Coffee culture

South Indian filter coffee: seven beans, one steel filter

Updated November 6, 2026 · 2 min read

In Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, the day starts with a small steel tumbler of strong, milky, frothy coffee. It is one of the world's great coffee traditions, and you can make it without a machine.

Seven beans in a beard

Indian tradition credits a Sufi saint, Baba Budan, with bringing coffee to India in the 17th century. Returning from the pilgrimage to Mecca, he is said to have taken seven raw coffee beans from the Yemeni port of Mocha, hidden, so the story goes, in his beard. He planted them on the Chandradrona hills in what is now Chikkamagaluru district in Karnataka. The hills are now called the Baba Budan Hills, and his shrine is still there.

Recent genetic studies suggest that Indian coffee may descend from only one or two original plants, which has renewed interest in the legend.

India as a coffee country

India grows both arabica and robusta in its southern states. Karnataka produces about 70% of the country's coffee, with Kerala and Tamil Nadu next. The USDA forecasts India's 2026/27 harvest at 6.1 million bags of 60 kg, about three quarters of it robusta. Most of it is exported, but in the south coffee is the everyday drink. The Coffee Board of India, a statutory body set up under the Coffee Act of 1942, has its headquarters in Bengaluru.

The filter: no electricity needed

The South Indian filter is a simple steel device made of two cylinders stacked on top of each other:

1. The upper cup has small holes in its base. Finely ground coffee goes in and is pressed lightly with a disc that has a handle.
2. Boiling water is poured on top and the lid goes on.
3. Over 10 to 15 minutes, a thick, strong concentrate called the decoction drips into the lower cup.

The coffee is usually a dark roast blended with chicory, typically 80 to 90% coffee and 10 to 20% chicory. Chicory makes the brew darker and thicker, so its taste stays strong even with plenty of milk.

Tumbler, dabarah and the long pour

A little decoction goes into hot, boiled milk, with sugar or jaggery to taste. Then comes the show: the coffee is poured back and forth between the tall tumbler and the wide bowl it stands in, the dabarah. This cools the coffee to drinking temperature and makes a light froth. You drink it from the tumbler, or pour some into the bowl to cool faster.

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