Saturday, May 26, 2007

Writing...

I never thought that I would get into writing so much after graduated from school. Frankly speaking I did not enjoy writing during school time. Writing essay is the worst nightmare that I can ever imagine. It’s always the essay part that my grades are affected. Not to mention that there are 3 languages that I need to study at the same time and that makes it 3 essays. At that time I actually think that writing is difficult because you have to check the spelling, sentence structure and the points. Plus it took me a lot of time just to write out a thousand words essay. When teacher gave us a topic to write about, I need to find ideas and points to fill it up. It’s a bit boring because to me I feel like “This topic needs to have these 3 points, that topic needs those points”. If you memorize the points that you need for the entire topic, then you’ll be able to score a very high point. That is why I don’t like to write essay that time because it’s just something that you memorize and put it in. I never thought of why I have to do this as everybody is doing it. It is also better to do it this way because you could score high grades. I hate it so I end up with low grades. Well, at least I’m still able to make it all the way to college.

I started to like writing when I’m in college. It was the time when I start writing letters to my friends. It’s not much different then writing exams essay but this time I just wanted to share my feelings and thoughts with my friends. Nothing special, just writing what I’m thinking. It’s a totally different feeling of writing and I like it. Each and every words is coming from my mind without stopping, the joy of able to write what I want is great. There are a lot of things that we can’t or too embarrass to say it out loud is able to do it through writing. Sometimes a letter or an article is able to transfer your thoughts better then when you say it out. That’s the beauty of writing. We can draft and make changes or improvement before we send out or publish what we write. That is why I become to like it. Writing without a reason or expressing your thoughts is just too boring. That is why I don’t like it when I write to get good grades during school time. I was grateful that I do it because it helps to make me a better writer now. Maybe it was the intention or meaning or writing was not explained or teach well at that time. Will it be different if I was teach or told to write what I feel about the topic, instead of full fill the required points for the topic? May be then I will love writing more…

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Decaffeinated Coffee

When I was a student in the US, I often come across the word “Decaf” for coffee. I never really understand it. I just know it doesn’t taste as good as the normal coffee and I can’t find any decaf back in my country. Out of curiosity, I did some research on the Internet and this is what I found. Decaf = decaffeinated coffee. Caffeine is a kind of mild stimulant that exists in coffee, tea and cocoa. That is why we drink more coffee to keep us awake when we need to work over night. Thus it is good to have it in the morning to really wake us up to go to work. For most people it is consider a good way to warm up their engine and complete their whole day work. But for some people the stimulant effect is just too much for them. Some people may not be able to sleep well because the brains are still active due to the consumption of the caffeine. I even have friends saying that their heart beats faster after having the coffee. Thus decaffeinated coffee was produce so that people still be able to enjoy the beverage without having the stimulant effect. I hope that the coffee industry in my country will consider making decaffeinated coffee too so that more people can enjoy the good coffee flavor. I’m sure there is a market for decaffeinated coffee. So the question is “Does this caffeine coffee bad for our health?”…. Well, just click on below links to find out.

Reference: Coffee Science Information Center


Monday, May 21, 2007

How to Make a Good Cup of Coffee?

Having a good cup of coffee in the early morning before work is the most enjoyable thing. Having a good start in the morning just make the day great to work. The problem is how do we make ourselves a good cup of coffee? Living in a place where time is always not enough just make it difficult. That is why many of us rather go to a coffee house to get our coffee. Places like Starbucks or Coffee Bean always provide us a good taste of coffee. If you able to wake up 30 minutes early then you might be able to make yourselves a cup of coffee. Here’s a bit of tips on how to make a good simple cup of coffee.

  1. Make sure your coffee maker is clean. Well that’s the basic of all.
  2. Use fresh cold water from the tab. Let the water run for few sec before using it. Go through the filters before use.
  3. Grind the amount that you will be using. You can smell the coffee right after you grind it, especially a good quality expensive coffee bean. Try to compare it with the instant coffee package. It’s a lot more different taste.
  4. Best water temperature is just below boiling. What I’ll do is I mix cold water with the boiling water. 1/10 will be cold water and 9/10 will be boiling water. If you’re using a coffee maker then just skip this part.
  5. Measure the amount of coffee used and the volume of your cup. Normally it should be 2 tablespoon of coffee with six-ounce of cup.

I think that’s not too hard to do it. Just takes about 30 minutes to prepare all this. Try it out when you have the time and feel like it. It’s just a simple tips but it sure make a good cup of coffee.

Saturday, May 19, 2007

Take The Time, Have Some Coffee...


When couple broke up, they tend to do strange things individually. Well, not strange but differently. Some will work from morning until night non-stop to make themselves as busy as possible. Some will jump in a pool of alcohol and keep on swimming without knowing the direction. Also, some will hangout with friends to travel or party trying hard to have fun and put a smile in their face. What ever they do, sooner or later they’ll have to pack up and move on. The question is how long does it takes. There is no harm in taking some time to stop thinking. Sometimes it’s better to stop thinking when you’re not fit or healthy enough to do that. (Mentally) When the time comes, you still have to pack up and move on. Then you can start thinking. So what in the world that I have to think about? Well, it’s just back to the starting point and the very basic question – “ What do I want?” When we broke up a relationship, don’t jump into another one the next day. Yes, some of you might be so handsome or pretty that you have lots of option and choices waiting for you pick them up. It doesn’t matter how many choices you have if you do not know what you really want. If you randomly pick one up just because you feel lonely, then you’ll just repeat the same mistake. Sometimes not choosing anything is the best answer at that time. Make the right choice when you know the answer, don’t choose simply because people need the answer. It’s your decision; it’s what you want.

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

What is coffee?

Ever thought of how coffee is brew? Well you can check out Peet’s Coffee and Tea as they teach you how to brew the coffee you love. Many people likes to drink coffee, you can find coffee in just any place in the world. It’s a kind of beverage that almost every restaurant commonly have in the whole world. So how much do you know about coffee? Well, I think National Geographic have most of information about the coffee. Go ahead and check it out as I continue to study and dig out more coffee related website.

Wednesday, May 09, 2007

What's Your Favorite Coffee Shop

There are so many coffee shops around now days, but the question is how many of them really earning money and which one of them is your favorite shop. Obviously Starbuck is one of the favorites among for many people. It is also one of my favorite shops. It’s true that Starbuck is famous and expensive but that’s not the reason that it’s in my list. It’s not the coffee, environment or the nice cute girl; it’s actually the service that they provided. We always talk about a good service about a shop or restaurant but how do we define it? Depending on the service the shop provided, customer will have a different experience. By the end of the day, it’s all about how the customer feels when he or she walks out the shop. In my opinion, there are basically 2 kinds of services. The first type of services is the most common services that most shop provided. You can experience this at Starbuck and most of the franchise coffee shops. It’ a feeling of being at home with a maid to provide you with anything you needed to sit back and read a book, having a good conversation and surfing internet. Yup, it’s a sensation feeling of comfortable to do the things you like. Another type of service is providing a unique feeling for the customer. For example, an owner of a coffee shop that loves flower very much will decorate his or her shop with flowers to share the joy of having flowers all around. All the coffee served will come together with a flower and the clothes of the waitress will have flowers on them. People that love flowers will be able to share the same interest and joy with the owner.

Well, that’s just an example. There are other different kinds of shops out there and I think there is a shop using toilet seats for his/her restaurant or shop. So, it’s not how much money you put into the coffee shop to be success, it’s rather how you put your heart and soul in to it. A good service is not what you can invest with money. Opening a coffee shop is very competitive; you’ll just need to know the right way to do it in order to be successful.

Friday, May 04, 2007

The Rise of The Coffee Shops

There are a lot of coffee shops open up lately around the place I work and stay. Famous coffee shops like Starbuck, Coffee Bean and local coffee shop Old Town Kopitiam can be seen all around. These coffee shops started to become more popular around just like the Mamak store. It’s like a new trend and a lot of people like to hang out at the coffee house. It’s a bit different then the Mamak store. People go to Mamak store mostly to watch football and have some very low price food and drinks. Coffee shops are a bit expensive but it’s a quiet and comfortable place for you to hang out with your friends and have a good taste of coffee. It’s more like a place to taste a cup of fine coffee and listen to the soft music. Not to mention most of the coffee shops are providing free Internet access, surfing the net while having your favorite coffee is just great. I even have seen some businessman bring along their work into the coffee shops. It’s not just a place to relax but it’s also become a nice place to work. Changing the working place once in a while might just inspire you to have good ideas. In the years to come, coffee shops will continue to be one of the businesses that many people would like to get involved. It sure is a profitable business judging from the trend but it is very competitive. After all, people love to drink coffee.