May's Travelogue

Initially, I thought coffee preparation and drinking methods were the same worldwide. However, my first encounter with the differences in coffee culture happened on the plane. On my usual Asian trips, they would serve coffee with cream and sugar packets. On the flight to Europe, they served plain coffee, which surprised me. Not used to drinking coffee this way, we asked the flight attendants for creamer. They did provide it upon request, but it wasn't the usual powdered creamer. Instead, they gave us small single-use milk containers. I wondered why they didn’t serve it with the coffee in the first place. At hotels, breakfast was the same: just coffee, nothing else. Some hotels, upon seeing Asian faces, would ask if we wanted milk with our coffee. I found this strange since back home, we typically drink coffee with milk if we don’t like it sweetened. When they specifically asked if we wanted milk, I started to wonder how Europeans typically drank their coffee. Maybe they used cheese...

When we arrived in Ho Chi Minh, rain was pouring heavily. I was slightly worried as it was not a rainy season in South East Asa and there was a storm alert. However, we found a beautiful coffee shop walking in the rain. In fact, everybody knows that Vietnam coffee is quite popular. When we entered the shop hopefully, we suddenly didn't know what to order as there were plenty of items in the coffee menu. I flew blind ordered pointing somewhere on the menu. There is no crowd in the shop. I found that its decoration is quite cosy. They built bookshelf walls with several books which contained coffee history, quotes and articles. One of my friends said, " Coffee shop culture is not popular in our country. Actually, it is the best idea". And I replied, " Our people prefer tea to coffee". Rather, We Myanmar people always like to sit at the tea shop every day as we believe that the tea shop is a sort of local community. Our tea shop looks like diplomacy. Once we sit the...

Many tourists are excited to try local food since their eyes open in the morning. Therefore, let's start breakfast. I recommend skipping the hotel breakfast even if they provide it and walking down to the local Market or Tea Shops in your neighbourhood.  Kalaw Market is the best place for breakfast. As I mentioned in the previous post, various traditional foods are available in the market. Shan Noodle has two options, dry salad or soup. Warm Tofu also contains a few amount of noodles. They match with sweet and sour preserved vegetables which are served together. Steam meats with banana leaf also quite popular. You can choose meat, fish, chicken or pork. Those are very tasty and healthy foods for breakfast. Shan Noodle Soup, Warm Tofu and Fried Tofu Steam Chicken with Banana Leaf Shan Noodle Dry Warm Tofu There are many lunch options in Kalaw. If you feel tired wandering a new place, take a short break for lunch. You can find the restaurant lists below. Thu Maung, Myanmar traditiona...

 Whether you are a coffee lover or not, you must go to Luwak Coffee Yard because the production is strange and totally different from the usual coffee you ever drink. On the other hand, you can learn about our wonderful mother nature. Indonesia is the origin of this type of coffee production but the Philippines also widely produces similar coffee during these days.  Asian Civet It is also known as Cevit Coffee because it is produced from the droppings of Cevits. Sound strange, right? But don't judge quickly and try to listen to more stories about them.  Why did they produce coffee from the drop of an animal?  The first reason is that Civet eat only certain cherries which are ripe and flawless. Therefore, the qualities of the coffee cherries that Cevit chose are the best among others. As everybody knows, coffee selection is crucial in any Coffee production. These Civets have a great sense of Coffee cherries. Dry and Clean Dry various herbs Roasting Coffee berries Poun...

Hey, Coffee lovers!!! If you are in Singapore now, just put aside Cappuccino, Mocha, or any other coffee you have drunk before, and try traditional coffee. It is easy to find out in the nearest food courts where your neighborhood.  There are many options, which are different tastes, to choose from that are related to your styles.  Then, they have their own name but not in English. They always used to give the names of foods and drinks in the interesting language mixed with Malay and Chinese. Coffee is known as Kopi; its origin is in the Chinese language but Malaysians also use it the same. Sometimes you can see Kopitiam, yes, that is a coffee shop as same as the food court.  Traditional Breakfast Set Explanations reveal in Bread Talk Ok, then, let’s see how the Kopi names and their respective tastes. 1. Kopi O Making with two ingredients, coffee powder and sugar, as same as black coffee. The taste is bitter added a bit sweet, and fresh.  2. Kopi O Kosong Kosong means...