The Future is Velvety Smooth: Modernizing the South Indian Filter | 2023 Re:co Fellow Feature — Raghunath Rajaram
“The coffee value chain results from the interaction of different value worlds intersecting with the material object itself; the bulk of surplus economic value is extracted by arbitraging goods and ideas across distinct value worlds,” writes Ted Fischer.
2023 Re:co Fellow RAGHUNATH RAJARAM, co-founder of Aramse, links their work to revive and modernize the South Indian Filter to the concept of value creation, reminding us that solutions to existing or emerging problems may already exist—and that they may hold the key to keeping more value where it’s created.
This Fellows seminar from Re:co Portland is supported by Fellows Program sponsor, Toddy. For over 50 years, Toddy brand cold brew systems have delighted baristas, food critics, and regular folks alike. By extracting all the natural and delicious flavors of coffee and tea, Toddy Cold Brew Systems turn your favorite coffee beans and tea leaves into fresh cold brew concentrates, that are ready to serve and enjoy. Learn more about Toddy at toddycafe.com.
Here, he refers to the disparity that exists between the value created at origin and value created at the consumer end in coffee. While this was written in the context of raw coffee, it can be extrapolated to the coffee industry at large. Throughout the course of history, there are ample examples of different countries or cultures being stereotyped or boxed into certain categories, making breaking out of the mold very difficult. When it comes to coffee producing countries, their role often ends with producing and supplying raw or green coffee to the coffee consuming world, where stories are told and value is created.
Through the lens of a simple, traditional Indian coffee brewer, the South Indian filter, it has been our mission to shed light on how a small shift in mindset can open up a world of possibilities and opportunities most people never knew existed. As the name suggests, this brewer has been a staple in most South Indian households for several decades if not over a century. But the story outside of India is different with the rest of the world largely oblivious to its existence. With the rapid progression of coffee consumption culture both in India and abroad, this brewer is now at serious risk of becoming a relic. If it were obsolete like the cassette or even a CD then leaving these objects in the past can be viewed as the natural order of things. However, having tinkered with this brewer, we quickly realized the South Indian filter was not the coffee equivalent of a cassette, so it became a slightly unhealthy obsession of ours to change its fate. One could call this goal to popularize the South Indian Filter a fool’s endeavor: it was a nightmare to tame and we were surrounded by a sea of different brewers all named the South Indian filter, with no manual in sight. Every household that brews with this brewer has their own heirloom recipe almost always titled the “best coffee in the world.” Inundated with pseudo-scientific opinions combined with several failed experiments nearly made us quit but every time we came close, this filter produced a competition worthy brew and we’d get sucked right back in. Despite sweat, blood, tears and significant hair being sacrificed, getting to the point where the South Indian filter is being talked about on a global scale makes it feel worth it.
What is the South Indian Filter?
This percolation brewer works much like other pour over drippers with a not-so-subtle difference—the rare combination of espresso fine grounds, and slow percolation of around 6-10 minutes yields a concentrated beverage. At 5-6% TDS, this puts the South Indian filter concentrate right in between a moka pot and espresso. We knew that the uniqueness of this brew went beyond just strength so we tested it a little more scientifically.
We published our first South Indian Filter brew guide exactly three years ago, only to be met with a barrage of questions. Upon trying to troubleshoot, we quickly realized that all of our testing was done on our South Indian filter. This was the crux of the issue—unlike a v60 or the Kalita which comes in one shape and two sizes, South Indian Filters come in all kinds of shapes, sizes, and materials. We discover new and interesting forms all the time (one even looks like Aladdin’s lamp)! With countless variants and no distinction in name or version, it dawned upon us that we were trying to help people who weren’t really brewing with the same brewer for all intents and purposes. So what needed to change?
The answer was simple: standardization. To get to a point where anyone could brew consistently great coffee anywhere, every “South Indian filter” needed to be the same no matter where you were. This long and painful process culminated in the birth of SOFI 72, which is essentially the traditional filter but reimagined for specialty. For starters, it has a name that’s unique. And no matter where you are in the world, if you’re brewing with SOFI 72, your brewer is made with 0.6mm gauge SS304, has a 72.5mm diameter filter, with 127-135 ~0.8mm holes and has gone through five rounds of quality control testing. We also developed an easy to understand and repeatable way to brew with this device to lower the barrier to entry. Although it feels simple and obvious to say that standardization was the answer, we can't deny the results: a device previously restricted to one region of India, for the greater part of a century, is now used by people in over 15 different countries.
A Journey to Standardization
To really look at the type of brews that the South Indian filter was capable of, we needed to eliminate the differences in strength and extraction before comparing different brew methods. This way, we could really hone in on the flavor notes and attributes that each method highlights. We achieved this by using the same coffee to brew a v60, an espresso, and our standardized SOFI all to the same EY% +/- 1%. We then diluted the espresso and SOFI to match the TDS and temperature of the v60 before cupping blind. We also used the same grinder and kept the brew water temperature approximately the same to minimize the number of variables that could influence the taste. We did these tests with Indian and international coffees at varying roast levels and the results were extremely interesting.
The easiest way to describe a good South Indian filter brew is if a perfectly dialed-in shot of espresso and a very well brewed Orea had a love child.
We got rounder more mellow acidity with higher perceived sweetness, similar to other flat bottom brewers. Flavor notes skewed more towards ripe fruit, cooked fruit and chocolate. The v60 produced sharper and more pronounced acidity. SOFI brews had slightly less clarity but more body, juiciness and overall more intensity of flavors similar to espresso. And what really set it apart was this velvety smoothness that’s just delightful. The differences between the three brews were not subtle and that’s what got us so excited.
But these results were using a SOFI brew diluted down like an Americano. Left in its concentrated form, there’s honestly nothing quite like it and if you enjoy milk based drinks then you’re in for a real treat. The large flat bottom also manages to produce syrupy, chocolaty brews with medium and dark roasts without extracting too much bitterness in spite of the fine grind and longer brew times.
This is in line with research conducted by the University of California Davis Coffee Center on the differences between flat bottom and cone-shaped filter brewers, published in Issue 8 of 25, which found that the shape of the brewer has a significant impact on the flavor profile and the notes that are brought to the fore. This, along with the brewer's temperature decline over the course of the long brew and the fact that it’s no-bypass, seems to help create these lovely, high-extraction, unique cups of coffee.
And lastly, the cold brew market is exploding and iced SOFIs have very similar characteristics without the wait time, unpleasant effects of oxidation, and hygiene issues. It is almost annoying that this super versatile brewer has been sitting in plain sight for so long!
What’s the Point?
Why is any of this important? Well, for starters, it’s another way to make specialty coffee more inclusive. For example, someone who doesn’t enjoy a high acidity coffee when brewed with a v60 or even a Kalita could find it very enjoyable when brewed with a South Indian Filter–essentially expanding the audience for a given coffee. SOFI is just one example of a producing country creating value with a hidden treasure that was ahead of its time–we’re talking about the OG no bypass brewer, here!
But that’s not all: zooming out to look at the bigger picture, the SOFI story confirms a path ahead for the industry. When a coffee consuming country in the global north is faced with any challenge, be it with sustainability, sensory analysis, or brewing–to name a few–producing countries may already have solutions, and they shouldn’t be discounted. We can look for technical insights from growers and roasters, seek out recommendations from influencers, or find design inspiration, too.
These countries are often resource constrained, forcing them to come up with creative solutions to rather complex problems. In India, we call this Jugaad. Tapping into this knowledge base not only gives producing countries a slice of the pie at this end of the value chain but it also makes the pie larger.
Including producing countries in the narrative leads to different perspectives generating richer ideas. We will likely arrive at solutions quicker or find that they already exist, and most importantly, coming back to Ted Fischer’s quote, we start to bring these value worlds closer together.
RAGHUNATH RAJARAM is the co-founder of Aramse, a coffee company that manufactures products, offers a coffee subscription and creates content on YouTube. After graduating from Christ University in Bangalore with a degree in Computer Science, and a master’s degree from India’s premier design university, NID (National Institute of Design), Raghunath ran his own UI/UX design and strategy firm, Aglet Design, for over a decade. In 2017, he discovered his passion for specialty coffee, and co-founded Aramse in 2020 with his wife, Namisha Parthasarathy, to spread the story of both Indian coffee and coffee culture worldwide.
About the 2023 Re:co Fellowship Program
Over the past 15 years, we’ve watched Re:co repeatedly create a vibrant network of emerging and existing leadership within the specialty coffee industry during its brief emergence every year. This year’s Re:co Symposium Fellowship, evolved in keeping with changes made to the structure and intentionality of this year’s programming, is designed to highlight individuals working to address the challenges and opportunities of specialty coffee’s emerging future and who wish to develop their leadership capabilities in the sector in order to further this work.
Thanks in part to the generous support of the 2023 Re:co Fellowship sponsor, Toddy LLC, we awarded eight fellowships to qualified applicants, which covered the registration fee of Re:co Symposium and the Specialty Coffee Expo; three nights of accommodation in Portland, Oregon; and up to US$500 of a fellows’ travel expenses.