Brahmins can go so far - Sudras should not go beyond this point', 'Sudras should not reside in this street', 'Panchamas should not walk in this street' are placed in every coffee shop that the Brahmins own, in every hall, in every tank and temple, rules are created, and people are divided; aversion and dislike are created; disgrace is created. Let any Congress leader get up and say, let them accept that at least as far as this place is concerned in the coffee shops and Brahmin hotels, the boards that say ‘Brahmins - Non-Brahmins’ will be removed and flung off. In Salem, the Congress party fought for a resolution favouring the cancellation of the license of any 'coffee hotel' that denied entry to untouchables or harijans. On 11 August 1945, K. K. Kannan introduced a resolution in the Council for urging the Government to remove untouchability by royal proclamation. The mover of this resolution had an experience of the practice of untouchability on his way to Anandapuram. When Kannan with his friends entered a coffee house, the Nair owner told them that he would serve coffee to them on the condition that they consent to wash the glass after drinking it. Kannan not only refused, but caused the introduction and carrying of a resolution banning these practices. A Story of Chicory, World War II and Degree Coffee When World War 2 began and the sea routes were sealed, the coffee industry in India suffered a huge setback and was directly responsible for the creation of the Coffee Board of India, which controls coffee till today. This was also the period when the south Indian filter coffee, as we know it today, was created using a blend of chicory and coffee. Chicory’s origins can be traced to the Mediterranean Sea, more specifically France and Italy. Chicory is also
Arabica is the the most sought after species of coffee with high quality tasting characteristics, low acidity and low caffeine. 38 | CALDRON MAGAZINE, OCTOBER 2015
An open air coffee bean storage facility in Karnataka.
believed to have originated in eastern India as it was referenced in the writings of the ancient Greeks. By itself, chicory powder is bitter tasting, but when mixed it with coffee, it not only adds body to the coffee (so less coffee can be used) but also enhances the taste and aroma of the coffee. The easiest way to understand this is to think of the fragrance of filter coffee in South Indian dosa hotels! Then there is the famous Kumbakonam Degree Coffee that is made only with the purest churned cow's milk. Why is it called Degree Coffee? One explanation is that it's not degree coffee, but chicory coffee, which came to be pronounced first as chickaree and eventually became degree. Speaking for myself, I believe the most plausible one is that milk certified as pure with was called degree milk owing to the 'degree' markings on a lactometer and therefore coffee prepared with degree milk became known as degree coffee. A Crash Course in Beans and Leaves A little about the different types of coffee beans: • Arabica: The the most sought after species of coffee with high quality tasting characteristics, low acidity and low caffeine. • Coffea Canephora (robusta): The second most sought after coffee specie in the world after Arabica beans, canephora is easy to maintain and thus to produce. The beans are considered of lower grade if compared to Arabica beans and are often mixed with the latter to make coffee production cheaper. However it is often included in instant coffee and espresso blends to form 'crema'. It has a huge