Cafe Coffee Day

I was in Jaipur last week for a cousin's wedding. The wedding was good. Jaipur palaces and forts were amazing. Among the camel ride, horse ride and elephant ride, I managed to find a Cafe Coffee Day (CCD). In fact it was like 5mins walk from our hotel - Trident Hilton. The most amazing thing about this CCD was the fact that it was inside a gas station (petrol pump), I mean at the end. I had always thought CCDs to be more of a relaxing lounge kind of cafe - may be because the one I frequent is a CCD lounge. I was nonetheless happy to spot a cafe. I tried something different there - something that I do not see in the CCD lounge menu. It was a spinach and cheese sandwich. It was good. I happened to be there on the 26th January also - there was a group of young girls having black forest cakes and the likes at about 10am. I am sure they were celebrating their holiday with coffee ... they did not come there for gas/petrol! It just supports my argument that Indian youth are inclined towards coffee!

Coffee consumption in India

Coffee culture, as I would like to phrase it, is happening in India. But is it just an increased number of chain coffee shops? Is there an actual increase in the coffee consumption in the country? Or is it just people going to coffee shops to meet their old friend chai? I wanted to find out. So I stated looking and came across the Coffee Board of India. According to their statistics, the domestic estimated consumption was 55000 metric tonnes in 1995. It increased to 60000 in 2000 and was 80200 in 2005. So yes, more people are drinking coffee.

Do people actually like coffee or is it just more stylish to order coffee than chai? For me, while I am in India, I get better tea at home. So, everytime I am in a cafe, I make it a point to drink coffee. Whereas when in US, I used to almost always order Chai latte in all my Starbucks visit. Good coffee was available in office. We had a coffee maker. Will ask a few people around and give you a general answer in a few days - is it just stylish to drink coffee or do they like it?

Chai Coffee ya Thanda?

When someone says, "Chai coffee ya thanda?" it means do you want chai, coffee or thanda? Thanda is a Hindi word - an adjective meaning cold; like thanda pani = cold water, thanda din = cold day. But just thanda is I guess slang for cold drink including sodas (Coke, Pepsi, Sprite ...), juices - drinks that are not hot.

So in this Chai Coffee Thanda, I would want to include thanda along with the matured beauty chai and the recently debuted coffee.

The reason behind ...

I went to a cafe lounge in Hauz Khas. I did not want cappuccino. Wanted something light. Thought cafe latte would be good. I said ... I want a cafe latte! Simple. Thought the task was done. But (there's always a but) the attendant had no idea what a cafe latte is. After some explaining, she said ... oh sure - Cafe Latte! Was I proud of my explaing capabilities? Oh yes. I got my drink not very late. But then, I got a cappuccino - well in another cup than the usual cappuccino. I drank it :( Then my brain went to work as to why this happened. And I knew the answer. Because coffee culture is new in India. It is in its infancy. India is a chai country. Lets go for a coffee - this is sort of stylish. But lets go get a cup of tea - anyone and everyone says that. Be it a bulti-billionaire or a poor-postman, everyone drinks chai. Chai is tea cooked with milk and usually with sugar also [unless you are diabetic]. There can be various flavours like cinnamon, masala, pepper, ginger, [a lot of them. I don't know whatall exists.] But coffee culture is happening. So, I thought I would write something about coffee in general - some information, some gossip, some recipe, some cafe and share them with you. Hence the beginning.

I am a born chai-drinker. My dad used to share his tea with me when I was a baby in his lap. So while I try to write about coffee I thought I should not restrict myself to coffee. There is a lot that we do not know about chai. And anyways, when you go to someone's house or someone comes to yours, the first thing after Namaste is "Chai Coffee or Thanda?"

Comming up - Thanda!