MERCARA GOLD (COFFEE) ESTATE

The thought of freshly brewed South Indian filter coffee, first thing in the morning, conjures up images of a steaming mug of dark brown coffee along with wonderful aroma. The taste buds gear up for the delicious brew. How many could resist such temptation? 

I must confess here that the only knowledge I had about coffee is - The coffee powder is made out of coffee beans. That is the sum total of everything I knew on this subject. Decided it is time to repair the lacuna!

On our recent holiday to Madikeri, on the corner of a busy street in town, we came across Mercara Coffee Estate, a coffee shop which sells coffee beans and powder. We were told they also conduct a tour of the coffee estate for a nominal fee of Rs.150 per head, which includes a cup of hot coffee at the end of the tour!

We hired an autorikshaw for Rs.200 (to & fro), and off we went in search of coffee bushes / seeds / powder!

  

Mercara Gold Estate

The coffee estate is about 4 kms. from the town of Madikeri; we reached it via winding hilly roads, past other coffee estates. 

  

Roasting complex

Through the gates, we entered the  grounds and went to the Roasting complex which doubles up as office. One of the staff acted as a tour guide.  

 Coffee Plantation

The terrain is sloping and hilly, on the western ghats. The trees (mostly big ones) originally in the forest, were retained and in between spaces, coffee bushes were planted. That way, ecological balance seems to be maintained. 

 Robesta coffee bush

The coffee trees or bushes live up to 80 years, it seems. The trees which we saw were 35 years old and they were barely 5 feet tall. After the seeds are harvested, the trees are trimmed down to the trunk. 

Arabica coffee bush

Mercara Gold estate grows mainly two varies of coffee bushes, namely, Robesta and Arabica. They also grow Liberica coffee bushes, but far less than the above two.

  Coffee buds

The bushes were full of buds and blooms at this time of the year. They looked like the Jasmine buds.

 Coffee blooms

It is important the buds bloom on time, and it can happen only with rain. The staff was looking forward to some rain, for the sake of the buds. If it does not rain, then they spray the bushes with water with the help of sprinkler system. The very next day, the buds open up and bloom. They are white in colour and have a fragrant smell, just like Jasmine. 

 Close up of coffee blooms

As you pass through the region where there are coffee estates, you can smell the lovely fragrance of coffee blooms! I wondered how the same trees give out such diverse smells such as from the flowers and the seeds!

 Coffee seeds

Once the pollination takes place, the flowers give way to Seeds. Initially the seeds are light orange in colour and slowly turn to red and then dark red, as they age.

 Close up of coffee seeds

Clusters of seeds are formed at the nodes. The seeds are either left on the bushes for drying or harvested and then dried in the sun. 

 Coffee seeds drying

In the front yard, the coffee seeds were spread for drying. Since it looked like rain, they started covering them with plastic sheets.

 Separating husk from kernels

Once the seeds are dry, they are put through this machine to separate the husk from the kernels. At Mercara, they do the drying in house. There are also drying units who do this.

 Raw Coffee kernels 

The kernels are light greenish brown in colour.

 Coffee seed roasting machine

They are put through the roasting machine; 12.5 kgs of coffee beans are roasted for 40 -45 min. After roasting the beans become dark brown in colour and that is when the aroma of coffee comes out.

 Ready to use Coffee powder

The beans are ground and packaged as per the specifications. Mercara Gold Estate makes 100% pure coffee, and also coffee powder having 10%, 20%, 30% chicory. I was told, higher the chicory content stronger the coffee! 

At the end of the tour, they gave us hot 100% pure coffee and it was heavenly. I am not a coffee drinker but the taste remained with me even after days!

If you are in Madikeri, go and see Mercara Gold Estate and treat yourself to some wonderful filter coffee!

What is an FD?

Most of you must have heard the word FD. Let us understand what it means and how it affects our investments.

·         FD is short for ‘Fixed Deposit’. In India it is called ‘Fixed Deposit’ or a ‘Term Deposit’. It is called Term Deposit in New Zealand, Australia, and Canada, or a ‘Certificate of Deposit’ (CD in USA).

·         A Fixed Deposit is a financial instrument for investment. As the word suggests, a Fixed Deposit is fixed in nature, i.e. you are depositing your money for a fixed length of time and at a fixed rate of interest.

·         Banks accept Fixed Deposits and some companies too accept them. Generally the interest rates issued by Companies are higher than those given by Banks. Similarly, the interest rates given by private banks and Co-operative banks will be higher than Nationalised banks.

·         A Fixed Deposit is a Bond. The Bank or the Company who accepts the Fixed Deposit from an investor, issues a receipt for the same.

On the receipt are mentioned:
     Name of the Bank / company
     Investor’s name and address
     Nominee’s name
     PAN card number of the investor
     Deposit number
     Period of deposit
     Date of maturity
     Maturity amount
     Annualized yield (p.a) or Rate of Interest – 8. 5% etc.
     Interest frequency – Quarterly etc.

·         At the end of the time period of deposit, the original investment amount plus the interest will be returned to the investor.

Simple Calculation to show the interest received for a Fixed Deposit:
A.     For an initial deposit of Rs.10,000,
At the Rate of interest of 8.5% and
If time period for which the investment is made is 1 yr., and
Interest compounded Quarterly,
Amount received at the end of 1 yr. will be Rs.10,877
At the end of 1 year, Rs.10,000 becomes Rs.10,877. ie. an increase of Rs.877 on the initial investment.

Looks good, right?

Is it the actual case?

No.

·         Because, there is something called TDS or Tax deducted at source. All banks & companies deduct tax before returning your money, if the interest exceeds Rs.10,000 (as per SBI).
Take for example, TDS is 20%. On Rs.877, the tax deducted is Rs.175.40. You will only receive Rs.10,701.60.

Supposing Inflation is at 5.1%. It means, that Inflation eats into the interest earned on the Fixed deposit. Effectively, your Rs.10,000 one year back, invested at the rate of 8.5% interest is worth only Rs.10,191.60 today.
If the interest rate is lower than 8.5%, you can imagine how much you will be earning on your Rs.10,000!

Not very inspiring and motivating, is it?

So, should you invest your money in a fixed deposit for an effective 1.91% interest per year?

Yes and No.

·         If there is a requirement for cash in the next few years, then it is prudent to hold the money in Fixed deposits. On the other hand, if you don’t need cash in the next few years, and you can invest for the long term, it is wise to consider other financial investment options which give better returns.

Kyungwoo Chun's Art & Performance

It was on 22^nd.feb, a Sunday evening and a program called ‘Unknow Ordinary’ at Sunaparanta, Altinho, Goa, was exciting news. It was a performance by South Korean Artist / Photographer, Mr. Kyungwoo Chun.

There were thirty of us and we did not know what to expect or how to perform, except that we would be participating in a performance. We had to sit in two rows of fifteen people in each row. We were not supposed to talk to each other or get acquainted or even to show any expressions. A long table (s) was arranged in the courtyard and various vegetarian Goan delicacies were kept in small dishes in front of each participant. 

Long table laid with food

When the music started, we were told to look at the food in front of us for one minute. At the end of one minute, start feeding the person in front ie. row ‘A’ will be fed by row ‘B’, for ten minutes. As the gong goes on we had to stop feeding. It depends on the person feeding, whether he / she wants to feed with spoon, fork, hand or feed food or water etc. or feed the desert first or last or how much quantity to feed etc. Feeding and eating are done in silence.

To feed the person in front

They changed the plates and the participants moved one seat to the right and started feeding the person in front of them, ie. row ‘A’ fed row ‘B’ for ten minutes.

It is the other person's turn to feed

There seemed to be several layers to the performance according to me.

• ·        The artist gets to watch people doing ordinary things but under the conditions set by him
• ·        He gets to photograph or record the moods and actions of people while performing
• ·        Participants get to experience something new, in this case feed an unknown person
• ·        Each participant will react or respond to the performance unique to himself or herself

 In our culture, we dine with larger numbers of people at a time, be at weddings / festivals / picnics. We feed our children; sometimes feed our elderly, and rarely but not unusual to feed strangers too. We should be grateful if we are fed and should cherish those memories. How about feeding someone and surprise them! It was a fascinating experience nevertheless, to view it from the perspective of a participant in a performance.  

Mr. Kyungwoo Chun, the artist and photographer

After the performance, Mr. Kyungwoo Chun gave a presentation of his work. It was amazing and an impressive body of work. The photographs showed the people in action not so much their feelings while performing.

Cannon ball flowers

Lovely Cannon ball flowers outside Meditation hall, Sivananada Ashram, near Trivandrum, Kerala, India.

Egg curry in Tamarind sauce

This egg curry is from Telangana region, and my mother used to make it often. I don’t claim my recipe is authentic telangana style; the taste is close to it.

When I feel like eating something spicy and tangy, I think of this dish. Let me state in the beginning itself:  this recipe needs practicing. First few times, it will either be too sour, too spicy, too thick, too watery, or even too sweet! Keep adjusting the spices to suit your taste buds.

The curry should be cooked thoroughly; nothing is more awful than raw tasting tamarind. it tastes best with rice.

Ingredients:

Eggs – 3 or 4 nos.

Tamarind –25 gms. Or size of a medium lime

Onions – 3 nos. medium size

Ginger and garlic paste – ½ tsp.

Cloves – 2 nos.

Shahjeera (black cumin seeds or Caraway seeds) – ¼ tsp.

Red chilli powder – ½ tsp.

Haldi (Turmeric powder) – ¼ tsp.

Mint leaves – 2 tbs. full

Jaggery – 1 tsp. full

Coriander powder – 1 tsp.

Oil – 3 tbs.

Salt – 1 tsp. (approxi.)

Method:

• Boil eggs and remove shell. Make thin vertical slits on four sides of the egg.
• Clean and soak tamarind in 1 cup of water. After 10 min. sqeeze out the juice and add another cup of water. Take out the juice and mix both together. Keep it aside.
• Grind onion coarsely and keep aside. Chop mint leaves.
• Heat oil in a pan, add cloves & shahjeera. When they start spluttering, add coarsely ground onion paste and mint leaves. Add ginger garlic paste when onion paste is light brown in colour.
• Add tamarind juice. Mix well and let it cook with a lid on.
• Put turmeric powder, chilli powder and salt.
• Let it cook for 5 min. on slow flame. Drop the boiled eggs, and add coriander powder and crushed jaggery.
• Adjust seasoning as per your liking. Oil starts floating to the top when the curry is done. Take it off the stove.
• Mix it with hot rice and eat.

Patchwork pillow case and cushion cover

Following are a few patchwork cushion covers and a pillow case I had made. Two of the cushion covers are random patch work, done by hand stitching. I found a piece of embroidery from an old garment, and I appliquéd it. There is a base lining material of cotton fabric on to which the patchwork is done.

Patchwork cushion covers

 The pillow case and one of the cushion covers match the patchwork bedspread I made earlier. The pieces are cut to 7” wide and whatever length is available, but not exceeding 7”. After they are stitched together, the width came to 6”. All the pieces are attached into a long strip, making sure no two pieces of the same design and material are next to each other. The strips are next attached together to form the cushion cover / pillow case.

Patchwork pillow case

Patchwork cushion cover

Karela (Bitter Gourd) fry

Karela or Bitter gourd is supposed to have medicinal qualities. As the name suggests, it is bitter. There are any number of recipes which basically try to reduce the bitterness, and add some taste to it. We were made to eat it no matter whether we liked or not. ‘It is good for health, so you must eat’, we were told as kids. After a time, you will get used to it, and eventually try some recipes of your own. Following is one of mine.

What I noticed was that if you cook Karela, the bitterness increases (if that is possible). If you fry it reduces.

Karela (Bitter gourd) fry

Ingredients:

Karela (Bitter gourd) –250 gms.

Red chilli powder – ½ tsp.

Oil – 3 tbs.

Salt – 1tsp. (approxi.)

Method:

Clean and cut karela into thin circles. Add salt and leave it aside for half an hr.

In a frying pan pour the oil and when hot drop the karela pieces. Fry the vegetable until they turn brown. This time round I took them off the stove lightly browned.

Take the pan off the stove, and sprinkle chilli powder on it and mix well.

Karela fried this way, will stay for several days without spoiling.

It can be eaten with rice or as a side dish. It adds zing to your meal.