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Koffee at Kalmane
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Here is one for people who want to get involved with their coffee from the bean stage
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— Photo: Murali Kumar K.
Kalmane Koffees is a place where you can pick and choose your bean, have it roasted and ground to your signature specification.
YOU WALK down to the neighbourhood shop and say: "200 gram coffee pudi kodi." If you are a more upmarket shopper, you might pick your vacuum-sealed pack of coffee powder off a supermarket shelf. Your tongue and mind may have made you loyal to a shop or a brand over a period of time, but the business of buying it remains a perfunctory affair for most.
Many questions
So, you would be a little shocked if the shop assistant/owner turned back and asked you a barrage of questions when you ask for your regular stuff: "Arabica or Robusta, ma'am? Would you like a blend, ma'am? What percentage of chicory, ma'am? For a coffee maker or a filter, ma'am?"
But that's what you get before you get your pack of coffee powder at Kalmane Koffees, an exclusive outlet at The Forum in Koramangala. The tiny, aromatic shop greets you with a massive roasting machine, an array of different varieties of coffee beans in glass jars, and a petite grinding machine. This is a shop where you can pick and choose your bean, have it roasted and ground to your signature specification. One of the proprietors of the shop, Dhiraj Prabhu, tells you that the coffee is processed from one estate — Kalmane Estate, which dates back to 1879, near Chikmagalur — and every step of the process is carefully monitored. "It makes our coffee on par with the best in the world," he claims.
But when did South Indians, known to be creatures of unalterable habits, turn so experimental in life? Good old South Indians are travelling a lot, seeing the world, and waking up to new flavours of their morning coffee, says Dheeraj. What's more, they are choosing different flavours for different occasions and times of the day. At Kalmane Koffees, you get some exotic blends with even more exotic names — Bluegrass, Cantata, Harmony, Ethiopian Sidamo, Rich Columbian... And jostling with these is a very local-sounding variety, Mysore Nuggets.
A bit of history
Dhiraj will tell you that there's plenty of interesting history packed into the innocuous looking brown beans. Mysore Nuggets, for instance, is a blend that emerged quite by accident during the colonial times.
As coffee travelled from India to Europe during the monsoon in ships, the beans bloated with all the moisture and that gave the final product a special flavour.
In time, people started asking for this specific variety that comes with "full aroma, medium to good body, good acidity, and a fine flavour with a hint of spice."
As you learn your bit of history and wait for the shop assistant to make and pack your coffee powder right before your eyes, you can also sip a cuppa at Kalmane Koffees. You take your pick from a variety again — cappuccino, mocha, latte... or even a filter coffee that will be served in a shiny steel tumbler. Or you can munch on a few cookies or a coffee bean chocolate.
If you fall in love with the special Kalmane Koffees blends but find the trip to The Forum too tedious, you could just call them (on 22067726) and place your order. Soon the premium coffee place will open outlets in Jayanagar and R.T. Nagar as well. Dhiraj hopes that it might, in time, even grow into to a posh chain of outlets, retaining its very desi name.
BAGESHREE S.
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