Tag Archives: coffee

Nagoya

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Nagoya is rated the most boring city in Japan.1

That’s what I learnt after I bought my ticket to Nagoya one month ago. Well, I didn’t expect anything in the first place. I just thought after so many Tokyo trips, I should really go to somewhere new. So, what’s Nagoya really like?

For a start, it doesn’t have nice coffee. When I do research for my trips, the first thing I’ll find is adorable cafes. While I’ve been to many good ones in Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, and even Sapporo, there were none I could locate in Nagoya. The best coffee I could find was in my hotel room, where I brew drip bags from Urban Coffee Roasters. The second best coffee was at Starbucks Reserve, where they serve single origin small lot coffee with their Clover machine. Well, that’s better than none.

Speaking about coffee in Japan, an honourable mention is that at 7-Eleven. It’s often said that each convenience store brand has a famous item. 7-Eleven is for its coffee; Lawson is for its fried chicken. I still haven’t found what is from Family Mart though. Let me know if you have your own favourite.

However I did go to a nice cafe that serves speciality coffee during this trip. It was when I was in Takayama, a truly remote place (judging by its lack of street light during the night). This was a real surprise because I didn’t plan the visit in advance. I just walked past that place and thought it was nice. What’s better? I was the only customer during my visit, meaning I could really enjoy a peace of mind while I was there. This is something Tokyo couldn’t offer.


Traveller Coffee House

[TBC]

1. https://www.hk01.com/即時國際/239122/名古屋再獲選為-最無魅力城市-市長無奈-不認真思考不行

Filter

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There’re many ways to prepare and enjoy coffee: filter coffee, espresso, french press, you name it. If you wish, you can even enjoy junk coffee such as instant coffee and canned ones. Each is of different flavour and fits different purposes. I enjoy filter coffee a lot. In a controlled manner, you extract only the part of coffee with the best taste, leaving behind the unpleasant scent and coffee oil.

What if life can be controlled like filter coffee?

There’re a few writers that I appreciate whose primary job is something else. Au Lok Man, for instance, is a doctor, while Yip Long Ching is a private banker. They often talk about the funny bits and pieces in their job. Seldom do they complain about their jobs and their lives. Do they not have things to worry about, and things that annoy them? I don’t think so, but they always have the ability to extract the better part of their lives and write about them.

Sadly, in my own pot of life-coffee there’s a mix of everything — dissatisfaction, distress, depression, worry, etc. Of course there could be at least some excitement, but I just can’t filter the setbacks and extract only the desirable part to enjoy. I’d really like to enjoy life like I enjoy coffee, but that’s difficult, if not impossible.

If only we had magic

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J.K. Rowling admitted in a recent interview that Hermione should have ended up with Harry.

In the world of fiction, everything should be possible. In a fictional world of magic, things could get even crazier. Yet, in the magical world of Harry Potter, they lived within confines of reality.

For instance, one gets healed despite bad injuries, but no one can be brought back from death. And there were some magical laws, which worked like Newton’s Laws of Physics. E.g. You can’t transfigure non-food into food.

I guess this is why the Harry Potter fiction appeals to me so much. It’s not the unrealistic part that fascinates me; it’s the fact that they lived within constraints that connects with me.

Indeed my world is full of constraints.

As a fresh graduate my starting salary may be higher than others’, but I ended up having lower quality of life: long working hours, 6- (5.5- at best) day working week, no paid annual-leave, and the like.

I’ve always thought if work brings job satisfaction, all those tradeoffs are worthwhile. I still think that’s true. But the thing is, my job doesn’t deliver job satisfaction anymore. I think at this point my potential has levelled.

In Harry Potter’s world, magic rules. In our real world, capitalism, aka money, rules. I think I make enough money now (I don’t mind making more, though), but I have yet to experience the level of satisfaction I’ve longed for. I still find myself bored a lot of times. I need some fuel to reignite my life: love, passion, curiosity, and the ability to dream dreams.

What could that be? Sadly, it wouldn’t be my all-time “fuel of my life” — coffee. No. Magic? Perhaps. But I just need to figure out what that magic might be.

Barack Obama magic

PS Check out these Most Perfectly Timed Photos, including Barack Obama’s.

Coffee mania

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If you don’t know about my craze for coffee, you don’t know K.Chan at all. Since a very long time ago I’ve developed a dependence on coffee. That dependence was initially for waking myself up, thanks to the busy schedule and homework of an average high school student in HK. That dependence soon transformed into one as a medium to mingle with friends. I bet no LaSallian would say they don’t have an emotional attachment to the (old) PCC at Festival Walk. Remember our good old says at the (two) large PCC(s), one being the shop now occupied by Vivienne Westwood, the other being the size of IT plus HSBC SMB centre?

As I grew up the function of coffee had once again changed from being social back to being personal — for calming myself. Yes, studies say the scent of coffee could trigger release of endorphine which somehow calms us down and gives the feeling of happiness. (Don’t ask me how. I’m a dentist, not a doctor.) And now every time I’ve finished a third molar surgery, I drink one cup of coffee as a reward for my good work.

And as work gets more busy, the function of coffee goes back to the basic — to keep myself awake. Yes, I had been very enthusiastic about work during my first year as a dentist. But as things become a routine, and there are little excitement in life, I get more and more tired both physically and emotionally each day. So I drink a lot coffee to stimulate my mood.

But the thing is, do I need to keep myself so awake?

I’ve hit a number of setbacks in work lately. People and policy have changed. Sometimes, I just wish I was back in the good old days, when I was still fresh and keen on exploring everything. Put it simply, I badly need some excitement in life. How to I find some?

Written on my iPhone