Really BIG Nescafe Ais & Coffee Bean Freebie Story

Wifey had cravings for my home made lamb chops the other day (if you're thinking what yer thinkin...you're right...) But it was a weekday and Lamb Chops take time to make. So took her out for some in a nearby shop.

Ordered some Nescafe Ais (Can't have freshly brewed coffee there right?) and man! it was HUGE! Chilli Sauce squeeze bottle pictured for comparison. Yes...I did finish it (I'm a thirsty child..)

Eh? Just came back from buying a bag of Sumatra Dark Roast Beans from Coffee Bean. While I was there looking at what's new, along came the over-zealous staff-behind-counter... "Try the Viennese beans -lah Sir..." told her that I had and I didn't really like it.

Anyways, I went ahead and got the Sumatra Beans when she came up to us (Khalis followed as well.. ) and handed us 2 cups of Vienna coffee.. Nice way to try to push some not-so-great coffee to us "discerning" (;p) coffee drinkers but hey, I'm not one to look at the gift-barrista-in the mouth so thanks indeed... free cup as pictured next to yummy Sumatra Beans below:

Why did I post this?...er..no particular reason... blogspamming on a slow-slow slow day...

coming up next week, Lamb Chops Paul David style!

"Can you please grind that for a French Press?"

Its a tasty world. Made even more tastier thanks to Eyeris. Yes, ever since I read his "Expert Guide", I dragged wifey around looking for Bodum French Presses. Got one late last year for RM 49.90 from Isetan KLCC, looked exactly like the one eyeris has and started of with (Again inspired by Eyeris) Costa Rican Coffee from San Fran. 100 grams for RM10.90. I didn't like it so much cos of the rather strong acidity.(Now i can talk like a coffee expert!)

Another guy who loves coffee in the office, Khalis [that's such a cool name!] suggested that we should start buying beans by the bag load and share. Sounded like a plan...Another colleague joined in and soon we were buying 227 gram coffee bean bags from Coffee Bean (Sorry Eyeris, the San Fran is Bukit Bintang is NOT happening at all!). All in all, we calculated that a single cup of freshly brewed coffee will cost us around RM2.00. That in my opinion is WAY much worth it than crappy take away Nescafe (It tastes horrible!) from the mamak behind the office that costs RM1.50!

So I also got myself a nice insulated Thermos mug (Thanks to my Jusco points!) and we began our exploration into the world of Coffee. Unlike Eyeris, I like my coffee quite naked. Bit O' sugar and I'm good. Same goes for the other 2 in the office. We were aiming to try as many types of blends as possible. After a couple of months, we had gone thru all of these:

We started off with Coffee Bean's Holiday Blend. Not much of body, not too bad aroma but it was unsatisfying. Moved on to Coffee Bean's Viennese and StarBucks' Espresso and we were quite disappointed because it tasted so Nescafe-ish.

In between came a bag of Coffee Bean's Hazelnut infused coffee that smelled really good (the rest of the office was drooling!) and tasted not too bad [3 out of 5 in my books]. Then, we hit the paydirt. Sumatra from Coffee Bean. Wow! great body, fantastic aroma and smooth as HE-double-Hockey-Sticks... what could be better than this? we thought.

Well, Coffee Bean's Kenya AA.

Thats what. Hailed as one of the best in the World, we heartily agreed to its bold strong-ish flavour and aroma. It advertised "wine-like acidity" but our palates failed to pick up that. All in all it made really good drinking coffee and remains our joint favorite with Coffee Bean's Mocha Java. Mocha not as in Coffee with chocolate but a combination of Ethiopian Yirgacheffe (try saying that fast while yer drunk!) Beans and Java Estate Coffee. Its flavour is so ..bright and the smell just makes everyone in the office to just stop whatever their doing and look up. Saw a few dreamy eyes during those brewing sessions as well.

We also discovered that we really didn't like European and South American Coffees. We didn't like Dark roasts cos most of the coffee (oil, essence and all) had been charred off the bean. Now, if only I could find that Balinese Coffee that I had in a small coffee factory in Denpasar.

Speaking of which, I was speaking to a guy from Nestle Indonesia the other day and he claims that Starbucks actually sent their team to villages in Indonesia to find that perfect Sumatran/Javan Coffee. That still won't change our minds about buying from Starbucks cos their beans are expensive and I seem to have found the right Coffee Bean in KL Plaza that actually KNOW how to grind the beans for my French Press. All in all we're having a blast...If you have the inclination, pick up this (some say) art form and feed that inner caffeine addict!

Credits:

All Images by Khalis, All text by me.