favorite offensive)! In the world of third wave coffee, that seems to be the right attitude! What makes coffee special amongst the multitude of food items? Why not wine, an equal or perhaps more interesting and complex drink? Why not donuts, those sweet heavenly nuggets of fried deliciousness? My obsession with coffee is only partly driven by its chemical composition. The social act of coffee consumption is a strong motivator too. My initial days of coffee drinking were all about friends getting together to chit-chat and while time away. It didn’t matter whether it was a hot, sultry night in India or a cold freezing day in the American Mid-West. Coffee gives me a convenient excuse to take a break from the monotony of work. Much like teatime, coffee time allows people to come together and interact in a relaxed setting. Consequently, coffee houses turn into a microcosm of life around. People from varied backgrounds, interests and dispositions, gather and disperse in a coffee shop. The atmosphere is lively with a host of different characters, from the budding entrepreneur pitching an idea to her dearest friend, to a professor explaining the nuances of
getting his students to work more and the girl who is pulling herself together after a heart-break. Coffee shops also double up as excellent work-spaces. Is there a better place to indulge in deep intellectual thought than the noisy environs of a café? Contradictory perhaps, but the presence of all the activity around helps me focus better on the task at hand. In contrast, quite often I catch my mind wandering around in the silence of my office space. I seem to be able to draw from the crowd’s energy and channel it into my work. I look forward to the day when corporate offices would transition to vibrant, multi-cultural, multi-purpose spaces as opposed to the dull, sterile, mind-numbingly uniform spaces today. Until then, I can only sigh and pay token visits to my office. There is a down-side to working from coffee shops though. In graduate school, while my colleagues at work all got upgraded to fancy work chairs, I was left out! I was asked to make do with a broken old chair and there was no rational reason that I could give to justify a new chair in my office. I was one of the last people to receive dual monitors and my office space was re-allocated to a new comer even before I left the place. It wasn’t all too painful to lose my office though since I could now hold all my meetings in a coffee shop and peddle advice for coffee. I guess I am an optimist! Well, my dear readers, its yet another cool, sunny spring afternoon and I have my cup of coffee for company. It’s a ‘cafe hopping’ work day for me and I have work to get back to. It’s been a remarkable journey so far. What began as a bothersome question some years back in Yosemite, has transformed into a quest of discovery. “Coffee is surprisingly
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good,� was my reply then. I am confident that it will continue to be the case. - JB
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