Wanna have coffee with me?

It... was a cafe latte. And it met me with a smile.

cafe latte (from Google)

It was a cold day. My best friend (Madel) and I decided to meet up and chat like the friends that we are. Hehehe. Surprisingly, she was wearing short shorts (which she rarely does AND on a cold day) but we both had sweaters.

We happened to pass by Coffee Bean when she casually asked if I wanted to have coffee and I glanced at her in horror. Okay, so maybe not that much. :) But still, it gave me a pause. Coffee has never been included in my drinking list (which includes water, tea, coke light and juice). Though it has been some time since I told myself to start drinking coffee. (one of my personal goals this year, didn't know it'd come earlier than expected).

Coffee is bitter, it has caffeine and it gives me a weird feeling after wards. And call me mental, but I've always thought of it as an "adult" drink. You know, something you drink to perk you up when you're stressed and all that. I didn't want to be an adult yet. Hehehe.

still from Google

But most of all I didn't like the bitter taste. So anyway, there she was waiting for my reply and I said, "Uh... Ok! I've been thinking of it anyway, let's give it a go." But we did have something else on the agenda and so we postponed it after our trip to the plaza. (we should have brought cameras, I know). And so finally, it came. We ordered 2 cafe lattes and a blueberry cheese cake.

There I was... staring at the smiley shaped frothy thingy on top of the coffee. And it stared back in all its cheerful attempts at coaxing me to take it. Didn't really need much coaxing, I was ready to take it on. One sip at a time. Of course, the first sip was bitter, it made me wanna gag. But I refused to lose. The journey was just starting. Madel suggested I eat the cake while drinking, after all it does compliment the coffee. Hmmm.... bitter and sweet.... interesting combination. After several sips and bits of cake, the bitterness became something familiar and palatable. The warmth slowly spread to my belly relieving the cold stiffness of the day.

Our favorite!

"hmmm... coffee isn't too bad," I thought. My mind was still wondering if I liked it as the cup became half empty. (My goal was to finish the whole thing). But coffee and cake was not the only treat I had for the day. Oh, Madel had much in store (Doesn't she just love me? XD). Meiji chocolates! Our favorite! Yum!!!

But I think the credit goes to Ed for the chocolates. :)
So, we had Meiji and Blue berry cheese cake to accompany this bitter drink. Not to mention, a good conversation and a whole lot of punch lines.

The half-empty cup soon dwindled down. Conversations turned low to keep others from hearing, the lot of secrets we were sharing. A cold day it was for sure, but the presence of my lovely Madel and of that enigmatic topaz colored liquid made me feel blessed and thankful and warm.

Soon enough, my hate for coffee (was it exactly hate?) receded into something I have yet to define. Is it love? It was too soon. Yet I feel that my coffee experience wasn't over. There were still a lot of varieties to try. Wanna have coffee with me? :)