My Coffee Love

So I’m getting married in November and all the wedding preparations are going on in full swing. With office on weekdays and shopping on weekends, I have not been getting enough time to spend with Rahul (either he’s out shopping or I’m out shopping!). Moreover the pressure of wedding, too much work at office and the most hateful activity on earth (shopping) have started taking a toll on me! Rahul finally decided to take a break from all this and realized how much I need to talk to him and spend time with him to ensure that I don’t go completely mad (more than before)! We made an impromptu plan last Sunday. He gave up his cricket for me (partly because it was raining :p) and we went to Phoenix Market City, Kurla. While we were too early for dinner, we decided to spend time in a coffee shop. What better place to spend time than in Di Bella! Curved Cup for Flat White I’ve been to Di Bella before and really like the ambience. It’s quiet and nice and their cutlery is amazing. W...

Ok, I’m back after a long time! There’s been too much happening at work and in personal life and the only “me” time I’m getting is my coffee time! Even as I start writing this, I get a message saying there’s an issue at work! :( Off late, I have been interacting with people and talking to them about coffee (well obviously) and the sad part is that not a lot of people know about the nations which grow coffee beans. So I decided to put together this list of coffee-growing nations so that we all are on the same page! Before I start ranting off the names of nations, here’s what you should know about coffee. There are various kinds of coffee, the most popular being Arabica and Robusta. The lesser known kinds of coffee are   Kape Barako  or Kape Baraco, (English: Barako coffee), a  Liberica which variety grown in the Philippines , particularly in the provinces of  Batangas  and  Cavite . Well, obviously most nations produce Arabica and Robusta since ...

For quite some time, I have been thinking about quitting the rat race and moving to more idle pastures, doing what I like doing the best – drinking coffee! Well, drinking coffee alone will not get me the mullah, so I am wondering about setting up my own coffee shop. I would like to share this dream with you and may be you can motivate me to actually take that leap! Here’s what my dream looks like – a quaint little shop in the corner of a nice street. The smell of freshly brewed coffee, comfortable seats, a big library of books that people can choose to read while sipping on the coffee, melodious songs playing the background… This will be a place where you will not want to look at the clock! This is a place where you would want to unwind after a long day at work. This is a place where you know the café staff by their names and they know your favorite orders. The menu will give you a plethora of choices in coffee but you won’t find flavoured coffee. No Hazelnut or va...

Well, today I want to go all out and talk about my coffee affair with NesCafe Gold very openly! Yeah I know, it's that Instant Coffee shit and no true coffee lover would ever want to own up to the fact that they drink instant coffee (*aghast expressions from all my coffee lover friends will now follow*)! But yes, when you have no time to brew the beans or realise that you have run out of the decocotion right when you start boiling your water for that cup of coffee, instant coffee comes to your rescue. My favorite from all those really bad instant coffees out there is the NesCafe Gold. Well rounded flavour, strong body and an amazing fragrance is what makes this coffee special. Every time I feel low, this coffee has sat by my side and made me feel better! By now everyone knows that coffee does to me what chocolates do to young teenage girls – sets my heart fluttering, gives me a warm hug.... After you taste NesCafe Gold, you will never go back to drinking your p...

It’s one of those days when I get up to the thought that I will not meet my coffee partner in office very often. There will be no one to say “Dubeyji, Let’s have coffee or I’ll Die!” Mish, our friendship has been cemented (or should I say bean-ified) by our coffee breaks - our candid discussions, nautanki, pulling each other’s legs, discussing movies… From tomorrow, I won’t have anyone as ready as you to go for coffee with! Coffee played a silent spectator to our blooming love and friendship. The 2 cups every evening at Ungrumpy’s were the best time of our work days. It was a time when we could break away from the monotony of work and discuss all things we liked, bitch about the things (and people :p) we don’t like, take style lessons from you and hear your stories (God knows from where you could come up with so many!) The birthday gift that all you DA guys have given me was simply awesome and definitely Mish’s idea. I know it was the most obvious choice of gift – Coffee but...

This time, I do not come up with memories! No, I have not run out of them! I am doing some serious thinking on where my relationship with coffee is headed. I realize that it’s time to discuss what we want from life! No, I am not breaking up with Coffee but am just looking at ways to spice up our relationship. After a lot of thought, I feel a trip together will help strengthen the relationship. Of course coffee was a part of all my previous trips but it was just a PART! This time, I would want to go only with Coffee and have no one disturb us and I have selected the perfect location for this trip – Melbourne! A lot of people would wonder why Melbourne! You will think Australia is a place for deep sea diving, seeing some awesome coral reef and even surfing in some of the best waves in the world but COFFEE? Well for all those who don’t know a lot about Melbourne, here is some reasoning into why I would take my first trip with coffee to Melbourne. Melbourne is known for its ...

I am back with more coffee memories. This time the romantic ones. All those who know me, know that I can have coffee in any form and the person closest to me put this to test. Well, Rahul and I have know each other for almost 6 years now. We have had our shares of ups and downs in the relationship which started off as just classmates and went through each level of friendship to convert into a beautiful relationship of love. In college, we bonded over “chai”. Yes, that’s the first time you hear me mention chai but whenever there is no good coffee available around me, I end up having a cup of adrak-wali chai. We used to go up to the chai stall near college with our group of friends and Rahul would have idlis and I would drink Chai. Soon college got over but our friendship just grew.  We became best friends in no time. Coffee then started playing its role in our lives. Rahul and I got our first jobs in different fields – he in Finance (yeah I know!! BORING FINANCE ;)) an...

The love is back and stronger! This time a new memory thanks to Navdeep Mayall. Today, I reminisce about my days...ooopsss... I mean nights with Accenture. One year and five months ago, I joined the P&G iPM process for Accenture. Happy about a new company, new job and shift timings (I started off with 12pm to 9:30pm shift) I started my training. As my training ended, so did my days in Accenture. My night shift was about to begin. For the first time in my life, I was going to stay awake all through the nights for months at end. For those of you who know me, know for a fact that I cannot, just cannot stay awake beyond 11pm, no matter what the situation! I was tensed... not for my safety or body clock or health but for my staying awake! How would I do that? And then, as most of you expect, coffee came to my rescue; my savior, my love, my hero! I started having a Rs.7 cup of cappuccino every night at 10:30pm just before the CCD guy took off for the night. Yes, you read it right!...

My relationship with Coffee goes a long way back.  It started with my mom adding a tinge of NesCafé  in milk to “change the colour” of milk so that I would drink milk. As I grew, so did the strength of the coffee. By the time I was 13, the tinge of coffee became one teaspoon full. Until then, I was really never exposed to the Café Culture. The best café that I went to during the first 13 years of my life were Mysore Café and Mani Lunch Home in Matunga to have authentic South Indian Filter Coffee. My first ever experience of non-milky coffee was at Matheran. I remember the day vividly. It was February and I had gone for a week-off with my parents and sister to our favorite holiday destination – Matheran. Being cold at night, my parents decided to order “Espresso” (which, by the way, is pronounced as “Ex-presso” in Matheran) from one of those small joints which dot the Mall Road. Being curious, even I wanted to try the drink that my parents were enjoying. The first sip bu...