80:20 Filter Coffee vs 100% Arabica: Which to Buy?

The Kaapiswada family · 2026-10-13

Buy 80:20 filter coffee (80% coffee, 20% chicory) if you drink your kaapi with plenty of hot milk and want a thick, dark decoction. Buy 100% Arabica if you want only coffee in your filter and a cleaner, lighter cup. Both are good filter coffee; the right one depends on how you drink it.

We make both from the Arabica grown on our own estate in the Mullayanagiri foothills of Chikmagalur, so we can tell you what each one does in the cup. Our 80:20 is Swadamalnad and our 100% Arabica filter coffee is Pureswada.

What 80:20 and 100% Arabica mean

On a filter coffee pack, 80:20 means 80 parts coffee and 20 parts chicory. In Swadamalnad, the 80 parts are Arabica from our estate and the 20 parts are roasted chicory root. In Pureswada, everything in the pack is Arabica and there is no chicory at all. A pack should always say clearly which one it is.

80:20 filter coffee: who it suits

  • You make milky kaapi, roughly one part decoction to three parts milk.
  • You like a dark, thick, slightly bittersweet decoction, the taste many South Indian homes grew up with.
  • You want a decoction that does not disappear when you add hot milk and sugar.

The 20% chicory adds colour and body. We chose this ratio so the thick, milk-friendly decoction people expect stays, while our Arabica remains the main voice in the cup.

100% Arabica filter coffee: who it suits

  • You want to taste the coffee itself, not a roasted-root note.
  • You drink your kaapi with less milk, or darker.
  • You are curious about the estate the coffee came from.

Without chicory the decoction is lighter in body, so use a little more powder than you would with a blend (about half a tablespoon extra to start) and keep the water just off the boil.

A quick way to decide

  1. Think of the cup you remember from home or the darshini down the road. If it was thick and bittersweet, start with 80:20.
  2. Think about your milk. Mostly milk? 80:20. Less milk? 100% Arabica.
  3. Still unsure? Try one pack of each. Some homes keep both and pick by mood.

If you like to grind your own, our Roastswada is 100% Arabica whole beans in the same 250 g pack.

Brewing either one

The method is the same in a steel filter: powder in the top chamber, freshly boiled water, 15 to 20 minutes to drip, then milk and a pour between davara and tumbler. Our guide on how to make South Indian filter coffee at home has every step, and you can work out quantities with the brew calculator. For a deeper look at chicory, read filter coffee with or without chicory.

Questions people ask

Is 80:20 filter coffee less pure than 100% Arabica? No. It is a different, traditional style of filter coffee. The chicory is stated on the pack and in the ratio. We only speak for our own coffee: our 80:20 uses estate Arabica for the coffee share.

Which one is stronger? Chicory adds body and colour, so 80:20 looks darker and feels thicker. Pure Arabica is lighter in body but shows more of the coffee's own flavour. You can make either strong by adjusting how much powder you use.

Can I try both? Yes. Both come in 250 g packs, and you can add them to the bag together on our coffee page.