Comfortably Numb

Sheila Kumar's Storehouse

Published on: 03/16/17 12:23 PM

Feature: Artisanal coffee is a thing!

 

 

Artisanal Coffee Is A Thing

 

So. Have you heard the one about the woman who walks into a coffee bar,  eyes the toothsome barista and says, `Make me happy,  Joe.` The barista looks at her with a smile, then says, give me a mo.

The woman seats herself at a table nearby. Within minutes, the barista is by her side, cup of steaming hot coffee in his hand. Here you go, he says cheerfully, `Here`s your happy joe! `

Okay, it didn’t quite happen that way. For the record, I walk  into a new café called the Flying Squirrel,  down Koramangala way in Bangalore, go up to the counter, eye the scribbles on the blackboard behind the barista, and place my order.

 

The barista, who turns out to be the co-owner of the place, Ashish D’Abreo, isn’t going to let it go just like that. I seat myself at a table in the cosy café where the heady fragrance of  the drink a.k.a rocket fuel,  is making my head swirl in the most delightful manner ever, and soon Ashish is at my table.

A brief interrogation follows and I’m forced to divulge some personal details. Like, whether I prefer light bodies or heavy ones. Like, how exactly do I like my pour-overs. Like, will I go for the bold and deep or the fruity and light? Like, is coffee my preference, prop or addiction? (Okay, I made  that  last one up.)

Ashish D’Abreo, coffee connoisseur (CC) with many years of expertise in the coffee industry, doesn’t take java lightly. Which is why the USP is simple at the café he and partner Tej Thammaiah, have set up: learn about coffee even as you savour it.  And oh, this is not just a café, he informs me, it’s a micro roastery and café. The finest artisan beans, the freshest roasts.

 

At this point, I confess (heresy alert!) that oftentimes,  I prefer a well- made cup of instant coffee to a filter kaapi. D’Abreo`s expression doesn’t change. `Yeah well,` he says, with nary a hint of patronisation, `we have coffees for people who like instant coffees…try our Cafe Chic.`

So I do, and it does taste like my favourite brand of instant but overlaid with some deeper flavour, which I  discover, is peaberry. Also, the `chic` could mean chicory, brewed in a south Indian stainless steel coffee filter; I`ve just had a cuppa that could well turn me into a filter kaapi drinker!

 

D’Abreo is now telling me about the thirty-day window. As in, the freshly ground coffee you buy and store, tastes best in the span of a month. Anything more than a month and it doesn’t taste or smell like fresh coffee should, simply because both fragrance and flavour have lain down and died. People drink old roasts without knowing they are doing so, says D’Abreo.

The stuff found on supermarket shelves could be roasted anywhere between a month to a whopping six months ago. We muse on this even as I sip from a cup of Sattva, Arabica with a fruity note or two, which for some reason, takes me back to the taste of espressos in Italy, given the desi twist.

Now D`Abreo is on the topic of coffee snobs. This lot generally goes for single brews, he informs me. Quite in the fashion of single malts, I ask. But D’Abreo isn`t listening, he is ruing that they are missing out on the wonderful world of blended brews. `In the hands of an expert, a blended brew tastes divine,` he says, signalling for a cup of Parama for me. This brew has the taste of chocolate and caramel, and of course I love it.

There are snacks on offer too. The salads, sandwiches, lasagne, burgers, potato fries all complement the main item, coffee, beautifully, as do the cheesecake, cupcakes, crème brulee desserts.

 

 

It’s a busy life for this CC. He supervises the entire process, from the arrival of the beans from the Coorg estate, to the roasting (done in a sleek machine of German make) blending, packaging. The Flying Squirrel brand has a strong online presence at www.flyingsquirrel.in and supplies coffee to artisanal or gourmet cafes and restaurants across India.

The sceptic in me awakes again. `Tell me Ashish, ` I say, fixing him with a steely look at variance with my gentle tone, `do customers really want the full dope on coffee or just a good cuppa joe?`

` There is a definite coffee culture brewing across India, `  he says in a tone that matches mine but sans the steely look.  `People come in for a coffee and we make suggestions. Some listen, some question why. The former become repeat customers who on subsequent visits, ask more about the artisanal coffees and the coffee process. The latter become repeat customers who start to build their opinions on particular coffees. Both of them become informed customers.`

He`s right; I sip from my cup of Sun-Kissed and immediately want to know just why it has a faint but delicious buttery flavour.

 

 

 

 

D’Abreo and Thammiah are planning workshops where coffee drinkers can acquire gyaan quite like wine drinkers do, debate light roasted versus dark roasted bean, discuss lining and flavour, deconstruct the strength and the vulnerability of the bean, argue if an aero press really has an edge over a regular filter.

When I finally leave the Flying Squirrel, I`m reeling from java OD but it`s a heavenly reel. The coffee knowledge I have recently acquired sits smooth and pretty like the foam atop a cuppa cappuccino. The nuances of artisanal coffee drinking have been explained to me.

The next time I order a cup, I will inhale the fragrance, take a sip and murmur thoughtfully,` Ah, I detect a floral flavour, overlaid with a peanutty infusion. Quite my happy joe.`

 

http://www.mansworldindia.com/whats-new/artisanal-coffee-thing/

This appeared in MAN`S WORLD magazine of 15 Mar 2017.

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artisanal coffeeAshish D`AbreoBangalorecoffeecoffee drinkersCoorg districtkarnatakamicro roasteryThe Flying Squirrel

Sheila Kumar • March 16, 2017


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