Turning up at the neighbourhood store and asking for coffee podi seems like the most blessed thing. Because you are sure that he will not turn back and ask you a hundred questions. “Do you want a blend?”, “How much chicory?”, “Is it for a coffee maker, percolator or filter?” “Black or regular?” All he will do is switch on the grinding machine, throw in roasted beans, and as you soak in the aroma, your ‘perfect’ coffee powder is packed and ready – without having to answer a single question.
As I enter the small outlet of Kalmane Coffee at Garuda Mall, I realize yet again, that it is not just life that’s got complicated. The sight at Kalmane Coffee is not so unfamiliar for Bangaloreans – what with huge coffee chains occupying every nook and corner of the city. So you get to see those glass jars filled with different varieties of coffee beans, roasting machine and a grinding machine. You try to hold on to something that you know, and even in this new world of coffee experience, you find Kaapi Premium on their menu card, the traditional filter coffee tops their list brushing shoulder with other coffees like Latte, Cappuccino and the rest.
Kalmane Estate, which dates back to 1879, near Chikmagalur, is spread over 2500 acres.
It has been run by the same family for over four generations. These coffee growers set up their retail chain in 2004, and the brain behind Kalmane Coffee is Avinash and Dhiraj Prabhu. The whole idea, explains Reetesh Kumar of Kalmane Coffee, was to make popular the taste of traditional south Indian filter coffee popular among the youth. “Our process is very closely monitored, and there is no doubt that our coffee matches the best in the world,” he explains.
Like the French promote their wine, and the Scottish promote their whisky, Kalmane Coffee is committed to popularize the taste, quality and fragrance of our coffee, he says.
Since the ambience at Kalmane Coffee is soothing, and there is no blaring music that dulls your senses, you smell the heady fragrance of coffee, savour the melt-in mouth muffins and if you crave for those good old crispy chakklis and spicy chips , Kalmane coffee has that too.
The menu has over nine variations of filter coffee, ten coffee blends and a range of cold coffees as well.
So while you have exotic sounding names like Kol Koffee Mochalatious, Blue Grass etc. you also have a Mysore Nuggets.
As I listen to interesting pieces of history packed into many of these beans, I feel at home drinking traditional filter coffee in a sparkling steel tumbler. Like coffee’s long journey, the journey of the south Indian filter coffee drinker is long too.
Tongues desire more tastes and flavours, but the good old filter coffee has a pride of place. Head towards Kalmane coffee to hold on to nostalgia.
For details, call 9740900957.