Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
social occasion; with only 12 units on the
property, the number of guests at any one
time is equivalent to a gracious dinner
party. And the meals are unbelievably deli-
cious, superb examples of refined Keralan
cuisine, which some say is the best in
south India: crispy-thin
dosa
pancakes,
abundant seafood, the pervasive richness
of coconut milk, and deeply spiced stews
and curries.
Seeing where the spices grow and then
tasting them in your dinner is its own sort of
farm-to-table experience, of the most exotic
and luxurious variety. If you're intrigued by
this extraordinary combination of flavors,
you can arrange a cooking class with the
chef, who will teach you how to re-create
any dish on the menu. It's one way to take
home a little piece of paradise.
Off the Kottayam-Kumily Rd., Murin-
japuzha (
&
91/469/270-1311
for reserva-
tions, 91/4869/288-119, or 0944/7088-119;
www.paradisaretreat.com).
(
Kochi International Airport (140km/87
miles).
0
Kottayam (70km/43 miles).
Organically grown coffee beans from the Paradisa
Plantation.
Coffee
429
The Turkish Kahvehane
Brewed on the Bosporus
Istanbul, Turkey
If it hadn't been for Turkey, the Western
world might never have gotten hooked on
coffee. There are apocryphal accounts of a
coffee shop in Constantinople (modern-day
Istanbul) from as far back as 1475; whether
or not that's true, it is certain that by
the mid-1500s Constantinople had coffee
houses (
kahvehanes,
in Turkish) serving the
bitter black brew adopted from neighbor-
ing Arab lands. From there, the habit spread
to Constantinople's frequent trading part-
ner, Venice, from where it disseminated to
England and Germany. In 1683 Turkish
invaders brought their favorite drink with
them when they swept into Vienna, and the
rest, as they say, was history.
In the heyday of the Ottoman Empire,
coffeehouses were essential gathering
places, where customers (men, of course)
reclined on kilims, gazed onto a panoramic
view or a reflecting pool, smoked water
pipes
(narghiles),
played backgammon, and
discussed affairs of the day. A complicated
brewing ritual evolved—for each individual
serving, beans are hand-roasted on a
metal tray, then ground with mortar and
pestle into a superfine powder, mixed with
cold water and sugar (and sometimes
