Looking for Ground Coffee

Not sure what a coffee grinder would cost in India, but it's about a $10 item here in the U.S. You're much better off buying whole beans and grinding them daily but you're from San Francisco, so you probably already know that.

Freshly roasted and ground?

In billyshake's case , yes roasted would be the apt word!!

i found some lovely ground coffee here in chennai. it is vivakenanda coffee.not sure if it is available anywhere else but maybe in phone book.i make it up in a flask and sieve it through some fine cloth.

Hello Aishah

I was just curious. Is fresh ground coffee or commercially packed real coffee not available in Jaisalmer? I ask because I just remembered that my cousin who lives in Patna [Bihar] always requests anyone visiting her to bring her some real coffee from wherever they are coming from. She never wants anything else! I was wondering if there is a problem getting fresh ground coffee in North India, other than the Barista, Coffee Day outlets; I mean for everyday coffee drinkers.

When I was in Kerala in May, and even before whenever Ive been in Kerala, I always found that its near impossible to get a good cup of real coffee, presumably because the local brew of choice is Chaiyya. Ditto in the Nilgiris district of Tamil Nadu where the coffee is mud water compared to the superior brew available in Coimbatore! The tea was terrible as well, but thats a separate story.

Just curious, thats all.

They have Devans in one provision store - but I sometimes think it's been there quite a while in the heat - no a/c in any of the shops here. Cafe Coffee Day has a/c and also their supplies are fairly fresh - so I think the quality is better. Devans is good coffee, but the couple of times I have bought it here it seems to be slightly stale - a bit of old and heat affected I think!
I stock up in Delhi - Costa's coffee as well, that's really nice (agree you with you here mira4bai4!)
Now and then friends bring some from Oz for me too - just recently a New Guinea coffee, Goroka, given to me. Cafe Coffee Day is not expensive coffee and I like the taste - even the one with chicory ground inside, cheap but acceptable - so whenever I'm near one of those Cafes I buy several packets and these keep me going.

Hi, welcome to delhi. I am a south indian & we can't live without having coffee 1st thing in the morning. Yes pure coffee seed ground powder is available in most of the makets where lot of south indian people live, places like munirka & janakpuri, mayur vihar which is near noida.Munirka in south delhi is next to R.k. puram a shop by name M/s Rama stores very well known in this locality,sells , you will get 2 or 3 different varieties of pure coffee with or without chicory mixed. I myself get 101% pure coffee powder every month from coffee board in connaught place (Tolstoy lane) behind janpath (saravana bhavan). you get ordinary as well as the special peaberry / robusta blend ground in front of you & packed. Hope this finds you pepped up. cheers (coffee)!!!!

what I would like to know is whether or not there is a roasting house in Delhi where you can buy freshly roasted beans (I'll do the grinding.......10 seconds before it gets compressed, locked into the espresso machine, and then has hot water flushed through it)!

Yes - fresh roast every morning, I believe, at South Indian Coffee & Tea - see post 14.

thanks peak

Since my last post about beans, I've taken care of the problem. (Yes, including a decent electric kettle!) Though I still don't have a roaster, I found some pretty good beans that are healthy and aren't over-roasted. I got them in a market that had a big, open burlap sack full of them. It didn't say if the beans were Arabica but I'm pretty sure they are. If you buy a small roaster (two-cup), it shouldn't cost more than $100-$150. Most of the coffee sold in India is Arabica so a good rule of thumb is to let the raw beans go through two "cracks" in the roaster and switch to cool immediately after the second crack. Though you can brew it immediately, I think it tastes a LOT better if it's given one night to sit.

If you can, always choose to grind your own coffee -- they seldom sort out the underdeveloped and insect-damaged beans in pre-ground coffee. In fact, they'll sort out those bad beans from the coffee they're selling whole and often add them to the beans they're pre-grinding. I found a pretty decent French press for Rs.200, though the nut that holds down the plate and filter loosens too easily. My grinder is not electric, but it works pretty well for coffee in a French press -- it wouldn't work well for espresso because it can't get the coffee that fine. The grinder was only Rs.150.

Though obviously a little geeky, it's really a lot of fun trying out the different combinations of getting coffee from the bush to the cup. Should anyone want to look into it as a hobby, PM me and I'll share what I've learned over the years.

That's an interesting post, Billyshake - I had no idea about the 'crook' beans not being sorted. Glad you're back on track with your electrics! Did you get the coffee grinder here in India?

Hi, As i said u can try at coffee board at connaught place behind janpath mcdonald's / restaurant saravana bhavan, i have seen raw seeds and they have a big roasting & grinding machine. Of late i have been buying only pure coffee powders only from this place & my monthly quota is around 3kgs in a month. So go ahead & try this place.bye

Found a great shop at 23-E Connaught Place, THE ORIENTAL FRUITS MART.

Strange name but the best quality import supply store that I have seen in a few years and they even had Jelly Belly's.

Vacuum prepacs of branded coffee, awesome range of chocolate to complement, this people is a must stop shoppe if you are hanging out. And their prices are so good, I got Heinz baked beans for Rs65 compared to Rs180 in Pahar Ganj, think that is a good indication of the value of this shop.

Phone: 41517456

Yes, it's giving the right prices. Even I get Heinz baked beans out here for around 65 cents, mira4bai4!