It’s rawest form comes from the sea

It’s coarser when closer to water

Seen sitting near salt water lakes

Take a look at salt

Have a good look around you

Among the white lies

Lays this purest truth

Opened up under the sky to evaporate

To look like a sheet of snow

As if an aftertaste of nature

Salty becomes that taste

Refined, iodized, packed and processed and is there more…

It reaches our homes

We start taking life with a pinch of salt

It preserves, it enhances, it blends and it flavours

But if tasted alone, it dithers your senses

Shake it or sprinkle it, salt it is

In India, we take it apne swaad anusaar.

Go further south, and you will find another plantation stay in the Tata Coffee Plantations of Pollibetta at South Coorg. The Cottabetta Bungalow is at the highest point and offers luxury inside of a forest. This is where I tasted the best coffee in beautiful surroundings of birds and biodiversity. You will be served traditional black coffee in a pot on crochet mats on a large verandah that will take you back to British hospitality with a Butler for every bungalow. Enjoy your staycation with old world charm in hills dedicated to coffee. There are two main varieties of coffee plantations grown here: Arabica and Robusta. There are tall silver oaks planted for cover and balance, creating a healthy atmosphere for millions of coffee plants to thrive and yield fruit. Around 40% of this coffee is supplied to Starbucks chains across the globe. Little do you know that the coffee served at an American brand like Starbucks literally serves coffee made from coffee beans grown in South India. For your personal consumption, you could buy coffee from the co-operative located at a bend near the Tata Coffee headquarters in Pollibetta town. The plantation bungalow and headquarters are around 15 km from Gonikoppal bus stand. The best way to experience the coffee culture is to backpack and take any bus from Bangalore towards Virajpet and get off at Gonikoppal town. In this way, you can make many stops to have many sips of local coffee from Hatti Kaapi on the streets of Bangalore like Brigade Road, traditional filter coffee at MTR, Café Coffee Day outlets on the Mysore-Madikeri highway to Levista cafes in Kushal Nagar area. If you’re interested in the coffee segregation, processing, curation and packaging process, then you need to visit one of the many processing plants in Kushal Nagar. All bulk processing of coffee beans takes place in factories located at Kushal Nagar and not within the plantation where the coffee is grown.

We do not want to leave out Coorg from our coffee story, though it is mainly known for its pandi curry and is also an attraction for tourists. Come here for the food, the weather, the views and ofcourse the coffee! The Kodagu Coffee Growers Co-Operative has a store on the main road that only sells coffee, honey and pepper. You will get original filter coffee here that is also perfect for a French espresso. Slightly uphill is Kallukoppa Coffee located closer to the famous Raja Seat on Stuart Hill. Compared to Tata Coffee in Chikmagalur or Pollibetta, you can buy affordable pure coffee at Coorg. If you’re looking to buy bulk coffee, then try wholesalers like Panduranga in Chikmagalur or Levista in Kushal Nagar. Though you may want to sample the tea from the region, you will notice that majority of the locals are hooked on to the stronger brew, made from none other than coffee beans.

Photography: Filter Coffee by VSharmilee / WikiCommons | Plantation Tour and Cottabetta by Interactif.

Hope you are ready to take the coffee route and make memorable sips from this region’s versions of espresso, café au lait and essential cup of filter kaapi. Voila!

Beginning with a conversation about food, culinary journeys and beyond la salle à manger. Go to Louisiana and you can listen to the song Jambalaya and the chorus speaks of Creole cuisine, originally from the French Quarter of New Orleans. Here’s an excerpt of the song and you can just sing along if you know the tune:

“Jambalaya and a crawfish pie and file' gumbo

'Cause tonight I’m gonna see my ma cher amio

Pick guitar, fill fruit jar and be gay-o

Son of a gun, we’ll have big fun on the bayou.”

Imagine a dish, a culture and it’s music have influenced so many people in the world. And I could savour the Jambalaya dish in New Orleans literally on the bayou - a swamp in Cajun French. This rice dish consisting of meats, seafood and vegetables, cooked with seasonings and broth is the Creole version of the pulao served with gravy. Muriel's in Jackson Square at the French Quarter is my personal favourite not just for gumbo but you must try the gorgonzola cheesecake and flourless chocolate cake. C'est délicieux!

Now let’s talk about the food in India or I’d rather rephrase this by saying ‘India is about food.’ Rightly so, we Indians love our food, local cuisine and the same dish will taste different in the different regions of India. I remember arguing with a local over the names of fruits when in Jharkhand. So, the argument started when the local referred to the custard apple as ramphal. My reply was that it is called sitaphal in Maharashtra. And this is how fruits are named in India, after the names of Gods. The list goes on with fruits called laxmanphals and hanumanphals too.

Talking about Gods, food has great significance in Indian spirituality. During festivals or pujas, it is first offered to God and then consumed by the people. This is when fresh food is prepared in the home or procured from mithaiwallahs or sweet shops. With the changing times, even Lord Ganesha is offered with chocolate modaks vis-à-vis the traditional steamed rice modaks stuffed with coconut, cardamom and jaggery. Just like the Indians refer to the brand Cadbury when they refer to chocolate. They simply say, “Maine aaj Cadbury khaayi,” what they mean is “Today I ate chocolate.”

I wonder why there is no go-to chocolaterie place in India. The only chocolaterie that I had been to while growing up is La Patisserie at the Taj Mahal Palace, Colaba. Don’t coffee brands realise that Indians love the Mocha over the espressos as Mocha has the chocolate flavour infused in to the coffee. I used to ponder over this one thought when I worked for the brand Starbucks. The threat was not the fact that a coffee chain has to convert a tea drinking nation in to coffee connoisseurs. But it would have been easier, if they simply introduced Indians to what they like. The answer is chocolate flavoured coffees! Obviously, the acquisition of Teavana came a tad too late when Indians had already made up their minds about Starbucks being synonymous with only coffee. Another discovery I made while working on campaigns for Starbucks is that people order food whenever they come for a cup of coffee. Why? Because, as I said earlier, we Indians love food. The fact is that 20-25% of sales at Tata Starbucks comes from food alone with some amazing backend support from the Taj Group of Hotels.

Not just that, there’s a backend story that this Pike’s Place, Seattle-based American coffee giant made a deal for the backend supply of coffee beans also with the Tatas. So the arabica that goes in to their signature India Estates Blend of espresso at Starbucks is procured from the coffee estates at Coorg in Karnataka and this has saved Starbucks a great deal on import duties for the supply of coffee beans from Africa or South America.

In the US, there is a large settlement of South Americans especially in Florida and the southern states alike up to Texas as they are close to the border of the South American continent. Before I travelled to Palm Beach on the East Coast of Florida, I thought that sushi was the only dish that contained raw fish. But then I ordered ceviche, a Latin American appetiser marinated in lemon, onion, chilli pepper and salt and served raw.

If you travel further south towards Miami, you can try the best cuban coffee and go on a private food tour to Little Havana; if you’re into art, then they have Food tours at the famous Art Deco by South Beach and for luxury travellers, the Design District has a Tapas tour too. When on tour, you must try grilled seafood platter at Estefan Kitchen, a stylish restaurant serving cuban cuisine and the best of cuban music, also because it happens to be owned by the singer Gloria Estefan at the Design District.

Coming to luxury and food, I believe that the only brand that has got it right is Fortnum & Mason whose tagline clearly suggests Fortnum & Mason : Luxury hampers, tea, coffee, food and gifts.

When will the Indian customer get a preview of a luxury store in India?

As much as I enjoyed writing this, I look forward to hear your thoughts about this feature. You can send in your comments on shveta@interactif.in