POSTED BY CHINO
It was a start of New Year back in ’08, excited for what was to come, and positive that it was going to be a great year for the both of us. Justine and I were discussing about our next time to have coffee, this took place over the phone or chat or somewhere else, and we came about a challenge for the both of us. It was known as, The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf Challenge! Over the year we should have coffee in all the coffee bean branches accessible to us. We did our research of locating their branches, then eliminating the branches which were too distant from where we lived. Why Coffee Bean and not Starbucks?! It’s because we’ve grown out of it, we just got sick of it and all the frenzy of people just choosing Starbucks over any other café’s. Coffee Bean serves way better coffee and tea than Starbucks, seriously it does. Lastly, coffee doesn’t cost as much as Starbucks.
So off we went in our personal challenge! We were positive that we were able to go to all Coffee Bean branches, crossing out places in the list, taking pictures in our coffee sessions, and enjoying our time over good coffee. Soon, we’d see barista’s and their security guards recognizing our faces, our names remembered, and more importantly, all we’d have to say to the cashier person is, “YES!”. Example needed? Sure! First few coffee sessions would go like this:
Barista: Hi welcome to Coffee Bean, what would you like to order?
Chino: One café mocha, hot, large, what about jus (justine)?
Justine: One vanilla latte, hot, regular, thank you!
Soon after that, it went like this:
Barista: Hey! Its both of you, weren’t you just at the other branch last time? So what will you have?
Chino: Yeah! We were just nearby, and decided to have coffee. I’ll have café mocha, hot, large
Justine: hahaha! A vanilla latte for me! Make it hot and regular please?!
Finally it went like this:
Barista: One café mocha, one vanilla latte, both hot, one regular and one large? Am I right?
Juno: Right on! Suweeeet! Yummehhh!
Along the course of the challenge, we started criticizing their different branches, interior designs, ambiance, people, taste (different branches meant different taste, could be better or not as great), and more importantly, the vibe that each branch gave us.
Things were going great for our Coffee Bean challenge, but things weren’t always smooth. We always needed our coffee time together, but not always were we able to go to a new branch we haven’t crossed out on the list. It came to a point where we would always have our coffee sessions at this one specific place, Plaza Senayan. This was the place where we had most of our coffee sessions, we were disappointed that we weren’t able to go to a new place, but happy because the time we spent was great. We didn’t go to all the branches on our list by the end of ’08, we were bummed out, but we were satisfied with it…somewhat.hehe.
Let’s just put it this way, my coffee and cigarettes don’t taste as good without Justine. I’ve had great companion over coffee, but nothing compares those coffee sessions with my chikka Justine. We never have nothing to talk about, we always have something to laugh about, argue about, debate about, rant about, spazz about, and anything about! The Coffee Bean ’08 Challenge was great, caffeine and nicotine wasn’t the only thing gained ginormously last year, the friendship grew stronger and better! Suweeet! You never know, we could just start another year with The Coffee Bean ’09 challenge! With new branches never before explored, beans and leaves never before tasted, and it all comes with a harder, better, faster, stronger bastard and bitch!! Dayum!!
