- Hello and welcome.
I'm Raghunath, and my wife Namisha and I co-founded Ārāmse.
We create content around coffee on Instagram and YouTube,
we design coffee-related products,
and we also provide a coffee subscription service.
So, clearly, we're very coffee obsessed
and if you'd like to know a little bit more about us,
check the links in the description below.
I'd like to start by saying how truly honored
and excited we are to have been given this platform
to talk about something that we're so passionate about.
As the title suggests, we're gonna be talking
about how flavour can play a pivotal role
in decolonising coffee.
The goal here is to create an environment
that includes producing countries
in shaping the next wave of coffee.
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We've gone ahead and divided this video
into three distinct parts.
Part one, localising the SCA flavour wheel.
Part two, rethinking traditional brewing methods
to be relevant in today's world of specialty coffee.
And number three,
the importance of preserving original names,
and why cultural appropriation
needs to be recognised and avoided.
We really hope this video helps start an open dialogue
and shed light on a topical problem
through a different lens.
So let's dive right in.
So for those of you who aren't familiar
with the SCA flavour wheel, this is it.
And the 2016 update is arguably the largest
and most collaborative piece of research
on coffee flavour ever completed.
The foundation of this work,
the World Coffee Research Sensory Lexicon,
is a product of dozens of professional sensory panelists,
scientists, coffee buyers, and roasting companies,
collaborating via SCA and the WCR.
For those of you interested in reading more about this,
there's a link in the description below.
Now, this tool has somehow made its way
out of the labs and professional circles
and into the homes of coffee enthusiasts world over,
including producing countries like India.
So, this trend is what sparked the idea
of localising the flavour wheel to make it more inclusive.
One way in which this can be achieved
is by replacing items that are harder to find
or more expensive
with ones that are local and more easily available.
So let's look at some India-specific examples.
The amla, or Indian gooseberry, is a very interesting fruit
that hits you with a sharp, rip-your-head-off acidity,
much like biting a slice of lime.
This then gives way to a series of bitters
and once your palate has had a chance
to recover from the shock, you're left
with a rather confounding sweet and lingering aftertaste.
The jamun, or Indian blackberry, is another fruit
that offers a wild gustatory and olfactory experience.
The ripe fruit starts with a round berry-like tartness
that is soon accompanied
by a syrupy, juicy, grape-like sweetness.
But what follows shortly after
is what will truly surprise you.
An extreme astringency will leave your mouth drier
than the Atacama, making you yearn for that next bite,
while also enjoying the strange sensation
of dragging your bone-dry tongue
over the roof of your mouth.
Now bear with me.
There is a point to these verbose descriptions.
These foods, like many others,
offer a cornucopia of sensory stimuli
that can relate to coffee on various fronts,
and if done scientifically,
can be used to replace items on the wheel
that are hard to find in situ.
Similarly, jackfruit, jaggery,
or kokum, the Indian mangosteen,
are some other alternatives that come to mind.
This ease of access will encourage consumers,
and even producers, to deepen their understanding
of flavour in coffee.
For example, a producer who can clearly articulate
what a buyer can expect in terms of flavour
puts him or her in a much more commanding position.
Now the SCA flavour wheel and Sensory Lexicon
are scientific tools that are designed to be objective,
but the real-world implementation isn't as straightforward,
as they were largely developed in US and Europe.
This could lead to some implicit biases
as to which flavours are desirable and which aren't.
One example that stands out is the tasting note 'earthy'.
In spite of it being quite sought-after
in the sub-continent,
seeing it nestled between moldy and phenolic
makes one almost embarrassed to admit that they enjoy it.
Another particularly fascinating non-coffee example
would be asafoetida, or hing in Hindi.
This is a highly sought-after spice
in different regional cuisines in India,
and is meant to add oomph to a dish.
However, this same spice, due to its aroma,
which most Indians don't find offensive by the way,
is nicknamed 'stinking resin', or 'devil's dung' in English.
We see this a lot in the food industry,
where flavours and spices that are not from the West
are often described as pungent, exotic, intense, and harsh,
until the cuisine has been appropriated
by a largely white audience.
So the question we'd like to ask is,
can we rethink the position of certain flavours
and also include new ones based on location?
For example, certain very fermented notes
could be delightful to some
but repulsive to others, think durian.
Now, of course, these localized wheels would be developed
through proper scientific research and flavour analysis.
We are also happy to report that this presentation
is part of a larger project that Namisha is working on
with authorized SCA trainer, Erika Koss.
It is for her professional-level certification
in the SCA sustainability coffee program.
So let's talk about the South Indian filter.
Now, little is documented about the history
of how this nifty little brewer came to be.
This actually speaks to the importance
of culture being preserved.
Coffee drinking, prepared with hot milk
and honey or jaggery,
became widespread amongst South Indians
somewhere in the 19th century, and spread further
with the establishment of the India Coffee House
in the 20th century.
The brewer to prepare coffee in this way
transitioned from earthen to brass, and eventually to steel,
the latter two being synonymous
with the drink, degree kaapi,
which is still immensely popular amongst Indians.
So to show you how we use this brewer,
we've put together a little something special.
Cue the B-roll.
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This brewer is delightfully simple,
with its three-part, dual-chamber, single-material design,
that is super functional,
and will last you several lifetimes.
In fact, this brass one here
has been handed down four generations,
and is probably over 100 years old.
This is the top chamber that has tiny holes at the base
that act as a filter.
The bottom chamber is where the coffee drips into.
Lastly, the lid helps maintain a higher brew temperature
by keeping the heat in.
Both espresso and V60 are percolation brewing methods,
where water seeps through a bed of coffee.
With espresso, you have very fine grinds,
and it's brewed under pressure,
so a shot takes around 20 to 30 seconds, typically.
Whereas with a V60, you're gonna be brewing a little slower,
with a medium grind size,
and it takes typically 2.5 to around 4, 4.5 minutes.
The grind size required to brew with the South Indian filter
can range from espresso-fine all the way down to Turkish.
And it's this combo of ultra-fine grinds
and slow percolation
that give this brewer its unique flavour profile.
With brew times that last between 7 and 15 minutes,
the gradual heat loss results in a mellow acidity
and a sweet, rich, heavy coffee concentrate
that can be used much like espresso
to make milk-based drinks.
While this brewer has been historically used
with dark-roasted, chicory-blended commodity coffee
to prepare a milky drink with lots of sugar,
our experiments have shown that it's more than capable
of brewing a delicious cup of specialty coffee,
while maintaining its unique flavour profile.
So, we'd like to urge you to experiment
and push these brewers
because you'll be surprised at how well newer techniques
like swirls, slow pours using a gooseneck kettle,
and WDT [Weiss Distribution Technique] actually work.
So to round out this segment, we'll just say
that one shouldn't have to seek out a Vietnamese cafe
to order a phin, or an Indian coffee house to get a kaapi.
What we propose is to not view these brewers
as relics relegated to museums, but give them a chance
to show off their chops in today's world of coffee.
The importance of a name
and preservation of it are often overlooked.
Today, we'll look at how this affects the F&B industry
that coffee is a part of [Food & Beverage].
In order to dive into the subject,
we need to first discuss cultural appropriation.
Cultural appropriation is the adoption of an element
or elements from one culture by members of another culture.
Now this becomes controversial
when a dominant culture appropriates
from disadvantaged minority cultures,
and is in fact a form of colonialism.
To drive this point home swiftly and efficiently,
let's look at one great example: the turmeric latte.
How many of you know that this drink originated in India?
Called haldi ka doodh in Hindi, pasupu palu in Telugu,
and so on in different regional languages.
It's an age-old Ayurvedic remedy
for general health and immunity.
This somehow needed to go through a bastardisation
and appropriation process to be adopted into mainstream,
and now there is absolutely no traces to its roots.
That distinct flavour of turmeric with hot milk
and spices like pepper, licorice, and cardamom,
when referred to by its original name,
helps trigger a direct association to its origin
and also ensues a sense of pride and ownership.
We make a lot of effort to pronounce croissant,
cappuccino, and macchiato correctly,
so it would be nice to hear Haldi Doodh
instead of turmeric latte.
Similarly, it would be great to walk into a Prufrock
or an Ozone and order a Filter Kaapi.
And for those who enjoy that flavour profile,
the name creates a direct link back to the origin country.
Ultimately, coffee is a beverage
and its flavour is at the heart
of what makes it so popular around the world.
These are just a few ways
that we think coffee-producing countries
can be made to feel more included
in the world of specialty coffee.
By opening people's minds to different flavours,
international consumers have a wider variety
of choices available to them.
Also, local roasters get international exposure.
Lastly, and arguably most importantly,
as producers feel more connected to the final product,
that is roasted coffee, and not just green beans,
they get to participate in the dialogue
around specialty coffee and its unique offerings.
This paves the way for greater economic sustainability,
as they are able to undertake endeavors
such as roasting on site, roasting at origin,
or even producing and branding coffee from farm to cup.
So all we ask is you keep an open mind.
I'd like to end this video with a few thank yous.
Firstly, a huge thank you to James
for always pushing the boundaries of creativity
with his content, and giving fellow creators like us
such a huge platform to present on.
Next, I'd like to thank my sister-in-law, Niharika,
for her invaluable support in shooting this entire video
in less-than-ideal conditions.
I'd like to thank my wife, Namisha,
the anchor behind the scenes
without who none of this would've been possible.
And lastly, thank you so much for watching,
and hope you have a great day.