mga pagmumuni ni carmen

I am such a permanent fixture in Starbucks nowadays that the baristas know me by name and, since I am such a creature of habit that even if I always, always spend minutes in front of their menu, they know that I will end up asking for a tall mocha frappe with mint syrup (which is basically the peppermint mocha frappe holiday drink minus the peppermint sprinkles).

This afternoon, I went there as usual so I could plan the future of our music business.  The female barista, who was as familiar to me as I probably was to her, smiled in recognition as I approached the counter.

“Mag-isa po kayo ngayon?” she asked, looking over my shoulder to see if Nelli was behind me.

“Ah oo, ako lang,” I said with a smile before placing my order.

As I claimed my drink, she moved from behind the counter and asked if I would stay long.

“Oo, uupo lang ako dito,” I said, gesturing to the nearest free seat.

“Ay, may favor sana ako sa iyo…pwede po ba tayo mag-coffee tasting mamaya?” she asked.

I immediately perked up. I just love, love, looooove free samples and new, unusual experiences!

“Sure!” I exclaimed happily. “Anong kailangan kong gawin?!?!“

She laughed at my eagerness. “Mamaya na lang po,” she said.

I headed to my seat and started working on my report. Gosh, there’s something about being in Starbucks with a laptop and a hot drink that makes me feel like I’m not a pretend grown-up. I opened up my Excel sheets and immersed myself in my favorite numbers. Before I knew it, she went up to me holding a tray and asked if I would mind if she joined me.

“This is my first time,” she whispered confidentially as she set the tray down.

“Me too!” I said, happy we had something in common.

It turns out that coffee sampling is an initiation rite of sorts among baristas who want to be regulars. They select a customer randomly and engage them in conversation over a cup of coffee while explaining the history of the particular sample of the day. It was pretty interesting, actually. I learned about Starbucks’ corporate responsibility and about how the coffee beans we were drinking was multi-regional (from exotic places but unfortunately Batangas wasn’t one of them). And, oh, here’s my lesson for the day:

SLURPING COFFEE WON’T BURN YOUR TONGUE!!!

I felt a little silly when she said that I should slurp the coffee for the ultimate experience. I wondered wildly if I could practice (hehe) but she took the lead and took a satisfyingly loud slurp from her own cup. I did the same and hey, it worked!! It really, really worked!!! For once I didn’t burn my tonuge!!! Scientifically it makes sense because slurping covers a wider area of your mouth, thus dissipating the heat instead of concentrating it on the tip of your tongue–okay, I totally made that up. But it works!!!That Starbucks place is definitely my new favorite branch. I need to find more excuses to stay out of the office!