I love coffee. 我爱咖啡. I usually drink 3 cups a day. Sometimes less, sometimes even more. Depends on my mood. But I really need my daily dose of coffee. I usually have one in the morning, one after lunch and usually the last one around 6pm, sometimes even after 7. It's rarely that I can't sleep because of too much coffee, but if I drink 4 or 5 cups in one day, then it can get problematic. While I traveled to many places around the world, Ialso tried many kinds of coffee. I can't really say what's my favourite kind of coffee outside Slovenia, because I can adapt to almost all kinds. There's one thing I do expect from a cup of coffee: It has to be with milk. I don't like pure black coffee, the kind people usually drink in the USA (that reminded me of Dale Cooper from Twin Peaks, he adored black coffee as you can see on the 9th photo below).
Anyway, at home, in Slovenia, we drink coffee (see 5th photo) in the same way as people in the
Balkans do, especially in Bosnia and Serbia. You boil water in a small specially designed pot to make Turkish coffee. We call it
džezva (pronounced like 'jez-vah', as seen on the 6th photo). It's not a Slovenian word, we borrowed it from Bosnian, which comes from the Turkish term
cezve (pronounced 'jez-veh'). Cezve is also the English term for this small device so unique to the Balkans region and in Turkey. But keep in mind, Slovenians find it offensive if someone says we're also part of the Balkans. We consider ourselves Central European, but due to the long history with the Balkans and with Central Europe, we are a kind of crossroads between Central and Southern Europe. That's why we have so many different influences on our culture. That's fairly obvious in our coffee culture. When you go to a coffee house in Slovenia (called
kavarna, coffee is called
kava), you'll mostly get Italian style coffee (
cappuccino being the most popular) or you'll get Vienna style coffee, which comes with milk or cream (See photos 7 and 8). Well, I like all of them. But
cappuccino or
caffe latte can have a strong effect on the digestion, so I usually wouldn't drink them in the morning.
Anyway, back to Asia. When I traveled to Asia for the first time (Singapore being my destination), it was obvious that they have their own kind of coffee. It's thinner and less strong than ours. Malays, who are Muslims, drink at home something similar to our coffee (this is due to the Muslim influence that reaches from Southern Europe to Indonesia). Outside of Singapore's homes, people usually go out to places like
Starbucks. Singapore, being a world hub, has many international coffe chains and Starbucks is the most prominent. But I never really liked it. I tried it few times but couldn't get hooked on it. It's a big cup, it doesn't have the taste that would impress me. It's therefore very expensive for what you get. So, while in Singapore, I mostly went to small places where they had
kaya toast (kaya is a popular spread, based on eggs) and coffee (
as in this picture). It was a very good combination for a morning breakfast. The coffee tasted really good and it was cheap, too.
After my time in Singapore, I traveled to Malaysia several times. It's Singapore's neighbouring country with many similar cultural peculiarities, most of which can be found in the drink and food culture. Malaysia has a Muslim majority, but while residing there, I was more influenced by the Chinese, which is the biggest minority and makes one third of the whole population. I stayed in Penang few months, which is the only Malaysian city that has more Chinese than Malays. It's far up north, near Thailand. Like Singapore, it's also located on an island. It's a fairly modern city, but it also has that charm of the old colonial past. I drank many types of coffee there in all kinds of coffee shops, varying from the local Chinese
kopi tiams (kopi tiam is a traditional Chinese breakfast and coffee shop), to McDonald's and to various Italian style coffee shops (as seen on the 2nd photo below). Recently I've been in the Southern part of Malaysia as well, in Johor, which shares it's southern border with Singapore. I drank a lot of
Old Town white coffee there (see 3rd photo below). It's a Malaysian coffee chain spread all over the country (originating in the town
Ipoh). You basically always get the same atmosphere and the same taste. I really love that coffee (you can see it on the picture below). Another coffee house I frequently went to, was
Dagan. Their coffee is also very tasty, I recommend to anyone. It's also a Malaysian coffee chain.
During my short stay in Hong Kong, I didn't have the time to try many kinds of coffee. Mostly I bought one at McDonald's (see 4th photo below) and it wasn't bad at all (and affordable). I drank one at
Delifrance, it was good, something similar like the
Delifrance in Singapore (it's a food chain, so what to expect), but it was very expensive. Hong Kong in general is expensive and I've been a bit disappointed with the food and drinks there.
For me Malaysia is a food paradise. And the coffee is not bad either.
So, to round up my musings on coffee: I like most kinds of coffee and usually wherever I go, I find some coffee that I like. But nevertheless, the best coffee for me is at home, in Slovenia. And it can be the homemade Turkish style coffee or the latte in coffee shops. I like all kinds of coffee served in my native country. If you wanna try our coffee, you're welcome to visit Slovenia. It's a safe, clean and modern country with open-minded people. Yea, I love coffee. And to travel. And my homeland.
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