Coffee Drinking: Search for Perfect Perculator

Habit of drinking coffee started somewhere in 3rd Quarter of 2009. My great friend Mr Rum Bee [Ramesh Carlos Santana] was the initiator of this. We together went to Cafe Coffee Day [CCD] on one Sunday evening for a cup of cappuccino, when asked for suggesting a simple coffee making utensil great coffee drinker Mr Bee introduced me to the stove top percolator. In CCD they gave me a single shot Moka Pot percolator [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moka_pot] and a equivalent grade of Arabica coffee powder to go with this. This was my first utensil used in coffee making.

Couple of try and many You-Tube videos later today I can say that I have at least conversed myself with the art of coffee making and selection of coffee powder.

When my mother came to know that I possess a Moka Pot, she instructed me get her one. This search again led me to CCD, but those guys had only single shot Moka Pot which was not my requirement for home. When I visited Bangalore in Oct 2009, I roamed in KR Market, Avenue Road, Chick Pet and BVK Iyeangar Road. I was not able to locate any Moka Pot or Percolator. My friend Manjunath who accompanied me to these location started asking me weather I am purchasing something highly costly item that whole of Bangalore doesn't have? I had no answer for this, because Bangalore the pride city with highest number of CCD doesn't have a taste for drinking percolator coffee in home which was really surprising? After continued search, I was able to locate Moka Pot in one of the steel utensil shop at Sultan Pet.

Today I own a single cup and 6 cup Moka Pot Percolator which I constantly use. I now realize that Indian made percolator are inferior in design as the nozzle is not designed properly when compared to Chinese or Italian make. If coffee is prepared in Indian percolator the coffee shot oozes out from nozzle with a lot of noise which is undesirable. Little use of engineering brain told me that nozzle portion of percolator is directly connected to the straight wall without a proper fillet to increase the area at the beginning of the nozzle. What this makes is, steam carrying coffee with high kinetic energy hits the straight wall and then losses its energy to fall back as water in the cup. This also creates undesirable taste in coffee sometimes. Any ways I am still not able to locate the Bialetti Moka Pot in any stores in India. Bialetti is the well known brand in stove top Moka Pot. Bialetti was started by Alfonso Bialetti in Italy.

Alfonso Bialetti (1888 - 1970)[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bialetti] was an engineer who became famous for his invention of the simple yet elegantly designed Moka Express coffee-maker. Designed in 1933, the coffee pot has been a style icon since the 1950s. It is the source of nostalgia and affection for many Italians and is an essential and fashionable part of almost every cucina Italiana (“Italian kitchen”). While many variations of the Moka have been developed, including the Bialetti cow-printed Mukka Express (which makes cappuccino), the Moka Express is a time-honoured classic. Bialetti was also the founder of Bialetti Industrie S.p.A, the now giant Italian kitchen-ware company.

With all this above history I am slowly increasing my expertise on coffee making with one cup of strong coffee in morning to activate my lethargic body. My next possession would be a Bialetti Moka pot and electrical home Espresso machine which I plan to purchase somewhere in 3rd qtr of 2010 to move towards excellence in coffee making :-)

My First Post :-)

To write a blog or not..this dual thought has been in my mind for long. Could not come out of the thought for many years but finally thought of experimenting a starting point to put some words in my first post.

I am in a profession of rut where to find time for creativity has been impossible task. But surely looking at couple of friends of mine, it brings out inspiration in me to do something different. This unpredictability is something that keeps me going now.....Year 2010 I have out as a year for change in many ways in my life, may be a new change that might happen [who knows....forget it]