Friday, August 17, 2007

A Call for a Cuppa

“The spring rains should be falling already. They will end the dry dormant winter period by stimulating the growth of the year's earliest, most delicate shoots, Darjeeling's famous First Flush.” ….says Kevin Gascoyne in his book ‘Art of Eating’.
Then at the George Howells’ they say, “A smooth cup infused with whispers of candy lemon, ripe apricot and mellow traces of ginger and Darjeeling tea. Mellow acidity with medium-light body! I am confused…

Tend to become more confused as Rajah Banerjee says, “…it has three distinct layers of flavor; first the magnolia then of moonlight and then it smells of sex.”

The motley crowd at the Planter’s Club in Siddapura keep on adding, “…the cups from the Elkhil estate are very smooth, full-bodied with subdued acidity, lingering bittersweet chocolate and traces of black pepper, nutmeg and cinnamon.

Ohh God…these people must be crazy! They probably have their orgasms in their cups and might have already reached their karmic nirvana and living in a state of perpetual bliss.

Don’t know, but I guess I’m more of a tea man! It doesn’t mean I don’t like coffee. The smell of freshly brewed Arabica and Robusta can equally arouse me. But it has been a tussle of a sort for past few years. Whether it’s the berries from the Alathcad, Sand Banks-Polycad, Elkhil or the Honey Valley at Kodagu or the first flushes from Castleton, Happy Valley, Makaibaris! Finally I decided, coffee goes with cell phone and the tea with serenity. It’s a matter of choice, it’s a matter of taste but I don’t know what the fact of the matter is!

Being a Bengali, tea has always been much closer to heart socially and politically. But I detest the atypical north Indian style of CTC (cut, twist and curl) chai, with lots of sugar, milk, cardamom and what else…malai marke…Praaji. Am I not trying to be too puritan! I wonder, because when you get those too milky, too sweet, all too hot teas at the dead of night on a deserted railway platform, on a desolate check post inside Sathyamangala forest or at the bends of the Ghat roads on a rainy afternoon, it tastes even better! Better than what or what not? I can not argue. But I can say, a fresh green tea with hint of lemon at the Keventers or some exotic flush prepared with apple and honey and sipped on a kuasha gehra Kurseong backdrop comes with its added flavor and sense of sensuality.

Although, it seems sacrosanct to the connoisseurs of tea, but for me; tea is always like red wine, it loves to go with food. Whether you are having it with apple pie or ham sandwich or with more mundane telebhaja-muri it doesn’t matter, only thing that matters is the kind of tea you are having and the way it has been made.

Ours is a vast country and like clothes, foods, musics and landscapes our drinking habits vary. Think of a quintessential Bengali bhadralok, who wakes up to his morning with a cup of hot tea and Anandabazar Patrika and think of a true blue Tamil nallavar whose mornings are never good without the staple dose of idli, ‘The Hindu’ and a steel tumbler full of freshly brewed filter coffee! We’re Indian, we’re different!

To be honest, I’m a very young coffee drinker. But after moving down south; in past three years I might have consumed hundred times more coffee than whatever I did in my entire life in Calcutta! Coffee used to be a winter luxury at our houses like Christmas cakes from Nahoums’ or Flury’s or like newly bought books from boimela. But the aroma was as eternal as the smell of after lunch oranges on the rooftop under the mild winter sun.

Coffee has evolved and so have the coffee-drinkers. From the semi-dark, smoky Coffee House with its intellectual air of existence, it moved on to glossy and gossipy Coffee Days. Cold-Coffees have made space for Kappi Nirvana. But India Coffee House has survived beside Barista.

I’ve learnt to drink coffee, coffee day way. Might not be the most elegant way off course. But, then some where you have to start. Counter chaps at some of the joints I befriended with in Bangalore were quite good indeed. They might not know how to roast the beans or to brew the best of Arabica but they can at least give you some decent leads. Then my infrequent visits to Coorg and Chikmagalur kept the coffee quest alive. Etheopian Kahwa or the Columbian Quest have always been personal favorites but for that early morning caffeine kick I always trust the hot and black, Espresso!
One disturbing fact I found in most of the coffee joints is, overdose of chocolate! It simply kills the coffee. More of a ‘Video killed the Radio Star’ kind of a phenomenon I call it. I prefer whipped cream on Irish coffee or in Cappuccino. It goes well. The subtlety of aroma is not lost whatsoever!

Coffee always reminds me of a very personal tag line conceived during a journey to the west coast through Chikmagalur and Malnad region of north Karnataka. Initially I thought it for a travelogue never written! “Mocha highway leads to the Golden sunset.” Oh, thank God! Finally I managed to put it somewhere.

So whether the Mocha that takes you closer to Moksha or the Kho-Cha that always gets you something Cha-hat se zyada is a purely personal thing. But irrespective of the fact whether it’s coming from the upper lines of Makaibari or from the fringes of Nicaraguan rain forest, once served hot it always creates a storm in the cup!

Copyright Abhishek Mitra, 2007