Thursday, May 17, 2012

Starbucks Coffee and its Personal Taste

Well actually... Never thought in my mind to buy coffee at Starbucks cafe before I came to Japan..

First, I still prefer to drink coffee at office (my coffee time is either around 10 am or 3 pm),  my fave unbeatable coffee is still kopi A*Csusu :) Second, no available Starbucks Cafe on my way to office that i can stop by (well, yeah, you know :p). Third, it is expensive :D So, I have never bought one :p

My first acquaintance with Starbucks in Japan was when Sensei bought me a cup of chai latte. It was winter and I was in the middle of working on reports that boiled my head... and, so, that Starbucks' chai latte tasted awesome!! Smell good, taste good!

Since that, I begin my relationship with Starbucks :)

The "worse" thing is that I moved to Tsukuba since sept 2011, and here it is : a Starbucks Cafe just in front of the ticket gate at Tsukuba Station!!! Just brilliant!! :)

So here came autumn and then winter, while I constantly moved here and there through this station (esp. to go to Tokyo), and there are many moments that I found some remaining money at my Pasmo card after tapping it at the ticket gate, then I felt that after wading the day with all the distance and cold weather, I should give my self a present and a cup of chai latte would be just perfect. Another moments of fighting distance and coldness were when I should pack my self to Tokyo every Monday morning for zemi, then while walking down the elevator to the station, here comes a very nice smell of coffee, and after charging my Pasmo and confirm that I still have at least 10 min before the departure time, then I turn my self to Starbucks Cafe and take a cup of hot Caramel Macchiato (small size, of course) away.
Caramel Macchiato, oishii ^^

Oke, I admit that I have tried Caffe Latte and Cappucino, well the Cappuccino was good, but sometimes it gives me headache, so i prefer taking Caramel Macchiato :)

Price? Hahahaaa, first, like I said, those cups were PRESENTS for my self (so it is priceless :p); second, i used Japanese Government's money to buy those cups; third, to compare with the price of this coffee at Jakarta, it is almost the same (350-390 yen/small cup; at Jakarta bout Rp 30,000/cups, cmiiw, you know i never bought one in jkt :p), so it is relatively cheap here!!

One day I was strolling to amazon (bad habit!!), i found a book of Michael Gates called "How Starbucks saved my life". Quite amaze with the tittle and the comments on this book, i clicked on "buy".

Well, yes! It is a good book!!
It is a story about the strugle of a white American man that ruin his perfect life just at the same time of losing his job as a marketing director and got diagnose of some sickness. Then, jobless, broke, desperate, he applied for a job at a Starbucks cafe, that run by a black woman - one situation that have never crossed on his mind.

The work was hard. But at the same time he learnt many things! ..about how to treat people with respect (no matter he/she is white/black, rich/poor); how to make a good and personal service that make your costumers feel at home and come again (it is mentioned on the book that the starbucks' staff was taught to greet customer, look in to their eyes with smile, remember their name and their fave coffee); how to really do your job from the heart (Mr. Gates does love coffee); and what's important thing in life : family, happy, and respect.


I'm also happy to find some information about coffee. Aaaaand, when i turn to one page, i found this :
"...how volcanic soil in Indonesia made for particularly delicious beans. I mentioned Sumatra, my first love, and also Sulawesi, another Indonesian coffee that was a little more subtle, more elegant..."


Oh, I love Indonesia!!! I promise I would taste them all at home!! ^^


Aaah, one more thing... at one chill night, when I return from Tokyo and stop by to get a cup of Chai Latte, they did give me a personal message !




I was so touched by their warm message. They did not write "arigatou", right? That means the message was for ME! (whatever, I felt light up that night :p) Ok then, I will come again ;)

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