coffee at costa's

bayl and i went to costa today, where we were late joined by Q. was pleasantly greeted by somone who opened the door for us. loved her smile. couldn't help smiling back. loved the ambience. felt instantly comfortable.

we ordered before Q came. i know thats bad manners, but he was taking so long. liked the menu, it had just the right variety. bayl ordered a mocha frescato (vanilla) and i ordered a cafe americano (with milk on the side). the cafe americano was like all americanos wasn't very different but what i liked was that it had a strong and distinct taste. which is what good coffee is all about. there are two things that are mandatory when judging whether a particular type of coffee bean is good or not: its color and the aroma that it gives off. americano seemed to be made out of good coffee.

however, it was bayl's coffee that i fell in love with. it was amazing. she let me have the last bit which i sipped through the straw thing till you could hear me looking for little bits of it in the end. the coffee and the flavor had a perfect blend to it. the plastic cup thing they served it in (similar to the milkshake container they serve in mc.Ds) was cute and easy to hold as well.

Q came and ordered an iced latte. his came in the same plastic cup but was covered with a thick layer of cream. was ok. too creamy for me. couldn't really taste the coffee. tried to sip leftover drops of bayl's coffee noisily with my straw after trying Q's coz i wanted bayl's coffee's flavor in my mouth ;)

in between our conversations, i recognised some old and some not so old songs playing in the cafe. what i loved was that the songs were at just the perfect volume. not too loud and not too low. was enough for me to listen and recognise and still be able to participate comfortably in a conversation with the company i was with. Q mentioned costa having wireless internet which had crossed my mind when i was thinking of different ways of innovating the deja vu cafe, but costa implementing it was brilliant. simply brilliant.

wanted to take the coffee menu home and was about to ask someone whether i could take it when bayl simply rolled it in her hand and walked out. was a bit taken aback. i could never do that. but i got the menu and it will find it's place on my tagboard. thank u bayl :)

browzed through a couple of crafty shops and a clothing store by the name of resham ghar (i think) fell in love with the overpriced ponchos there.

came home, feeling a little sick. met bayl online, who felt a little nauseas. according to her, she feels like that after coffee. i dont normally. maybe it was coz i had coffee on an incredibly empty stomach? i dont know.

what i do know is, costa has been added to my list of respected and favorite cafes.

next week, we're trying out lattetude and roaster.

maybe should do a cover on coffee and cafes in karachi.

methinks there is a great potential for anyone willing to go into supplying good quality coffee beans to the cafes. so far there is only one, which makes the coffee at most cafes taste (relatively) the same. deja vu gets its own coffee beans, which is comparatively expensive, but it results in a differentiated taste. would love to have another, local supplier.