New Toy
Ever imagined yourself a coffee barrista? Well, I did.
Once upon a time in a small quiet lane in Melbourne, the smell of nicely brewed coffee was never absent. If you come by this charming place, you will always be greeted with a cup of aromatic cafe latte with dessert of some sort. One day, the beloved house percolator retired without warning, and the gathering at this place was never the same.
So what has this got to do with our new toy? It all started with our old espresso percolator deciding that it had served its terms dedicately for about 730 days. I thought these little buggers would last several years, but I guess this one was just over-worked too frequently and refused to function one day.
Without the percolator, my dream of being a coffee barrista was obviously put on hold. J and I thought that maybe it's a good time to cut down on the caffeine consumption. However, it was no more than a week when I realised that I became less productive during the day and got sleepy easily. The retirement of the percolator had a dramatic impact on the lifestyle and living quality of this residence! Something's got to be done to solve this serious problem!
J and I decided that instead of getting another relative of our retired fellow, it is probably time to upgrade my coffee making skill to the next level with a proper machine. Therefore, we went on a mission to search for the victim, I meant the coffee machine, for the house. After several visits to various stores, we still couldn't find the right candidate. They were either too unprofessional (how could I become a barrista without proper tools, right?) or too expensive (we surely love that $5000 industrial-sized machine, but...)!
Just about the time when we almost forgot how nice it is to have a cup of freshly home-brewed coffee anytime we wanted it, we accidentally stumbled into the evil department store empire in the city. I believe that the salesman was particularly welcoming and charming that day, J thought that it was fate, we both felt in love with this shiny looking machine. If I can recall the feeling I had at that moment, I bet it was just like when Homer Jay Simpson thinks about donuts - almost drooling! Without much of a debate, we both wanted to take this baby home even if it is out of our initial budget. We, well, "I" came up with various reasons to justify the purchasing of this machine is, in fact, valid and warranted for the wallet. For instance, countering J's argument on the impracticality of spending this amount of moolah on a coffee machine, I argued that with X amount of dollars, a woman (I didn't say who...) buys a nice looking dress and wears it once or twice, but with 2X, you can buy something that you use more than several hundred times! What a BARGAIN! Anyway, the discussion didn't last long; I won, hands down. So after a quick swipe with a business card looking plastic, we hastily went home with our new toy named "Espresso Machine - 800 Class Professional Grade Tools", whatever that name means...
From then on, a new journey of the residents in this charming little place in Melbourne has begun, a fresh chapter of a story is being written, and the life of a hard working espresso machine has started! His story is for next time.
As for me, my dream of becoming a barrista doesn't seem that far and unreachable anymore.
Once upon a time in a small quiet lane in Melbourne, the smell of nicely brewed coffee was never absent. If you come by this charming place, you will always be greeted with a cup of aromatic cafe latte with dessert of some sort. One day, the beloved house percolator retired without warning, and the gathering at this place was never the same.
So what has this got to do with our new toy? It all started with our old espresso percolator deciding that it had served its terms dedicately for about 730 days. I thought these little buggers would last several years, but I guess this one was just over-worked too frequently and refused to function one day.
Without the percolator, my dream of being a coffee barrista was obviously put on hold. J and I thought that maybe it's a good time to cut down on the caffeine consumption. However, it was no more than a week when I realised that I became less productive during the day and got sleepy easily. The retirement of the percolator had a dramatic impact on the lifestyle and living quality of this residence! Something's got to be done to solve this serious problem!
J and I decided that instead of getting another relative of our retired fellow, it is probably time to upgrade my coffee making skill to the next level with a proper machine. Therefore, we went on a mission to search for the victim, I meant the coffee machine, for the house. After several visits to various stores, we still couldn't find the right candidate. They were either too unprofessional (how could I become a barrista without proper tools, right?) or too expensive (we surely love that $5000 industrial-sized machine, but...)!
Just about the time when we almost forgot how nice it is to have a cup of freshly home-brewed coffee anytime we wanted it, we accidentally stumbled into the evil department store empire in the city. I believe that the salesman was particularly welcoming and charming that day, J thought that it was fate, we both felt in love with this shiny looking machine. If I can recall the feeling I had at that moment, I bet it was just like when Homer Jay Simpson thinks about donuts - almost drooling! Without much of a debate, we both wanted to take this baby home even if it is out of our initial budget. We, well, "I" came up with various reasons to justify the purchasing of this machine is, in fact, valid and warranted for the wallet. For instance, countering J's argument on the impracticality of spending this amount of moolah on a coffee machine, I argued that with X amount of dollars, a woman (I didn't say who...) buys a nice looking dress and wears it once or twice, but with 2X, you can buy something that you use more than several hundred times! What a BARGAIN! Anyway, the discussion didn't last long; I won, hands down. So after a quick swipe with a business card looking plastic, we hastily went home with our new toy named "Espresso Machine - 800 Class Professional Grade Tools", whatever that name means...
From then on, a new journey of the residents in this charming little place in Melbourne has begun, a fresh chapter of a story is being written, and the life of a hard working espresso machine has started! His story is for next time.
As for me, my dream of becoming a barrista doesn't seem that far and unreachable anymore.
6 comments:
ur entry makes me want to go get a cup of coffee - and i'm not a coffee drinker!
but i do miss u guys! coffee reminds me of conversations and great company!
regaluhan mo raw si jeff ng new toy na ito, jovy! :D
Man, who would have known that this dude, a hard-core engineer, would write such long-winded stuff such as this?! =p Bwahhaha, joking!
Ahhmmm... Jeff, the original coffee afficionado eh. I remember he gave me nice hazelnut (or caramel?) creamer before.
Who said that engineers cannot write? We are the professionally trained artists in "story telling"!
Arrr...I am gonna go and make myself a cup of capuccino, or maybe mocha? Hmmm, isn't it hard to decide when you've got the choices?! ;D
i am oh so jealous!
I'll go to Oz and you make me a cup every morning, ok?
If you get to visit baguio city in the Philippines. Try the 50/50 benguet/barako beans combination and tell me what you think.
Benguet coffee bean is the key here... too bad you can't get it in manila.
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