Your fortune, espresso-style

Most people don't give the black stuff they leave at the bottoms of their coffee cups even a moment's attention. But for Delhi-based Poonam Sethi, one of the only practitioners of the ancient art of tasseography (coffee cup reading) in India, there's a world of images waiting to be divined from a coffee cup. "I see births, deaths, marriages, accidents, job changes...even shopping expeditions, when I 'read' a coffee cup," says she.

Developed in the 14th century by Chinese monks, tasseography or tasseomancy became popular in the Middle East, where the Arabs used it to read coffee cups. The Turks and Greeks adopted it as their own, and today, going by Sethi's crowded appointment book, it's catching on fast in India too (her coffee cup reading sessions at Barista outlets last year probably helped).

"At least five to six people come to me everyday for coffee cup reading," says Sethi, who charges a steep Rs 1,000 per reading and still has a waiting list of people wanting consultations. "In the age group of 38 to 48 years, most of them are at a crossroads in their lives, wanting some help in arriving at a significant life decision," says she.

It all began for her when she went to a carnival in Greece and met a coffee cup reader there. "Since I was a child, I knew I had a sixth sense, intuitive powers that are hard to explain. I was drawn to tasseomancy, and began to practice it," she explains.

Today, Sethi says that her intuitive powers are so fine tuned that she gets psychic insights from many sources other than coffee or tea cups: "I can 'read' flames, swirls and eddies in water and many other things," she claims.

Coffee cup readings work on a simple format: "I ask each client about the people in their families, and what they do "" this helps me interpret the images I see," says she. The sessions usually take five to 30 minutes "" "at Barista, for example, I did short sessions that lasted only five minutes. But even in that short span, I was able to divine things about my clients that I had no other means of knowing!" she says. Many of her clients repeat visits, seeking guidance whenever they need it.

The session begins with the client drinking a cup of coffee (Turkish, African or Greek ground coffees work well, says she). The empty cup is turned three times clockwise in such a way that the sludge spreads all over its inner surface.

"When I look at the coffee grounds, the patterns in them evoke psychic insights," says Sethi, "most of the time I'm able to tell accurately what's on my client's mind." She says she's often been able to discern Indian deities in the cup: "Once I saw Durga, in all her royal glory, riding a lion. And another time, when I was looking at a cup, I saw Lakshmi and Ganesh...it was particularly appropriate as my client was a jeweller!"

Many scoff at tasseomancy and its practitioners, calling them unscientific. Sethi, also a well-known tarot consultant and karmic healer, has no quarrel with her detractors. "This is a powerful psychic tool that has helped many people," says she, "to all those who scoff at it, I say "" try it out once with an open mind instead of dismissing it entirely..." Whether her plea influences more people to want to know what their coffee cups say about their future is moot. Come to think of it, maybe the answer lies in a cup of coffee.