My Black Liquid Heaven

In the beginning, it was just hot water from the thermos, and boring brown granules in a jar... stirred together with maybe a teaspoon of sugar to sweeten the bitter-sour concoction and a dash of evaporated milk. It was something i gulped down without tasting it... as a matter of fact, it was unpleasant. But it was the drink of the grown ups. A fragrant aroma rose from the cup, and that was the only thing that was going for that cup. I thought i was not going to have coffee ever again. That was when I was 16.

Having this hot drink was not about pleasure then. It was about getting my body to stay up late, way after bed time so i can finish coding my thesis. Now they came from little packets called 3-in-1. a single measure of freeze-dried instant coffee, non-dairy creamer, and sugar. And maybe i got used to it, or maybe i didn't know better, the 3-in-1 was not as bad. In fact, I had preferred GREAT TASTE than NESCAFE.  On the 3rd year of college, and coffee was more for survival, rather than for enjoyment.

Fast forward to the days when I am a yuppie. Working in SMPC at 5am in the morning. Yes, my call time was at five-freaking am. Definitely need them coffee. I drank them in jugs... 3-5 times a day. It was impossible. And it was bad for me. I eventually collapsed and the doctor said to stop.  After all it was not about the taste - it was about the caffeine fix that eventually didn't have any effect anyway. So quit I did.

At the same time, the social element came to play - Starbucks they called it. Oh you'd have a latte, or a macchiato, in this posh while paper cup with that undeniable green trademark. Starbucks was the coffee for the snobbish. At least in Manila it was.  My then boyfriend had better things in mind other than Starbucks. He just came from Italy and he had for me a gift -- a little metal pot that was suppose to make coffee. It was called a moka. Together with it came a 250g pack of coffee grounds, also from Italy and the brand was Kimbo.

And that's how it all began. That's when my coffee turned out to be my black liquid heaven.  It didn't stop there. For the next five years, we kept discovering coffee. We moved to Singapore, and we bought our first espresso machine: a deLonghi. Simple, yet makes amazing cappuccinos and espressos. 

I enjoyed coffee so much, it became an adventure. Buying different beans, mixing my own... I had to try the most expensive coffee in the world - that being, I thought until then was the Blue Mountain from UCC. As well as the civet cat coffee. They were all a matter of experience now. Even the very exotic hainanese style coffee that singapore is so popular for. From a deep dark roast with strong acidity, the the mellow medium, and light roasted coffees that leave a sweet after taste... chocolate, caramel, fruits... they do all come out. But most important of all is the culmination of all of the coffee's flavors.

And even when everything has changed, I've found new appreciation for Starbucks (when you are surrounded by coffee shops that sell you drip coffee, or instant coffee, thank God for Starbucks). After 3 years, and after a broken relationship, after my moka pot and my delonghi, and even my jura subito (it decided that it has served me well and that its day had come), my own liquid heaven still remains... of which i partake of every morning.

What would it be today? A Lavazza qualita oro or a qualita rossa? A Guatamala Antigua from Coffee Bean? Or a Yakun Kaya Toast Kopi? Good coffee is good coffee... and I thank God for that!  And although this blog may sound confused, my next entry will be more focused... whether I talk about my favorite coffee or my first blighted experience of the espresso shot... it's gonna be fun. Now, go and find your own liquid heaven.

Hello There!

Let me tell you a little something about myself…

I have illusions of grandeur, when it comes to food, though I am not from a place where the delicious salmon on my plate was just caught that morning (or the day before and the day before that, for that matter). I don’t have the leisure of visiting chic European-style farmer’s markets (read: Salcedo Market) on the weekends. I get my food from either a chain of grocery stores that attempt to emulate the ones in the USA, or a wet market, complete with a merry band of black flies.

And yet, I remain to have illusions of grandeur. I’d like to explain why:

I’ve lived in the Philippines all my life, so I have witnessed the progression of gastronomy here from the 1990’s to present. That isn’t saying much, as anyone who has been alive and aware from 1990 onwards would also have an idea of the progress of food. But I’d sure like to share what it was like for me.

The 1990’s was my childhood, so I wish to share glimpses of 1990’s food from a simple perspective: I grew up considering McDonald’s and Jollibee Spaghetti pretty much a staple of my diet. The boom of fast food franchises from around the world was looking good, but not as intense as it is now. This is to say that the chains back then actually had more of a staying power. In fact, a lot of them were still open until a decade later, when the industry started to become less and less forgiving. Other than that, I ate mostly a mixture of Chinese food and Americanized food. That being said, I grew up with a palate that was friendlier to foreign foods, rather than the local fare.

Back then, I only knew salty and sweet. I wasn’t much familiar with bitter, tart, etc. And so, quite evidently, my meal preferences were limited. This dismayed my mother, who derisively called me a picky eater. (I totally deserved it!)

There is no glamorous story as to how I started to learn to love the art that is food. It was gradual and caused by my exposure to travel and different cultures. Tasting new foods became a way of escaping the mundane. Sampling each country’s local delicacy became a way of getting a better sense of the culture. It started to feel like if I appreciated the food of a certain place, then I felt like I could really be there. The same goes for Filipino food and how I learned to appreciate it.

The closest I came to a grand slam epiphany was the summer I spent part-time working for my cousin who ran a wedding cake business. The experience was utterly exhausting, but well worth it as I felt that I had done something definitely worthy of the time and effort. To this day, when I have finished making a dish, I still wind up surprised and thinking, “Hey, I actually did that!” And I honestly believe that that sense of wonder keeps me hooked on everything that is food.

As you can see, I tend to romanticize food. I am completely under the notion that all the ingredients, the processes, and the outcomes are, in themselves, points of interest. That is how I've come to have illusions of grandeur.

And so, it is most fortunate that I chose to enter a culinary arts program in college, which immerses me into the world of the food industry. With this blog, I hope to share my insights, what I learn in school, and what I experience firsthand in my journey through life as a foodie. :)

Until Next Time,