Making Indian Filter Coffee in the US

If you go about making authentic Indian Filter coffee in the US, you are sure to stumble into some roadblocks. I have searched the net many times to get practical and specific advice but with no luck. So far, i have tried the Coffee Makers, French Press, etc. None of them come with the same flavor as making coffee with the Filter brought from India.


I was told that the nearest approximation can be achieved by using Columbian coffee (Columbian Supremo from Costco or Columbian Narino Supremo from Starbucks, etc.) and grinding the beans to "Turkish" setting. There are also blends available from Wholefoods (Cauveri, Mysore, etc.)

The problem as i found out is not so much in the beans. The columbian coffees are darker roasts than the ones you find in south india. I grew up drinking Narasu's coffee, specifically the Peaberry blend (PB) as in here: (narasu's coffee website)


Narasu's PB blend is made from Peaberry's which are much more expensive (as only a fraction of the coffee plant output apparently yields pea sized berries and the rest are bigger berries). But the Columbian beans will do reasonably well. Kumud Groceries in Cupertino was actually selling this same coffee for $5.99 for about 1/2 a pound, which is actually a bargain.

The only problem is they often run out of stock and if you are a coffee lover you will know that once coffee is roasted it starts losing flavor from then on, even if the coffee is sealed airtight. Powdered coffee loses flavor even faster.

So as i was saying, the problem is not in the beans, it is in the grind.
Rule #1: do not use the coffee grinder in the store if you expect any reasonable drink out of the coffee you are buying.

The store grinders often are used for flavored coffees despite having separate grinders. The actual grind almost always do not match the setting in the grinder. So if you use them, and you will have one of the 2 results:
o Decoction doesn't percolate. All the water stays up in the top compartment.
o Docoction runs through very quickly resulting in watery coffee with no strength.

The following procedure worked for me:
o Buy columbian beans or something else with a lighter roast.
o In Peet's coffee grind it in the 3 setting (1 point finer than the grind they use for espresso which is 4)
o In Starbucks grind it in the same setting as espresso or ask them 1 level finer than that.

Turkish grind makes the coffee into superpowder. This will not work well in the Filter.

I am continuing to experiment with the coffees and the grinds. I am planning to buy a Burr grinder and will blog my future Indian Coffee experience.