Chino and I always loved having coffee together. 2007 was filled with random coffee sessions wherever we were, we'd contact each other and go to the nearest Coffee Bean, sometimes even going out of our way. Both of us were absolutely sure that 2008 was gonna be a great year for us but even with this positive outlook, we had no idea how it would come about and what could be done to make it even better than we imagine. We were also both reformed Starbucks people, but thanks to its overrated-ness and sometimes a pretentious vibe, Coffee Bean rose up to becoming a better alternative: a great atmosphere and great coffee for great conversations.
Since we enjoyed being around each other so much with all the coffee and caffeine, we came up with this plan to start a Coffee Bean 2008 Challenge, were we would visit all the Coffee Bean branches which existed in Jakarta. We eliminated the ones which didn't have a smoking area, because that was pretty vital for our get-togethers. I have to say January was the essence of this challenge, not only were we the most enthusiastic, but we both had the most free time hence we got around to actually visiting 3 branches! Now Jakarta is not the smallest city in the world, getting from one place to another takes time and patience (yes, the traffic). At that moment we were pretty positive we would be able to finish all of the destinations in our list, but boy we had no idea we were in for a ride. Each month passed by slowly, then quickly.. we would still have coffee about once every two weeks or even more, depending on our schedules. Although we didn't always stick to our plan because we had found branches that suited our comfort zone best and always visited: PIM2 and Plaza Senayan, the 2nd being the most frequented.
Everything about Coffee Bean became very familiar to us, and I guess the same could be said the other way around. We had security guards and baristas recognizing our faces and our order. In every branch, we were able to distinguish what were the tastes of each others' perfect coffee, if his cafe mocha was a little bit too bitter or if my vanilla latté was a little bit too sweet. A meet-up would just be intended for an hour, but we would go on for 2, 3 or even more because it wouldn't be enough, and we still had so many things to cover, even though we just met the week before that. Sometimes the question wasn't even about going to different Coffee Beans anymore, but the fact that we had to spend time and had coffee and have a recap of our lives and happenings.
During the span of 2008, we went through a series of happy moments, ordeals and everything in between. I was glad of the support and motivation and good spirits I always got from Chino although he'd bully me (heh, kidding :P) that's why I'd always look forward to our coffee session because it was like, home away from home. We may not agree on most things, but that's what keeps our friendship going, the fact that we never ever get bored of each other because we never run out of things to say, to agree on, to criticize, to love, to hate and to torture (I'll leave that to him). Even though we didn't complete the goal of the challenge, it was still a great fulfillment to us both just to have these moments. Just like the saying which goes: it's all about the journey, not the destination, we didn't even care about the destination anymore, we just wanted (and still want) the journey to keep on going. =)
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