IUPAC name 1,3,7-trimethyl-1H-purine-2,6(3H,7H)-dione

IUPAC name 1,3,7-trimethyl-1H-purine-2,6(3H,7H)-dione, better known as caffeine. My day begins with the caffeine kick.

I’ve always wanted to pound each one of those kids that acted in the commercials for these health drinks and overly praised them by branding them as yummy and tasty. Didn’t they ever have a conscience? I recall in my childhood, when my dad always insisted on my having one of those so-called “Health Drinks”. Man, how much I hated each one of those drinks. My mom thankfully was very accommodating in my coffee habit. Thanks for that mom!

Coffee is at its best when served hot along with a crunchy, spicy snack or biscuits. The taste is better when the decoction is freshly brewed, very much unlike wine! The taste is the best when the coffee seeds are freshly ground and used to concoct the decoction. At traditional South Indian homes, the second process is followed. Rarely do you find homes where the seed is freshly ground on a daily basis. This is the traditional ‘Filter Kaapi”

The filter Kaapi has gone through a sea change over the years. Bru in the 90’s had launched its Instant coffee. All you need is milk and Bru and Voila! Your cup of filter coffee (read as similar to Filter Coffee) is ready. The Ad had the mom asking the son if it was Filter coffee and the son would reply “This is Bru Maa!”. This caught the eye of the instant generation. From Kaapi, Coffee has become a status symbol of sorts. It has now become extremely cool to “Catch up over a cup of coffee!”

Coffee, over the last few years has grown in popularity largely due to the mushrooming of Coffee Shops such as the Bangalore based Café Coffee Day, Barista etc. I’m not sure if the credit goes to the coffee of the concept of a coffee shop.

A recent study indicated that Bangalore was rapidly expanding and had one of the highest growth potentials for the modern Coffee Pubs. I recall CCD opening their first outlet in Brigade Road in 1996. The basic coffee shop has now grown into a facility with Internet facilities and Wi-Fi. They now offer board games at these outlets so a group of friends could catch up over a game and coffee. Innovation is the name of the game. Barista even offers a guitar to the musically inclined.

The average age group of the crowd frequenting the coffee shops is in the range 18-26 though I can definitely recall seeing a bunch of high school kids on several occasions. The coffee shops were our favorite hang out especially when we bunked college and had no idea as to what to do. We’d spend hours at these coffee outlets with a cup of coffee and at times the hookah. On an average an outing at one of these Coffee Pubs would cost you at least Rs.40 per head. Ask my parents and their generation, they would be flabbergasted at the very thought of spending that amount on a coffee. We, Gen-Next can claim that for the fun and time spent at the coffee shop the amount is worth every rupee. Despite all this, one thing you can never have at any of these modern Coffee shops is the good old by-two coffee. While in college, the canteen and the small hotel Udipi Upahar would always call for the by-two. Technically this would mean half the amount you would get in a normal cup. But in reality this would be almost a full cup of coffee. That’s the beauty of the eternal by-two!!
Cheers to a hot cup of coffee!