Coffee in India: Does it get any better than this?

karuna

Le Monde?


Taxi please!



Starbucks is indeed insipid, but I still like it. I realise this makes me a philistine. What do I know- I go to India for the cold coffee with ice-cream.

Mochajavaman

the plantation idea is quite appealing...looking over the snaps, there is a lot of 'plantation' to be had...and walks thru the forest etc...and then i notice they tell me that my participation is at my own risk....which i assume naturally but it makes me want to take my pop-gun on those jungle walks....(insert sweaty white-guy icon here) not to be deterred, i shall contact them

ps - i hit starbucks often too

Mochajavaman

To see my entire statement: I had read an article saying India has no culture (of it's own) but instead is a mix of many.

http://www.indiamike.com/india/artic...dia-confusion/

"There is no India culture
This is a fact about India. And you would fail miserably if you were all out to find out the Indian culture. India is not a monolithic cultural block. It’s an anthology of a thousand countries within a country."

Aishah

Mochajavaman - I liked that statement you posted re India Culture - it is so true. Which always brings up the contentious issue of 'Real India' - another thread on this here somewhere.
Karuna - Might be changing the French Press (we kiwis call it the plunger pot btw but i picked up this term in another coffee thread and people seem to recognize it better!!) for a good espresso machine soon!!!

__________________
"Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards."

gobbledegeek

Saying "India has no real culture" in bold headlines reflects more upon the persons touting this statement rather than about India itself. Anyone here read "The wonder that was India" By Basham?

cheers

karuna

Hmmm....is this what we call a cafetiere perhaps? I've never heard "French press" or "plunger pot" before. My mother had a dreadful experience with one many many years ago and was badly scalded (hospitalised) so we don't as a family tend to use (or even talk) about the things which might explain my ignorance. I would love an espresso machine though, so quite envious of you!

Semi-related rant: I had a long and drooly discussion about Ferrero's Pocket Coffee last night. I have stood at vending machines at midnight stocking up on packets of these things in Italy before. Why on earth aren't they sold in Britain? It seems the only way to get them is to have them imported.

bijapuri

You're more at risk from big cats here in our home state than on a coffee plantation, judging from last month's events. Still, there was a chance you'll see one walking about, said my hosts. Locals have plenty of stories about chance encounters. Much better chance in nearby game parks- especially Nagarhole.

oh, as for your innocent remark about no culture- just not true, is all. One of the oldest and most original in the solar system. Honest mistake, I reckon na?

__________________
Focusing your life solely on making a buck shows a certain poverty of ambition. It asks too little of yourself. Because it's only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself that you realize your true potential.
Barack Obama

lookit me!!!: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bijapuri/

Utube fuzzy logic:
http://youtube.com/profile_videos?user=bijapuri&p =r

Nick-H

Mochajavaman is not saying that India has no culture: that would be ridiculous. He is saying that it is a mix of so very many individual cultures that one individual one cannot be isolated.

India is the The Mix.

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Just one member of the IndiaMike Mod Team

capt_mahajan

The mix, reloaded

Mochajavaman

au contraire mon frere, this statement did not originate from me

i quoted this post <--click here for a special prize

i am unqualified to make any such claim about culture in either direction, to do so would assume that i know far more than i actually do. the point is that i am coming to take India as she is - whatever and however she is.

gobbledegeek/bijapuri/et al. time to beat a different horse yet?

Aishah

Karuna - 'cafetiere' - yes that's the one and this is also a word I have never heard of either!
And yes, Beach's article is superb.

Mochajavaman

Travel update: T-minus two weeks and counting...

Epiphanies

1) I have decided against taking a laptop, opting instead for ability to lug stuff around vs having to rent a garage in each location for storage (packing light) :-p

2) I realize that I will personally benefit more by adopting a slower travel pace, so I've changed my plans from going south for another later trip. This trip will spend more time in Mumbai on both ends of a trek across the north.

3) The longer I wait, the more I prepare; the more I prepare, the more I seem to spend; the more I spend, the more my brain hurts. I need to hurry and get done 'preparing' so i can rest...before my vacation

Aishah

You can manage without a laptop if all you want to do is check emails - plenty of internet places wherever you go. And no.1 rule for India - definitely travel slowly!

Mochajavaman

update: arrived in one piece late last night amid some demonatration at the airport which made me think i was in big trouble however was rescued by official looking tout with walkie-talkie, warned me not to go acoss town (Mumbai) due to some Gandhi related violence of some sort (hmmm) and had me wisked away, wide-eyed and grateful to some fly-by-night hotel "for just tonight" (lake Site) which then wanted to charge me nearly double what i was originally quoted. i picked up my bags and hit the street. the hotel man came running after with a rate half as much as he had previously told me. crappy room, up early and out to the hotel i was GOING to go to last night and having the absolute best time of my life and i seriously mean that my cab driver could beat your cab driver across town anyday ;-p woohooooo!

Aishah

that demonstration might just have been the general crowds and rabble rousers! Those touts are quick off the mark aren't they?
Glad all well now though and you didn't lose a lot of money - let us know the good coffee places you go to, and good luck!