Another Great Coffee in Makassar

Namanya warung kopi Hai Hong. Jangan membayangkan warung ini terletak di lokasi strategis. Enggak banget, justru saya menemukannya saat potong jalan dari warung kopi Phoenam menuju hotel di Losari. Warung ini terletak di gang jalan sempit.

Saat melewati warung ini, saya langsung tertarik dengan eksteriornya yang dutch style. Tempo doeloe banget! Pemilihan cat temboknya juga keren, orange. Di dalamnya, warung dibagi ke dalam dua bagian, bagian pertama menjual berbagai snack khas Makassar, di bagian kedua, terdapat beberapa meja bundar untuk minum kopi. Dibanding Phoenam, tempat ini lebih enak buat nongkrong berjam-jam. Tidak ada AC, namun uniknya, tempat ini adem dan sangat nyaman, apalagi hanya diberi kipas di atasnya.

Saya pun diberitahu gadis yang berjualan (pd banget ya saya bilang gadis???), bahwa pemiliknya sedang berada di situ (ia pun menunjuk seseorang yang konon adalah pemilik warung Hai Hong). Bapak ini pun berjalan ke arah saya, muka lempeng, sepertinya keturunan Chinese, dan hanya menggunakan kaos oblong putih + celana pendek hitam + sendal jepit. Saat saya tersenyum padanya, teman-teman si bapak yang sedang asyik ngopi pun langsung menggoda sang bapak 'Ini nih yang punya toko, foto dong dia-nya'. Bapaknya pun malu-malu sambil menampik. Ternyata eh ternyata... gadis yang tadi iseng nunjuk2x pemilik toko itu adalah anaknya. Dan yang menyiapkan kopi saya adalah ibunya. Lucu juga ya... suasana akrab dan kehangatan di antara pemilik, keluarga dan pengunjung-pengunjungnya langsung bisa saya rasakan saat itu.

Nah akhirnya, sesuai permintaan teman-teman si bapak, keluar deh hasil jepretan foto ini. Coba cari... hayooo, mana yang pemilik warkop tersebut? :)

Oh btw, akhirnya saya pun memesan kopi susu dingin. Sekedar ingin membandingkan dengan Phoenam. Rasanya sedikit berbeda dengan Phoenam, yang pasti dua-duanya enak. Dan yang pastinya juga, kopi dingin ini rasanya gak kalah dengan ice coffee yang dijual di mal-mal Jakarta. Bedanya, kopi ini terasa unik khas Sulawesi dan ada sedikit rasa vanila yang membuat kopi ini lebih harum dan rasanya sedikit manis.

Ngomong-ngomong, ada cerita kocak juga nih. Karena sore harus mengejar pesawat kembali ke Jakarta, kopi yang saya pesan tersebut pun dengan terpaksa tidak bisa dinikmati 'on the spot', tetapi harus saya bawa pulang. Nah, forget about a proper cup, lid and straw - kopi ku itu, dibawanya bener2x kayak jaman SD dulu - minuman dimasukkan ke kantong plastik, diiket pake karet gelang dimana sedotannya bener2x terjepit keras, sehingga tidak bisa diminum dengan lancar. Hahaha...

Cita-cita: suatu hari bisa ke sana pagi atau sore. Spend 2-3 hours of reading books and enjoy his coffee. (*written by vera makki* - http://kopiluwakstory.blogspot.com/)

One Day in Makassar - Phoenam

Warung Kopi yang satu ini emang dahsyat! Phoenam coffee has spreaded its wing by opening new outlets at some areas including mal, but the ambiance remains different when we're going to its original place in a simple 'ruko' with just ordinary guests.

I went there in the morning, and at the moment I got out from my car, I could sensed strong coffee fragrant that increased my mood without any delays (Padahal masih di lapangan parkirnya bo!) Well, entering the store, there were couple of small tables and several guests who looked like having frequent breakfast meeting with close friends. Feels that the place was warm welcoming us.

My Makassar's cousin warned me to drink coffee with milk otherwise my heart will beat harder just in case am one of those people who are not really a friend of caffeine. Then I followed.

The moment I sip the coffee with milk, my God, it taste soooooo greatttt! Yes, it was very strong, but they could mix it with milk just right. My husband drank it with rare egg to boost energy. (can I say yuck!!! ????). Kali-kali aja pada mau nyoba.

One thing for sure is that, you need to have extra time when having this activity, and preferably in the morning. Paling enak 'nyeruput' kopi ini sedikit-sedikit sambil ngobrol. I don't know exactly the caffeine level of this coffee, but by experience, I can tell it's pretty strong in which you want to drink it slowly (plus, on the right moment, with the right companions.)

And hey, can't believe the price, it's only Rp.11rb. Worth it (*written by vera makki - http://kopiluwakstory.blogspot.com)

The new coffee at Bakmi GM

Who doesn't like Bakmi GM? I'm a big fan of Bakmi GM since I was a teenager. Recently it started to expand its menu collection by offering bubble coffee. Sadly to say, they need to improve the taste, it's not worth the expensive price nor the flavour. I tried the coffee at Bakmi GM Mal Ambassador while having a small meeting. We continued the meeting at the office, I was decided to change the coffee with Pak Eman's. Better I pay pak Eman the same amount of money rather than buying it at Bakmi GM. No need to think twice on that.



I hope Bakmi GM improves its quality of coffee. I believe it won't be too difficult. Just meeting the standard of good coffee will be ok at this stage, at least not offering low quality of coffee as it's not acceptable for a big brand like Bakmi GM. Awaiting... (*written by vera makki - http://kopiluwakstory.blogspot.com/)

Kopi Pak Eman

It's not his responsibility to make us coffees everyday. With that in mind, I always made my own coffee at the pantry with no good standard of quality. Well, sometimes it's good, sometimes it's too bitter, sometimes it's just ok, sometimes I just left it at the pantry for tasting a very low quality coffee of my own creation.

One day I was extremely busy as for the very first time I asked our beloved Pak Eman to make me a cup of coffee. Hasilnya dahsyat beratttzzz. He only mix sugar, Nescafe and creamer. The power of composition & mixture works! And... he did it constantly well.

Since then, I frequently ask his favour to provide the drink out of his daily activities. It's really soothing at the same time energizing everytime I sip the coffee first time: hot, fresh, manisnya pas, kentalnya pas, rasanya passs buanggetttt!.

The other day, I was extremely low batt he noticed, "Bu, saya buatin kopi tubruk ya..". Dan memang rasanya jauh lebih gokil! Rasanya seperti benar-benar sedang berada di kedai kopi pinggir jalan, pagi-pagi menghirup udara di luar kota dan siap untuk nge-gas lagi (yes, I'm a bit imagining myself as a truck driver!).

Pak Eman, OB kantor, emang jagoan bikin kopi, mau kopi tubruk atau kopi biasa. Tapi memang buat saya, harus pakai susu full cream (preferred, rather than creamer). Have to balance a healthy life, somehow... (*written by vera makki - http://kopiluwakstory.blogspot.com)

Caramel Macchiato

A perfect coffee can be a perfect start for your morning in the office, especially if you feel a bit slow but having so many things to be done in the end of the week (Fri or perhaps Wed?).

Regular hot coffee latte or hot cappucino might not be the best solution (in fact, its soothing effect will even slower your day). I tried Iced Caramel Macchiato the other day for my morning (upsized from tall to grande, thanks to BCA).

What I like about this beverage is firstly the presentation of two layer of the signatured expresso and milk on top of it, plus a buttery caramel sauce (it's only 190 cals for this 16oz coffee, no worries la ya...).

The expresso really make it distictive with vanila flavour, and does energize, not only my morning, but also the whole day. I had 3 meetings at 10am, 1pm and 3pm, all of which accompanied by this grande coffee (not three cups, only by this one cup!)

Nice combination:

Try its breakfast selection, hot chicken sandwich with apple, raisin and spinach. Despite of its large portion (around 8x4.5cm), it's considered healthy for having abundant spinach, little square cheese on top of the bread, sliced of sweet apple and raisins spreaded randomly inside. Yummy!!!!

(*written by vera makki - http://kopiluwakstory.blogspot.com)

Cappucino Blast

This is one of my favorite drink, coming from my children's fav ice cream, baskin robbins. Although a bit expensive, cappucino blast offers a mouthwatering coffee blended with its vanila ice cream. Personally I believed there are two things that make this coffee strikes your palate. First, the coffee powder it has. Second, the classic vanila ice cream found in 1945. Perfect blend!

I've ever tried to mix the blast with another flavour, which was the most fav and sought after jamaica almond fudge. Don't ever try. Gak keruan rasanya :)

Sometimes I'm unsure whether it can be called a coffee, since the flavour is so much into vanila and very little of caffeine (but the taste is so damn good!). Positively, perhaps that's the reason why I have no fear to share the drink with my 6 and 2.5 y.o children. Bukan kopi tubruk, gak papa dong...

At the end of the day, let's not think of it too hard (this is special case).

Enjoy the fresh cappucino blast! (*written by vera makki - http://kopiluwakstory.blogspot.com/)

Strappuccino

Coffee lovers who want to play a bit with their tongue may try this new item Strawpuccino by Tamani. It's made by one shot expresso with one scoop strawberry ice cream, plus to minimize guilty feeling of this guilty pleasure, it comes with a strawberry fruit to balance your healthy intake, haha.


The coffee comes with additional sugar syrup but I believe that it will be too much since the ice cream contains hi-sugar already. Better not put additional syrup on it.



Taste is good, the flavour of the coffee remains unexpectedly strong (I thought it's gonna be too sweet). In fact, it leaves a bit bitter in my mouth (which is good) and that's probably due to the quality of the coffee itself. Tamani just recently changes the coffee supplier from Illy to d'angelo from Italy (http://www.caffedangelo.com/)



It's quite worth the price of Rp. 22.900,-
(*written by vera makki - http://kopiluwakstory.blogspot.com/)