Discovering new café that serves a decent cup of Java is the best way to spend my Saturday afternoon. A worthy mention is Kith Café on Rodyk Street. It was a bit difficult to find at first, but just head towards the canal, and you will the row of shops. It’s located on the ground level of the Watermark condo on Robertson Quay, and parking is free if you mention that you’re going to the cafe.

Designed by a Justin’s company Hjgher, I would have not expected anything less. Hipster enough for my liking, great coffees and free wifi seals the deal. It’s a small place, so expect to wait for a seat during peak hours on weekends.

Oh and for cyclists, check out Vanguard Bikes just a couple of doors down. They sell some very pretty refurbished bikes, and accessories.

Kith Café

Address: 7 Rodyk Street, Watermark @ Robertson Quay #01-33

Tel: 63419047

Opening hours: 7am – 7pm

So it’s not a secret, I LOVE COFFEE! And I am admittedly a coffee snob.

A barista brewed coffee is essential, a instant coffee machine is acceptable, 2-in-1 is coffee blasphemy and used for emergencies only.

I’ve done my coffee slut rounds, soliciting coffee joints all over the country. From restaurants to coffee franchises to hipster cafes, I have fondled with them all. So you can trust me when I am reviewing a coffee product.

Out  of all franchised coffee houses i.e. Pacific Coffee, Coffeebean & Tea Leaf, Gloria Jeans, The Coffee Club, TCC, my favourite is Starbucks. And I always judge coffee by my two consistently ordered drink which is latte or cappuccino. So when Starbucks/Edelman PR contacted me about a new product to be launched in Singapore, I applauded them for identifying the right “ambassador”.

Just last week, Starbucks Singapore launched Starbucks® VIA Ready Brew instant coffee packets. I was thinking “Oh No! Have they just cheapened the brand by selling instant coffee?” I was invited to do a taste test. Skeptical. Skeptical indeed.

I had a blind taste of two coffees. One which was a normal brew from the outlet (not espresso, just regular brewed coffee/long black), and the other was the Starbucks VIA Ready Brew. I straight away knew which was the brew from the outlet because of a tinge of burnt coffee taste. But besides that the coffees pretty much was of the same standard.

Still skeptical. I have been trying the coffee in the office for 4 days now, and it’s actually pretty good. You know what I think makes this product as well? You can dissolve it in cold water, which means you can make iced coffees.

The Starbucks VIA Ready Brew range of products

My conclusion is, it is of a superior quality than all those nescafe or super brands of coffee powder, but with quality comes a price.

The suggested retail price for Singapore will be S$3.90 for three and S$13.90 for twelve. A bit steep you might say? But if you calculate, it works out to be a bit more than S$1.00 for a cup of good coffee. At the end of the day, it depends on your propensity to spend on a good instant coffee or how big of a Starbucks fan you are. It’s not an espresso so don’t expect that taste, but this is still good.

Products with the VIA packets in them

The VIA products like the Thermos cups and packet holders are nice, but not completely mind-blowing. But I do like the packet holder pictured above right, just because the colours go well with my furniture and it’s a classy looking container. Just letting you know about the new stuff you can find at Starbies

Sometimes the best Sundays are just spent g33king out with a friend and a piccolo latte.

Psss: Didn’t know that a Piccolo latte is actually the same as a macchiato.

So for those who have been following my Twitter feeds, I mentioned that my client gave us a whole stack of Starbucks coffee vouchers. I felt like Santa Claus distributing vouchers around the office, and almost felt like putting them in a pile and throwing them in in the air like autumn leaves!

Seeing how I ♥ LOVE ♥ coffee, why not I share the ♥ love ♥ with my blog readers.

I’m starting to clean up my personal Facebook page, so I apologise if you get deleted. I just need to streamline that profile page. So instead, I started a page to keep everyone updated in the Facebook circle.

★ ★ ★ Alternatively, I’ve added the “like” box in the sidebar top right of this blog. You just got to click it, and that’s it! I’ll post the winner daily at 8:20am★ ★ ★

Just a bit of trek up the road from the Wai Kee Congee Shop is this pushcart coffee stall – Lan Fong Yuen.

It’s claim to fame is their pork chop bread (豬扒包) and milk tea. We were so stuffed from congee the thought of more food just made me ill. BUT, that didn’t stop us from having a cup of local coffee for a potent java hit.

Dru’s dad was the one who introduced us to this stall, and told us how we were suppose to be sitting on those stools.

Below is one of my favourite photos from that trip. There was a lot going on in that picture, and it captured the moment perfectly.

Lan Fong Yuen (蘭芳園 )
Address: 2 Gage Street, Central
中環結志街2號
Tel: +852 2544 3895 / 2854 0731

Whenever I felt like a need to escape, or be taken away to a place for some ‘Me Time’, I would just close my eyes and let myself be transported to this very place in Perth, Australia.

One of my favourite-est places to spend some ‘Me time’ is at this cafe called Barchetta on Cottesloe Beach. It’s not fancy, nor does it have great reviews online for the food. But it does over look the Indian ocean and that just did it for me. It’s perfect for coffee and cake at Sunset with a book in hand.

I brought my DSLR on this trip, and managed to take some really awesome HDR photos. Here are my two favourite shots taken from Barchetta.

Two different sets, two different treatments.

Barchetta
149 Marine Pde, North Cottesloe
Phone: (08)9385 2411
Open: Seven days breakfast and lunch; Tuesday to Saturday dinner
Licensed: Yes
website: www.barchetta.com.au/

My coffee craving one saturday afternoon led me to a new cafe in Paragon called Cova. The “V” in the logo wasn’t distinct, so for a good 10mins (until I verified it with the waitress), I thought the place was called “Coya”.

COVA Pasticceria – Confetteria heritage dates back to 1817 when it was founded in Milan by Antonio Cova. Specialising in coffee, pastries, cakes and chocolates, their flagship cafe is situated on the famous fashion street of Via Montenapoleone in Milan, Italy.

At Paragon, setting and ambience was kept classy but casual.

At Cova, we ordered some mini pâtisserie to go along with our drinks. As wonderful as it looks on picture, the taste was dissapointing and left me unsatisfied. Should have just walked downstairs to Canelé and ordered a Chocolate royale instead.

I judge a cafe on their ability to make the perfect latte. It’s all about the coffee grounds, aroma, temperature and the right amount of foam.

Alot of places don’t tamp their grounds hard enough, or don’t start their shots immediately giving it a burnt taste. But the part that gets to me the most is the temperature of the milk and how much foam there is. Sometimes it looks like i ended up with a flat white or a cappuccino. Thankfully, Cova’s saving grace was the perfect latte.

Cova Pasticceria
Paragon Shopping Centre #01-20A
Tel: 6733 0777
Open from 9.00 am to 9.30 pm daily.

I’d like a small latte to go please, name for reference is Angela.

3 weekends ago, I went to Prisita and Devraj’s wedding at a Hindu temple in Serangoon. She looked absolutely GORGEOUS! I love Indian weddings, they are just MASSIVE, full of colour and flavours.

It was also a good opportunity to catch up with my Ogilvy girlies. The last time we met was probably for dinner at New York New York Suntec City to celebrate Averil’s last day at OPR.

After the wedding lunch reception, we headed down to Raffles City Gloria Jeans for a coffee & catch up. The only one missing was the bride.

From left: Gina, Averil, Angela, Tiqah
Miss you’all already! Hope you’re still wearing the necklaces!

When I was studying in Perth, I’ve always had a weak spot for the shoestring fries at Oriel cafe Subiaco. The chips thickness was just right, cooked to the perfect crisp, and the aioli gave it that extra kick. So of course I had to go back for a taste… just to be sure it hasn’t changed 2 years on.

With the girlies Naree & Emma

Jonus & Naree