A freshly brewed cup of coffee is what Anna and I have been used to at the beginning of the day. This habit goes back to our times in Chennai. A coffee store which sold freshly ground coffee was located in the next street to our residence in Anna Nagar circle. Every week I used to get enough coffee powder for our need.
A neighbour used to grind the coffee seeds every morning which made us wonder whether we too can one day can go to that habit to complete that experience of brewing fresh coffee. The neighbour used that noisy machine to grind the coffee seeds around the same time we were brewing our coffee with coffee powder. That desire to own a grinding machine to grind the coffee seeds every morning to prepare fresh coffee happened fifteen years after when Anandit gifted us a machine which did not create noise pollution.
Anna and I continued our habit of beginning our day with coffee sitting around the round table in our study even after relocating in our cottage in Keezhillam. During our time at Vellore I got used to getting different brands of coffee seeds so that we had coffee of different flavours each day. It was an effort to locate dealers in roasted coffee seeds while living in Kerala. But we continued our experiment with different brand of coffee seeds.
I have had an irregular heart rate after my coronary by-pass surgery. The cardiologist recommended that I drink tea instead of coffee as coffee was known to make heart beat irregular. I tried Horlicks for a while, but it tasted sweet. After a while when stopping coffee did not restore the heart rhythm, I was allowed to drink a cup a day. That is how I returned to the habit of coffee for the last five years once again.
But ageing brings new challenges. I developed tinnitus in one ear. Among the predisposing factors, coffee is thought to be one factor. Now for the last one month, I am getting used to tea, while Anna still can have the freshly brewed coffee.
Every morning when I make the coffee for Anna and tea for myself, I go through our biography of experiments with this morning drink, which is 'brown, hot and sweet' according to Dr Frank Garlick. He was a surgeon at the Christian Medical College in the nineteen sixties. He was used to drinking coffee as a replacement for water. The bottled water was not available in those days. I recall his visit to the Medical College, Nagpur to meet me in 1970, when he stayed in my room for three days. I got a large flask and provided coffee from Indian Coffee House in our college campus. He became fond of that coffee that even now in his mid eighties, he remembers to mention it in his mails to us.
During our visits to Katherine and Peter in London, one special experience we used to have was the liberal serving of freshly brewed filter coffee. Our conversation around the breakfast table extended for about two hours while sipping coffee. Those memories last. So conversations and coffee have a close association. We recall our times of conversation during coffee times in the homes of Hedwig, Theo and Gisela. Coffee is a better substitute to vine for socialising. I hope young people would prefer the bliss of soberness which coffee provides instead of the heady feeling after consuming alcohol!
Now that I say farewell to coffee, the memories of the ritual of making coffee and the habit of conversation with Anna and prayer time in the morning bring nostalgia. A season of forty years!
Had we lived in Vellore during our retirement years, Anna and I would have organised an evening time of coffee with chocolate cake to meet with friends for conversation. We had advanced thoughts on this. But it is unlikely that we would return to live in vellore.
I close this chapter of coffee drinking and turn to similar experiments with tea. Anna arranged for five brands of tea leaves. I now have to find a good way of brewing to enjoy the natural flavour of different brands!
Now that this change has occurred, I realise that more changes corresponding to the needs of the body would surface as ageing becomes a reality!
Leaving old habits to begin new habits!
M.C.Mathew (text and photo)
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