OK, but first Kaapi.
Design Story: There’s mad and then, there’s coffee-mad. We cannot explain the kaapi craze that grips us any more than we can explain why the earth spins at a particular speed. Who are we to question the bigger picture? 😊 In fact, pondering the bigger picture often happens over coffee.
Caffeine addiction is just not a bad thing when it comes to South Indian filter-kaapi. The flavor, the aroma and refreshment it brings, cancel out the negativity around talk of excessive coffee intake, caffeine issue, etc. As all filter coffee lovers know, there is some effort involved in brewing your best cup of kaapi. In Chennai, we get fresh, ground coffee beans and the powder often includes a small dose of chickory. Back in their homes, there is the coffee filter (commonly made of stainless steel) for holding the coffee powder. Boiling and bubbling hot water is poured with gusto onto the freshly-ground coffee powder. This sets the aroma-tone in your home for the whole morning! Once the (im)patient kaapi drinker gets the decoction ready, milk and sugar are added to make the beverage’s colour just the sort of shade of the blotch we have on our t-shirt here!
Backstage with the designer so to speak, we worried about the ‘blotch’. We cannot speak of kaapi and blotch in the same breath, you see. It would be a blemish on our beloved kaapi’s reputation! However, including a tumbler or glass did not make the same statement as the blotch of kaapi. When tastefully designed, it looked a lot more fetching than we had anticipated.
As for the mood enhancer that kaapi is, there is no greater alternative. A quote from someone on the Internet (!) once stated: “With enough coffee, I feel as though all things are possible. Many of them are highly unlikely of course, but they are possible.” This is funny, but kaapi in India, is no joking matter.
No matter where you are, what you do, the typical Chennaiite’s response to anything would be: “Ok, but first…Kaapi.”
Behold the T-shirt with the coffee mark. This is one coffee stain that won’t wash off! ;-)