Indian Filter Coffee
Also kaapi, South Indian filter coffee, Madras filter coffee, degree coffee
South India's filter coffee: a slow-dripped decoction mixed with frothy boiled milk and sugar, poured between tumbler and saucer. Served in a steel set.
Espresso and milkServed hotFrom India
- Volume
- 190ml6.4 US fl oz
- Espresso
- 0shots
- Caffeine
- 48mgderived, USDA FDC
- Coffee to milk
- 1:2.0
The build
Watch it made, step by step- strong decoction dripped…60 ml32%
- Milk120 ml63%
- Syrup10 ml5%
- Volume
- 190ml
- Caffeine
- 48mg
- Espresso
- 0shots
Scales every component together, so the ratio holds; caffeine scales with the coffee.
A thick decoction (roughly 1:2 to 1:4 coffee to water, dripped slowly) mixed with about twice its volume of boiled milk and sugar, then poured back and forth between a tumbler and a dabarah saucer to froth and cool.
Caffeine
Derivedin a 190 ml indian filter coffee
USDA FoodData Central SR Legacy caffeine per 100 g scaled to the coffee volume in components, assuming 1 g per ml. FDC 171890 (Beverages, coffee, brewed, prepared with tap water) 40.0 mg/100 g x 60 ml x 2.0. Decoction scaled at 2x USDA brewed coffee per ml because it is brewed at roughly double strength; approximate.
USDA FoodData Central record 171890 · read 2026-10-26
A derived figure: the reference food's caffeine per 100 g scaled to the coffee in this build. Real cups vary with the coffee, the dose and the shot.
Variants by country
2| Name | Country | How it differs |
|---|---|---|
| degree coffee | India | Made with undiluted milk, from a milk-testing lactometer 'degree'. |
| beaten coffee | India | Instant coffee whipped with sugar, the ancestor of dalgona. |
History
Popular accountWikidata records India as country of origin and describes the frothed-milk and decoction method. Coffee has been grown in Karnataka since at least the seventeenth century (popular account).
South India, especially Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
Parts of this story are repeated widely but were not confirmed against a source this atlas accepts. They are kept as the story people tell, not as fact.
Related drinks
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