I'm not sure if this counts as a meme or just a somewhat viral thought, but there's this thing making the rounds of my social media feeds lately about how "iced coffee is for pleasure" and "brewed coffee is for business".
I get it. I don't really always buy hot coffee when I'm out and about on a weekend. Not always. Sometimes I'd find myself in a Toby's Estate and go for a flat white, because it feels right. But then, if I'm in there, it's almost always because I have to wait for a meeting that's an hour or so away, and I'm trying, perhaps, to get some work done. (Unlike today. Yes, it's a holiday, technically. I know.) In every other instance, it would be an iced coffee.
Or perhaps it's because temperatures here have been quite hot. I know it's the wet season, but then, is that even relevant these days? It'll rain when it isn't supposed to and be quite hot when it isn't supposed to. It doesn't help that the flat is a naturally warm place, twenty-four floors high and bereft of wind in most circumstances. Between that and the fact that we still work from home, the boundaries have been blurred incredibly. It's iced coffee all the way. Perhaps the only time I get to have brewed coffee is during face-to-face events and meetings, and depending on where you are, that can be very hit and miss.
Iced coffee should be easy, but it isn't, not these days. We're spoiled for choice these days. It used to be that you can just swing by your nearest Starbucks and get something, but the ranking in my head now puts them in the middle tier and nothing more. Granted, there are more considerations than the quality of the product now. Cost is another thing, perhaps a more critical thing, and in many instances you get iced coffee - coffee in general - that costs an arm and a leg but is pretty much as good as Foss. (Looking at you, Coffee Project.)
That should mean Tim Hortons would top my list. In a past time, it would, but not today. Their iced coffee has changed. Dare I say, it got more acidic? Lately I find myself ordering their new iced French vanilla - the caffeinated variant - and while it does the job, it feels like I'm spending a bit more than I should. But, hey, I still go to the place when I have to. It may be not as cool these days but you can still kill an hour there.
A place we discovered is Pickup Coffee, and I find their coffee to be quite smooth - and their prices to be really good. I think Shalla's thing with Spanish lattes stemmed from this place. Eighty bucks for a large serving of that? Plus delivery charges, which is understandable considering they're mostly dark stores and this one kiosk ten minutes across the bridge from us.
But if we were to judge on accessibility and price, the winner would be Dunkin'. One, it's everywhere - and it helps that a branch is just a five-minute walk away. Also, yes, the donut place actually managed to step up to the challenge Tim Hortons posed to them and came out on top. Their coffee has always been good - their newly-introduced Spanish latte is, too, but I find it a bit too strong for my liking - and their recent menu additions have shown a confidence that is, well, uh, attractive to curious casual coffee drinkers like me. I mean, I still don't consider myself a coffee drinker. I haven't been to those really third wave-y places, for one. But then, I have a rough ranking, and that is barely casual.
Yeah, this blog has been on blackout but I am still compelling myself to write this many entries a month, and throwing some of them together hastily as a result.
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