The Story That Coffee Tells

In early September, I blogged about books, and coffee, and how my friend was telling me that she love coffee not because of the taste, but because of the ritual, the company and the moments that comes with drinking coffee. I realise how true that is, and so today's blog, is about my coffee moments. How each coffee photos below brings back a certain memory in my life. Of course, the fact that the coffee at these places are delicious also add a nice touch to the memories :) Below are all the wonderful moments of coffee in 2017 that I had....

Above is an extremely delicious cup of coffee at Bugis, at a coffee shop connected to Intercontinental Hotel. I remember that day was a Saturday, and I had Japanese Language class as usual. After class, I met up with my first boss from my first job for lunch and we just catch up. I remember we went to 18 Chef. After lunch, my colleague who was at home wanted to register for Japanese Language class, and she traveled from Punggol to Bugis and we went together to register her to the class. After class, this was where we went for coffee. And all I remembered was, this place has some damn nice strong coffee. 

Next is a coffee shop in Penang Straits Quey. I have been here twice with my husband on different visits. The place is called Choke of Beans, and I just love the serving spoon that comes with the coffee. The way they brew the coffee is also special. I'll blog about it one day. I love walking around Straits Quey, and they have this one hour parking free, so we usually go there to chill for an hour. And this place serves awesome coffee, and nutella cheese cake. The shop is quiet and my husband alway takes a cat nap here while I enjoy the coffee at my own leisure. It's always a relaxing moment drinking the coffee here with it's beautiful cup, spoon, light coffee and biscuits. I love my coffee thick, but if it is brew right, the light version can taste great too.

Next is this free coffee that me and my colleague got one day at work at Changi City Point when they held a Coffee and Chocolate Fair. Stalls were giving out sample coffee, and we saw this less crowded stall that was giving out this one whole cup of coffee instead of sample cup. We were wondering if this was the case since not many people were there. Since both of us were so damn thick skin, we went up to ask, and got ourselves this free big cup of coffee! I thought it was damn funny the things we will do for free coffee. The taste wasn't that bad too!

Next is this delicious cup of Kopi Hutan at rainforest open cafe on top of Penang Hill. I remember I had already given up of coming here, cause it was so hard and unfriendly to get to. But my friend persisted that we give it a try. When we reach the place, it was smaller than what we expected, and it had rained that afternoon, so the place was wet and such. I was grumpy, and she was too when the milo ice she ordered was kinda diluted. I ordered this house specialty, and I remember taking a sip of it and everything was ok again! I think its the water of Penang. Almost every coffee I drink there was light, and sweet, and delicious! And this one made everything alright again and all is forgiven. We ended up having a lovely time after all, and even went for tea at another cafe which I will blog about eventually when I stop being so busy drinking coffee everywhere I go.

Mellower Coffee is a beautiful shop also in Bugis, near Bugis+. Above photo was the time I finally went there on my first time, as me and my two colleague had just had an awesome Yakiniku 90minutes Buffet at Bugis+, and just wanted to chill. One of my colleague treated us, probably because she wanted to skip class (she was the same colleague who just registered for Japanese Language class and was already skipping it already by this time....). Anyway, I love the decoration of this shop, and they have unusual way of serving coffee like espresso in test tube as per photo above, candy floss coffee, Ondeh Ondeh coffee etc. Will definitely go back there again if I can find coffee kakis to go with me! To date, still no luck because one: I have no friends, and two: even if I have friends, I am damn lazy to go out and socialise. So if I do go out with you, consider yourself awesome enough for me to drag myself out of my house for you!

Starbuck 1-4-1 deal from 3pm - 5pm is always popular with my colleague. Above is another treat from my now ex-colleague. I was in town office for a presentation that day, and I remembered I was so stress over it. I had to skip lunch to attend the presentation. But the moment it was over, and I achieved what I wanted to achieve, I went off to enjoy a cup of coffee with her. I remember I was so hungry that I was eating my homemade bread while queueing for the coffee with her. I finally managed to order the Chai Berry Yogurt which another colleague had recommended, and OMG, it was delicious! We spend some time talking crap as usual at the shop before I walk back to my old office and catch a bus back to my home office. 

Last photo here is of a Vietnamese Drip Coffee. This is my first encounter with it on how it was served and I was fascinated with it. I remember it was nearing the last few days of my business trip to Ho Chi Minh. I also remember that after seeing this, I think I went and bough myself a drip coffee set and started drinking it at home. You can view my homemade version here. 

The art of drinking coffee is a bonding time. In Singapore, it is fondly known as "Lim Kopi" or "Lar Kopi". It is a time colleagues bond over a cup of cuppa at tea time and share a common moment relaxing from work, complaining about work, or just exchanging gossip about work. I only enjoy these sessions if there are lots of jokes and interesting topic being exchange. I don't really enjoy gossip so much, or networking just for the sake of networking. I prefer exchange of ideas, opinions, or sick jokes. So if you like the same thing, and you know where to have a good cup of coffee, leave me a comment below and let's go lim kopi!