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Morning Ritual™, our South Indian filter coffee range.
Filter coffee is not espresso in a different cup. Water sits on the grounds and finds its own way through, which takes as long as it takes. What you get is a decoction: concentrated, dark, and made to be cut with hot milk.
One
A moment
Three heaped spoons into the upper chamber. Level it, do not press it down yet.
Two
A moment
Set the pressing disc on top and turn it once. Firm, not tight. This is what sets the drip rate.
Three
200ml
Water just off the boil, poured in one go. Cover it and leave it alone.
Four
10 to 15 minutes
The decoction drips through dark and slow. Lifting the lid to check will not make it faster.
Five
Until it rises
Whole milk, heated until it lifts. One part decoction to three parts milk.
Six
Six or seven times
Between tumbler and dabara, arm high. It cools the coffee, aerates it, and builds the froth.
The filter has no pump and no paper. Only gravity moves the water, so the grind sets the pace on its own. Too coarse and it runs straight through thin. Too fine and it stalls, and you are left tapping the side of a vessel that has decided to stop.
Chicory thickens the decoction and holds it up against hot milk. At eighty to twenty it adds body and a faint sweetness. Without it the cup is cleaner and more bitter, which some people much prefer. That is the whole difference between our two blends.