ANJI SETH
Most of us are accustomed to our daily cup of coffee, the world's most popular beverage, with over 400 billion of those cups being consumed every year. But I wonder how many of us have seriously thought about why we drink the stuff. Is it to wake up, or to study, or for a "pick me up" during the day"? Have you begun to need the caffeine? That is, do you like it because of its taste, or because of what it does for you? Are you particular about the kind of coffee you drink? Or will any kind do?
Speaking for myself, I suppose I first became aware of coffee when I joined Delhi University. Those were heady days when we had to fmd our feet in a new world which required us to indulge in some serious lounging (among other activities like studying). Drinking coffee in the University Coffee House, popularly known as CH and acting cool and nonchalant became a fundamental part of our college day. We pretended-or did we assume-that we were on the right track in developing the "intellectual" hidden within each of us? On reflection, I am convinced that those get-togethers over a cup of coffee during our univ days was an essential part of our education. It helped us in formulating our ideas, cementing our relationships, and giving direction to our future.
My friend Indu reminds me that in our college days 53 years ago, a cup of hot coffee cost three annas and cold coffee cost seven! As most of us had an allowance of Re 1 per day, there was only so much coffee one could buy, so we had to stretch it out and stretch it out we did! the exception was Ashok, Indu's boyfriend, now her husband, whose two brothers-both working-regularly slipped him five rupee notes. So he was the only one able to afford the cold coffee! Nice guy that he is, he shared it with us.
Though our coffee br~aks mostly occurred in the university area, we also ventured into Connaught Place, to establishments like Volga, Alps and Gaylords, which welcomed us with pots of freshly brewed cona coffee and mutton patties. A Saturday morning at Volga with our gang around the table, listening to Rudy Cotton's legendary swing band, was really something to look forward to. The cona coffee wasl served with fresh cream and the combination of aromas was almost too delicious to bear. The coffee served at the two famous coffee houses at the university and United Coffee House in Janpath, was the wonderful south Indian blend of Arabica with its delicate aroma and Robusta, with its bitterness-full body and chicory.
Arabica and Robusta are the two kinds of coffee bushes which bear a fruit called the cherry. Most cherries have two coffee beans in them; but a small percentage of cherries of the Arbica plant have only one coffee bean and this is the rare peaberry bean. This peaberry has much more flavour than its sister bean on the same Arabica plant which is called the plantation bean. The Robusta bush, on the other hand, is hardier, easier to grow and hence the bean is cheaper. Chicory is a plant, the leaves of which are used as salad greens while the root, when dried, ground and roasted to a rich dark colour and added to coffee, gives it mellowness and colour.
At home, however, it was usually the instant variety of coffee that we drank, the electric percolator only brought into play on special occasions, like at a coffee party or after dinner, when coffee was served with liqueur, in extraordinarily beautiful coloured Venetian coffee cups, and always with brown sugar. What an elegant picture!
Meanwhile, the word had spread to India that the world was drinking a new coffee called espresso, or its milky version, cappuccino. So, though we didn't have the apparatus to make it at home, India developed its own version-which was made by furiously beating together instant coffee, sugar and a little hot water with a spoon into a frothy paste. A boiling mixture of milk and water was poured over this frothy paste, and not knowing any better, we oohed and aahed over our cappuccino!
