Kopi--tiam

This is my little corner, but I'm missing the good coffee. That smell of fresh roast.. that taste of extra hot latte.. just me, myself, and a cup of some intense caffeine :) I have to admit there are so few places to go for real good coffee here, and to some people's surprise (esp you from the west), SBUX is already considered very decent coffee. And as a result, I go there for personal treats. Not too often of course.. That decent coffee comes with a price tag.. At least not something I want to spend $$ on everyday :P

Alternative is.. going local. 100 Baht at Starbucks vs 25 Baht at Stargolf.. hmm.. tough choice! But to the Silom crowd, perhaps you've heard of this kiosk somewhere in soi Lalaisap. Either this, or Little Coffee on Silom, I think it's good enough for my daily dose. Yes, daily. Or should I say twice daily. Cannot go without. Partly it is psychological, but the girl's gotta have her caffeine to go through the afternoon work hours.. you know how it is when food coma strikes! hehe..

Fun facts about ordering local coffee:
1) Farangs get surprised.
Don't be. Thais do put ice in their coffee, even in the morning. I learned that some foreigners never do, and what we do is just simply bizarre to them. But it's probably not too hard to understand. It's the heat you have to deal with..

2) Espresso can mean coffee + ice + MILK.
When technically, ordering an espresso should just be a shot of espresso i.e. that dark, bold, bitter coffee in a tiny little shot cup. Here, you can get cold espresso, in tall plastic cups, where they give you lots of ice and milk. So what's the difference between iced espresso and iced latte? The only explanation I got was, iced espresso is just stronger! Yeah.. big difference.

3) Non sweet means still sweet.
When I just came back from the US, I had to take some time to adjust to the local lifestyle. I bought my first coffee after lunch near my workplace, and my, it felt like drinking syrup! Next day, I specifically ordered "less sweet" version or หวานน้อย.. Again, still it was super sweet I feared I was going to get diabetes. Further attempts I just changed to "non sweet" version or ไม่หวาน.. And to my surprise, non sweet is still sweet?!?! Funny, ain't it? I just can't seem to figure out how to not have sugar/condensed milk in my coffee. They just think for you, convinced that they know what you like. My last strategy which worked sometimes is.. don't bother using relative terms. Just tell them you want half a teaspoon of condensed milk. And stick your head over to make sure it is really half a spoon. Then, I could perhaps get the acceptable taste.. and not having to wait till it's diluted to be able to drink :P

Okay, 3 points is popular among consultants, so i'm going to stop here. Thinking about coffee makes me want to have one already. Prolly not a good idea when it's 1.30am.. Guess i'll save the rest for the next post kopi#2

..I do miss Peet's coffee in E-town.. That one is bold! I l..i..k..e ^^