Cauvery, coffee and curiosity

We ran out of our commercially made coffee powder recently and since I was just back from Coorg with a truckload of pure coffee, I decided to open one of the packets. As I undid the sticky tape of the coffee, a whiff took me back to the time when I was a kid, growing up in the then almost new Indiranagar in Bengaluru.

Just after the double road, on the way to Ulsoor, on the right was housed Cauvery Coffee Works. Run by two sisters, it was a store operating out of a garage. The store faced what is today a huge commercial complex that houses Krishna Sweets among many other stores. Like most homes in Bengaluru, their home too had a lot of trees and plants. The garage was connected to the house through a batwing door, and they would appear mysteriously through this portal when customers would arrive. Clad in the typical Coorg saree, with full-sleeved blouses, or a fitted cardigan in winter, the two sisters were elegant and stylish with their bobbed hair, large bindis and jewellery!

My grandma would always send us to Cauvery Coffee Works, with strict instructions that the coffee powder must be freshly ground and to not buy the already powdered product. This was an errand I loved to run as I was fascinated by the sisters, their bat-wing door, the coffee roaster, grinder and the invigorating smell of the coffee! As a curious kid, I had the special privilege to duck under the counter, enter the store, flap the bat-wing door and call out to the sisters, “Akka, I want coffee.” They would smile and ask how granny was doing and automatically start the process to powder the coffee for packing – they knew my grandma well.

It took a long time for me to get my hands on my 200 gm purchase, the green coffee would be running on the roaster like a large Russian Roulette with a million chips on it. I would watch fascinated as it slowly turned dark brown and as the smell grew stronger. I would help them store the roasted beans in large containers and watch every move with a keenness that was rooted in curiosity.

Once roasted, the powder would be weighed in a butter paper or brown paper packet bearing the logo and the store name, taped with brown tape ready to be taken away. From the coffee grounds to the packing, everything was bio-degradable! A guilt-free way to get-up, get out and smell the coffee!