Brewing a Successful Coffeehousel

In the versatile society that we live in, fads come as quickly as they go. The latest trend that brewed up in everyone's cup is enjoying a Cuppa Joe in a cafe. Indeed, strolling down any urban streets will be greeted with at least one coffeehouse. It ranges from a high end commercialized coffeehouse like Starbucks to seemingly obscure parlours with a name that skips everyone's mind. Although the qualities and standards vary, most of them always seem to be full house with patrons continuously pouring in by the hour, all the way til closing time.

There's no doubt that opening a coffeehouse seems like a auspicious business plan, giving current consumers' craving for all things caffeine and sweetness. As a consumer myself, I can name you more than 10 coffeehouses under 10 seconds. However, just like fads, some coffeehouses close down just as fast they set it up. Main reason is usually being that there isn't enough income to upkeep the perpetually rising economy.

As such, I dedicate this post as to the features of successful coffeehouses (from a consumer's perspective, of course).

1) Always Stay Connected
With the global demand to stay online 24/7, WIFI has become an urban survival need on par with water and air. As depressing as it may be, we need Internet these days if we want to keep up with the ever changing trends. Thus, coffeehouses are the best place to sit down and stay connected with the world since we can chill with a cup of coffee while a jazzy/lounge music is playing in the background (the playlists usually consist of early 2000s songs, much to my delight).

This is a top priority for patrons who do not have Internet at home (me included) or a slow one for that matter. Let's face it, students and employees these days are in dire need of Internet to complete their work which consist of surfing the web. For my case, I need to update myself with all the Youtube videos I subscribed to and not to mention, writing this blog.

Additionally, having WIFI alone is not enough. You need fast speed. Don't forget, people are becoming more hectic and everything must be on the go. That includes the WIFI. If the cafe doesn't have WIFI, it's horrible for business but if the cafe has slow WIFI, you get horrible reviews. At the very least, those parlours without WIFI are honest about not being connected to the web. As for those with slow Internet, patrons might cash in with the thought that they can surf the net at the place but those frowns would turn into frustrations, especially in the attempt of watching a Youtube video. They will feel cheated and the cafe would be unwelcomed with horrible reviews posted on social networks, like a Shyamalan movie.

Thus, to pack a coffeehouse with patrons, you need good and fast WIFI.

2) Freshly Brewed Goodness
To be known as a coffeehouse, you need coffee (duh!) but not just any coffee. It is undeniable that venues like Starbucks or Coffeebean are well-known, even if they have unstable WIFI. They offer freshly brewed caffeinated beverages with a beguiling fragrance that captivates a tensed mind like a hormonally charged teenager falling in love for the first time. Such aroma would bring even the most indefatigable business executives to their knees.

Each successful coffeehouse should possess its own signature beverage. For instance, Starbucks has its infamous Signature Hot Chocolate. It sounds like a recipe for diabetes but the chocolaty goodness is too strong to resist. Some coffeehouses like the one I'm currently in - Scooters -  have its own unique drink. Scooters offers a ball of cotton candy to compliment the coffee served to you. Even a greasy fast food restaurant like McDonald has its own brand of beverage endemic to its franchise - The Himalayan Tea. Contrary to its image of everything fried and oily, I'm quite fond of the Himalayan Tea.

3) The Rest of the Menu
While coffees are the quintessential of a coffeehouse, having a menu of varieties of goody treats always appeases a demanding crowd. Whoever says they do not have a craving for cakes and desserts are liars on a diet. Almost all coffeehouses I've been to have some cakes on display behind glass casing. The more colorful the display, the more 'ka-ching' you hear from the cash register. We are all fat little kids on the inside and we crave the delicious sweetness a cake can fulfill.

Some other cafes provide a different kind of menu. One of them is Meteora, a cafe near my workplace. It provides lunch meals and desserts like cheerios. It's not often you find such a treat in Malaysia. Basically, a myriad menu is appreciated by a myriad of customers.

4) Social Friendly Atmosphere
When you're meeting up with friends and you tired of walking aimlessly around the mall, the next place location to hang around is a coffeehouse. With the access to the Internet to respond the ever prerequisite Whatsapp messages and the taste of good coffee, you are in good mood to spend some wonderful time with your friend chatting about the insignificance of your life. As a social being, we humans need constant social contact.

Homes are usually off limits due to the presence of prying parents and dirty secret behind bedrooms. Thus, a location is needed to gossip about the studious students that always scoring A or the co-worker that seems to brag about being the boss's favourite. A coffeehouse offers the sort of ambiance one can sink into relaxation and release all the boxed up thoughts of hurdles of life. A hipster environment is an added advantage as it rubs off some of its authenticity to the customers, making them feel as though they are hipsters without even trying.

As such, an impeccable coffeehouse should contain a well air-conditioned room but leaving enough room for the caffeinated aroma to dance across the room. As mentioned beforehand, music is essential as well. Customers come to relax. So the playlists should not include any hardcore rock'n'roll or the R&B/Pop nonsense that has been filling radio these days. Lastly and dare I say it, the toilet should be homely as well. No one likes a dirty toilet. Nice decors like flower pots and pebbles are sufficient to transform a place of bad odour to an imagined room of comfort for deep thoughts of life.

And that's my reasons as to how a coffeehouse can be successful. Of course, there are many other reasons which I may have neglected but I believe that these fours should be an owner's priority. If the coffeehouse provides just the right conditions, a customer could literally stay here for 6 hours straight. Yup, I have been staying in this cafe since 5pm and it's almost 11pm. I better sign off before the owner realizes I'm free loading on their complimentary water. Ciaoz

A Day at a Coffee Parlor

In the late afternoon of a coffee parlor, there was sense of serenity. Aroma of freshly brewed caffeinated beverage lingers in the air. So thick was the scent that one would be bombarded by it even at the doorstep of the parlor. Even those who were not fond of caffeine would find the scent mesmerizingly alluring. 

While the scent of coffee and tea danced in the air, their stage varied from venues to venues. Most stages featured a vintage 1970s designs and layout with a slight touch of modernism. Audience flight find themselves dazed by the atmosphere, time travelled back to their elders' past life. Coming back to the current era, a lovely greet of welcome and smile would invite anyone in. All the seats would bring comfort and one would sink into it if stayed too long.

The lights were dim but the room was illuminating with interesting patrons. All of them sought for a little getaway from the tension imposed by urban lifestyle. Speakers would offer placating melody, massaging patrons' stress away. There was no need for headphones as the ambiance would sway you away with its lullaby. Just like a siren, all worries and sorrows were temporarily forgotten. Who wouldn't cuddle up to such embrace?

As with everything in this world, such comfort comes with a hefty patronage but none seemed to mind the cost. It was a needed remedy urban denizens required. Medicinal treats like tantalizing chocolate cake and therapeutic coffee rendered one wanting for more. However, one should control their intake lest one yearned to become a Lotus Eater.

The hours passed. Plates and cups on the table were empty again with a stain of delighted pleasure. A reluctance to part ways was held deep in the heart but the train of life was waiting. It was a quintessential ride one would not afford to miss. With a push of the table, steps were made towards the doorway. The train would stop here again and it would be a stop to look forward to. Just like that, in the late afternoon of a coffee parlor, there was sense of serenity.

Trapped on A Bridge and The Amazing Spiderman 2 Review

Every Saturday since April, I have been going to SS15 (a place nearby but a few kilometers away) to work for this special needs center. They cater to both special needs and normal children but so far the kids I'm teaching are either fine or borderline cases. I have seen the severe ones which I have to admit is not easy teaching them anything.

Anyhow, this post ain't about that. So, to go to this place, I need to take a bus. Otherwise, it's 20min to half an hour walk away. I usually walk home after my session is done as I like to listen to music and wave at the vehicles passing by. Today, my agenda was slightly different. After my session was done, I went to watch The Amazing Spider Man 2: Rise of Electro but more on that later. By the time when the movie was over, it was already 5pm and ominous clouds loomed the sky. Being the impatient rascal that I am, I didn't wait for the bus and instead, I took off knowing that the rain was about to fall. Amazingly, I made it more than half way through before the rain started and I found myself stuck on a bridge with a cover overhead.

Since it was a downpour, there was no way I was getting off the bridge for a while. Instinctively, I took out my iPad and started taking some photos. Of course, the only LEGO I brought along was Spider Man which I intended to shoot at the cinema but I ended up forgetting about it so I had to do so on the bridge. Other than the LEGO photos, I shot other scenery (with names) as well and they are as followed:

Cascading Freeway

Paranoia

Frankly, it was nice to just watch the cars went by on top of the bridge. Try it sometimes, just to clear your mind.

Now it's time for:

Spidey Review

There will be a major spoiler for those who haven't watch the movie yet. Fans should see this coming from the trailer but if you still don't want to be spoiled, go away now, read no further. You are warned.

Ok, the overall movie was, like the last one, 'meh'. That's the only word I can describe it. However, I do love the character building between Peter and Gwen in the latest one. Jamie Foxx as Electro was awesome as well but I felt that they didn't develop him as much as the two main characters. For the viewers, he just seemed like a nutty scientist (like all the villains of Spidey films) who turned psychotic because of 'accidents'. 

The villain origins for all the Spidey film (even some from the original trilogy) was so lackluster that not even Electro's electricity can revive them. It's the typical story plot whereby a shy super genius was bestowed amazing powers and turned evil due to some personal vendetta. Electro was worse as they did so little to electrify his character development. Less so than Dr Connors, a.k.a The Lizard. The only thing that sparkled for him was his transformation and the fight scenes with Spidey. When you put a villain's name in the movie title, you expect more from him other than a few fight scenes here and there.

That brings us to the other two villains as seen from the poster, Green Goblin and Rhino. Don't expect too much of them with the exception that they will eventually lead up to Sony's plan of filming a Sinister Six movie. Sinister Six is the opposite equivalent of Avengers whereby Spidey's worst villains ganged up to fight the wall crawler. I just wished Sony would collaborate with Marvel on this but oh well, one can only hope things go well.

Now, back to Peter and Gwen. The sequel definitely focused more on them as a couple and how they overcome the obstacles of Peter being a superhero. Emma Stone did an amazing (I think I have used this word way too many times) portraying Gwen the way she loved Peter as shown in comics. At times, the movie gave off a romantic love story similar to Captain America 2 giving off an espionage thriller.

As for the big spoiler, again, fans would have foreseen this and that particular scene made me tear up a bit. That was how romantic the love story was amidst scenes of unrealistic boss battles. One can't help but feel sorry for Peter which leads me to this photo.

Gloomy and forlorn - just like his love life.

Anyway, if you haven't watched the movie yet, it's worth watching once. It can be a bit draggy due to the movie length (which was too long) but if you are sucker for love stories and a bit of actions in between, then maybe you can watch it two times. So, I give this film my personal rating of 3 out of 5.

Now, I will crawl into my web of blanket and snooze like the arachnid I am. Bye~

Rain Rain...Stay With Me

5th April was a very wet day and it's been a long time too since a heavy downpour cascades the area known as Klang Valley. Normally, I would rejoice in this change of weather (as it has been hot and humid for the past few weeks), my mood somehow accords with the gloomy ambiance of the ominous grey sky.

The thing is that some of you may know I just came back from a vacation at a resort where Cy is conducting his fieldwork. Though it's relatively a short visit, I did manage to do and see more than what I expected (more on my vacation on the next post). However, there was a bittersweet ending to it as I had to leave Cy and what's worse was that we had to restrict ourselves. Our societal upbringing is to blame for this.

Don't worry as some of you may find this confusing. It's just a personal lament and rant that I needed to get them out off. Being alone as well as some erratic emotions have taken some tolls to me. I guess I have trouble venting out all these raw emotions and negativity as I actually don't know where I should hurl them in the first place (other than this blog).

On the brighter side of the rainfall, I applied for a part time job at a special need center. While I was expecting a lot of screaming and yelling and tantrum, it was a surprisingly calm morning and I grew fond of some of the kids (kinda wish I had my own). Now, that's another thing that rained my parade.

Well, as I said, it's a rainy day. One way or another, my blog is cloudy at the moment and I intend to stay under the clouds for a while, just to wash away whatever's been cooked up inside my mind that may have long become stale.

In the meanwhile, do enjoy the rain. It can be surprisingly soothing.

Year of the Ponies

Today is the first day of the New Year - Chinese New Year to be exact and it's the year of the Ponies. Now, Chinese culture has its own version of the zodiac, represented by 12 animals. In order, they are rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, chicken, dog and pig. Since it's a 12 year cycle, you can sort of tell a person's age just by knowing their animal zodiac sign. For example, it's horse this year so that means the person this year would be either 12 years old or 24 years old or 36 years old.

As for me, I am one of those special cases which even my elders get confused sometimes. If you follow the Gregorian calender (or Western calender), I'm supposed to be the goat. However, according the the Chinese calender, I'm a horse since my date of birth fell before the Chinese New Year. Regarding this matter, my grandmother would claim that I'm a horse but my aunties and uncles and even my parents would say I'm a goat. To a certain extent, I was even referred to as goat head, horse tail. As of now, I'm just getting comfortable to re-identify myself as a horse because Chinese customs entail it. There are a few times I reverted back to asserting that I'm a goat but old habits.

Regardless of the animal zodiac sign, I just want to wish everybody a Happy Chinese New Year and for those for do not celebrate this festival, Happy Holidays.

Skeletal Anatomy of A Minifig

I posted this picture in Instagram quite a while ago. Before I came up with the picture, I have thought of presenting a skeletal anatomy LEGO style. This is the best that I can come up with with my current equipment and LEGO pieces. Although it's not much, I would say this is one of my most prized artwork because I like how it turns out with the background complementing the figure in the middle and all.

Oh plus, just finished my exam so yay! Hopefully, I would post LEGO pictures. Impending pictures coming in!

Tag for Stark

During one of the days in my university, there was this charity event and I ran into this shop that sells buttons - the ones that you pin onto your bag or shirt. And just so happens, I found this cute little button - Stark Industries. So, I just had to buy it. Plus, I can totally fool people (and by this I mean kids) that I work for Mr Stark.

Enjoy life and make the most of fun out of it XD

Croc With His Croc

Nothing much to say today. Just randomness. A croc with his croc. Awesome!