Sumatra from Starbucks

My first pack of Starbucks coffee, the Italian Roast, lasted me a good and slow 2-3 months (I don't make my coffee very strong anyway). I loved the Italian Roast. It's so yummy I can drink it on its own without sugar. Wonderful with chocolate chip cookies. Or just simply, chocolate. Dark chocolate. Mmmmm...

Got my second pack of Starbucks coffee over the weekend and chose another extra bold coffee from Sumatra. At RM33 it's 5 bucks more than the Italian Roast.

Sumatra (according to the coffee passport) is a smooth, full-bodied coffee. It has an earthy flavour with subtle herbal and spicy notes that are characteristic of Indonesian coffees:

processing method
semi-washed
complementary flavours
cinnamon, oatmeal, maple, butter
classification
extra bold
key term
earthy
similar coffee
Sulawesi

My take on it? OK-lah. It was dark and smokey. Definitely earthy, but without the lovely chocolatey taste I loved in the Italian Roast. It definitely has a kick and gives quite a buzz. But I probably wouldn't buy this one again.

Multi-region / Dark Roast blend (check)
Asia Pacific region (check)
Latin America (next)
African / Arabian (next)
My FREE 5th pack - most likely going back to the Italian Roast, or I may try the Espresso Roast. But at the slow rate I'm drinking my coffee, it'd be another half a year before I get my freebie.

What kind of coffee are you?

Found this quiz by chance and I got curious.

The results:

Personally, I prefer my coffee black.
And if I want milk in my coffee I usually go for a latte with a sprinkling of cinnamon on top.

But heh, if I'm 'delicious and a treat' in their books, I ain't complaining ;)

That said, 'floating like the foam on top', gives me a crappy mental image (literally).

Eeeee.
I'll stick to my Americano or Latte, thank you.

Italian Roast from Starbucks

I was there after lunch today, looking for a new pack of coffee for my coffee press. I'm such a sucker for packaging, cos when I saw the cute Vespa on the Italian Roast, I just had to get it. That, and also because Starbucks in Malaysia don't carry their whole range of beans anyway. It was a choice between Italian Roast, Espresso Roast, Guatemala, Sumatra and their Limited Edition Tanzania and Arabian Mocha Sanani.

My coffee cost RM28 for 250g, which would probably last me about 2 months (at one cup per working day). The friendly store manager ground half the beans for me (so they stay fresher longer) and gave me a coffee passport! It's a cute little booklet featuring all their coffees. When you buy a pack of coffee beans, you get a nice sticker of your chosen coffee (for Italian Roast, see above), which you stick in the page featuring it.

Buy 4 different packs of coffee from different parts of the world, and you get a 5th pack of your choice, FREE! How's that for a good deal?

So back to the Italian Roast (according to the coffee passport) :

processing method
washed
complementary flavours
chocolate, caramel, spices
classification
extra bold
key term
intense
similar coffee
french roast

Made my first cup as soon as I got back to the office. It was goooood, with a slight 70% dark chocolate-ish flavour. It's a little smokey with no hint of bitterness at all, even without sugar added.

This coffee is categorised as a Dark Roast Blend (grouped with Multi-Region coffee). Now I just need to get a pack from Latin America, Africa/Arabia, and Asia/Pacific and a free pack of coffee will be mine! Muahahaha! By then I should have an idea which is my favourite! :)

Apparently it's perfect with chocolate or a sweet pastry.
Yuh-ummm!

PMS, chocolate and coffee

My Chipsmore has more chips than yours

It's almost that time of the month.
And apart from the zits that love to make their grand appearance on my face, I get cravings for chocolate. Or meat.

Today it's chocolate.
Mind you I just had a full lunch of nasi briyani.
Then I got into the office and wanted some chocolate chip cookies. Nobody around had any, so I went downstairs to get some from the sundry shop.

I bought a pack of Double Choc Chipsmore cookies.
And went on to finish half a pack in less than an hour.

Tsk tsk tsk.

I Gave Up Bad Coffee For Good

I gave up bad coffee for good recently by buying a RM49 Bodum travel press. Just enough to make one decent cuppa. And I got some freshly ground mocha coffee (described as winey and chocolatey) from Aroma, a Thai brand, while I was at Siam Paragon, Bangkok. It cost me 153 baht (RM16) for 100g which lasted me about 3 weeks, at a rate of one cup per working day on average. Not bad. RM16 is equivalent to 2.5 cups of COD* from Starbucks.

I need to get a new pack of freshly ground coffee soon. At the risk of sounding like a coffee snob, I can't drink Nescafe in the office anymore. Hee hee... :P
*coffee of the day

F.R.E.E Coffee @ Starbucks

Free freshly brewed coffee.
From 10am to noon today.

Mowpea and Geek told us about Starbuck's 2nd Annual Coffee Break yesterday. Apparently it's a worldwide event.

YL and I were skeptical but made our way to the Starbucks near our office this morning.

"If don't have how ah?"

"Then we pay lor."

Our brows furrowed at that prospect.
Then we laughed at how silly we sounded.

When we got there, we saw it.
On the blackboard, in pink chalk.
"FREE @#$$%^#&#@#$%#^^@"
The other words could be in Greek and I wouldn't care.

YAY!
Of course, we felt a bit shy to order just the coffee and run. So our conscience bought us a muffin each. A RM5.60 muffin. To make up for the RM6 FREE coffee.

OK what! :P

I can't imagine...

... how pretentious I must look.

I'm in Starbucks.

With my laptop.
Its inconspicuous Dell logo covered by a less inconspicuous Apple sticker (which I got with my Ipod).

Hell. I'm here for the WIFI...
Dial-up at home was getting on my nerves. How can anyone work at a connection speed of less than 25Mbps?

That said, when I grow up, I'll have a toy-like Mac.
It's just so much prettier, no?

Dear Dell, you're all I can afford for now.
So deal with the sticker, okay?

Think of it as a facelift.
Looks fake. But it sure makes the owner happy.
Bwahahahaha.