Chetta - two coffee
As a child, one of my favourite pastimes was the consumption of good quality tea and coffee. So, when I moved to Chennai for college, I was eagerly awaiting easy access to quality Tamil filter coffee - maybe even Kumbakonam degree coffee. Day 2 at the hostel, and I enter the mess (quite groggily) at 7 am. I make a beeline for the counter dispensing hot beverages, and am instantly awake. In lieu of coffee decoction, I am confronted with a dark, burnt tasting liquid that resembles the 'liquid smoke' seasoning used in barbequing more than coffee. Despondently, I fill up my glass halfway with the liquid, and add some milk and sugar. When mom calls, I grumble over the phone, complaining about the inaccessibility of the most fundamental staple of life - filter coffee. Switching to tea did not result in a better outlook. The tea was overly sweet, and lacked any flavour which could demarcate it from sweetened and heated milk. Something had to be done - the great Beverage Quest had beg...