Tuesday, November 08, 2005

black as hell,strong as death,sweet as love

i'm a coffee drinker. wait, i take that back. i'm more like a mochaholic. if i knew swimming i'd probably be diving off a high board into slightly lukewarm coffee. i dont know who got me started me on this stuff but till i did i was the poster child for complan. like the very nice complan boy, i too took off vertically achieving heights that few in my family had ever achieved. in fact when I was in my teens my mom ditched the step stool and ottada kucchi(the long stick with a broom attached to the end that'd remove cobwebs) and used me instead. once i reached the elevation where the loft was within my arm's reach, they promptly discontinued the rather expensive complan and switched me to the even more expensive coffee lest i get tired while working thus.

i fell for the trick quite easily. coffee was nice. the smell of filter coffee and the distinct sound that a full tumbler made as it clanked on the bottom of the davara were enough cues for me to wake up in the mornings. now i'm still talking abt the pre-qwiky era when the only hot drink that was cool enough to be drunk outside was a nair kadai single chaya. when i got to the US, i went through the experimental stage and tasted various beverages of varying temperatures and alcohol content. and when i finally turned to coffee at my host's place i hit the tasteless wall of instant coffee. having repeatedly seen that ad where arvind swamy happily gallops away to office after drinking this filter coffee doppelganger, i'd figured it wouldn't be that bad. little did i know that he was running from this crystallized abomination. i refused to believe in the granules as a manifestation of the supreme nectar and stopped drinking it.

it was at the height of my non-caffeinated stupor that someone pointed out a starbucks. i went in, ponied up my lunch money for a cafe latte (the menu has the right accents in the right places) and then promptly decided i would be a long term investor in the company. while the baristas smiled sweetly and swiped my credit card till the black strip wore off, my money mixed with theirs like coffee and low-fat soy milk. lattes and mochas and frappys took pleasure trips on my blood stream till one day ,out of purely non-monetary reasons (yeah right), i decided to try the coffee of the day. and hey with a little milk and about 6 or 7 packets of cane sugar it wasnt bad at all. i soon got back to eating lunch

i've moved on from starbucks since. i even subject myself to instant coffee as long as it has enough sugar in it to give the mug cavities. but like the millions of coffee lovers i'm thoroughly addicted to the bean to the point where i can probably snort it. Step 1 of the mocaholics mysterious: "I admit that i am powerless over the potent mix of dark french roast with skim milk." Having sampled most of the decoctions that the midwest has to offer, i'm sure i've tasted the worst cuppa joe's. it was at a burger joint that i won't name. but the best coffee, i havent had that one yet. a fine italian restaurant came quite close but it was still missing something. maybe i'll brew it myself . so in a few years when local.google.com hits chennai, look up "Okka Mocha" (TM). that's where i will be , davara in one hand, tumbler in another, serving up the best brew to chennai's millions.

10 comments:

Subramaniam Avinash said...

Looking at the way Chennai is going, you might have to serve your trademark brew in a styrofoam cup. Cheers.

Anonymous said...

do u drink ur coffee with your head down? head up? or in the horizontal position?

wondering why i asked this Q!

'piyo, sar utake'. this is what aamir and few other stars are saying in coke ads these days in indian television.

looking at this ad., i was reminded of my mom who used to insist "Tumbler-la kudikum podhu thooki kudi da". This is what drove me to take beverages in cups.

-current

catcharun said...

all right..at last i see some non-spam comments..

daily : what do you mean...no davaras around eh? are they also marked with the "Made in China" stamp..cheers to you too. i shall brew some special irish filter coffee for ye

current: i dont have tumblers here and even when i used to drink coffee in india i had the privelege of slurping from the tumbler's edge..do you drink coffee though..i only remember ur mom calling u in between our cricket game for some drink,not sure if it was coffee

senna: texas kay oru cowboyaa??
dallas kay oru pickup truckaa??
ippadi naanum adikkiginnae povaen..
i dont know abt all that, the name okka mocha is awesome and for that reason alone i'll start a coffee shop..venumna sollu unakkum investment opportunities tharen

Anonymous said...

nice name for the shop. make sure nobody else steals it ;)...

i have also always been reprimanded for not thooki kudichufying from the tumbler... i'd argue saying the coffee scalded my tongue if i drank it that way.. so, when my friend gifted me this huge, huge, bru ad like coffee mug, both my amma and i were happy...

catcharun said...

anon:
i dont really care abt someone stealing the name..as long as they give me free coffee there
of course that begets the question whose responsibility was it to wash the mug?

docs dope:
thanks for the visit..will try

Devilish Angel said...

Good coffee post...

Anonymous said...

mine and mine alone. strangely there was no argument there..

Ms.V said...

ah coffee! true true..just had a cup this morn'..but it was sorta eekz..anyways, wouldn't invite ya to drink my mum's coffee..and I write this 'cause she isn't a netizen as yet..heh heh..seriously tho, my granny made the best coffee..and my mum, well, let's just say that her coffee is called coffee only 'cause she calls it coffee..nice post as always..laters! :)
..V :)

catcharun said...

v: there is an ancient tamil saying that goes "will a donkey know the smell of camphor". corresponding hindi saying "will a monkey know the taste of ginger".
all i'm saying is that there might come a stage when instant coffee is all you get and you'll have to make it urself. as long as you dont have to move a muscle to get your coffee, enjoy it :)

aline said...

Great thoughts you got there, believe I may possibly try just some of it throughout my daily life.
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