By: Atty. Marlo T. Cristobal
As a retiree, there is one thing, aside from traveling of course, that gives me exceeding pleasure and total peace of mind — drinking coffee in a coffee bar or some serene, but nonetheless public place, where l lose myself in philosophical and spiritual thoughts or in reverie or in watching people who eventually help trigger my serious thoughts and reveries. There is no end to my contentment in just indulging in coffee pleasure in an appropriate, conducive place. It may be a cheap form of diversion but a total luxury to my soul and a big deal to my life. My three children know by heart these two sole and fervent desires of my heart: coffee and travel.
Audrey, my daughter before she left for Tennessee to join her husband for good, used to lavish me with her Keurig coffee at home and Mcdo coffee away from home (At home, l have my own coffee maker that does nothing but barako beans). Oliver my other son who lives away from home, always makes it a point to bring me to big-name coffee places whenever there is a chance. Byron, for his part, drowned me with coffee in Japan, and this affair set the tone and mood of this eighth and last part of my travel anecdotes.
In between our rushes to different and many places in Japan by train, taxi and by long, tiring walk, Byron would take us to various coffee bars in Kyoto and Osaka to have a sip of this heavily loaded caffeine drink to take a brief rest and indulge in talks about our impressions of places as we took stock of things to figure out where to go next — there was never a dull moment for us, always on the go under the herding of tireless, restless, aggressive Byron, whose soul seemed to have imbibed the “bilis-kilos” virtue, the very political battle cry and slogan of his friend, ex Mayor lsko Moreno of Manila. Despite my old and retiree physique, l could always catch up with his quick pacing, since coffee, not only gives me the fire that wakes up my blood, but fuels my vim and drive, like a high-octane gasoline to a jet.
There were at least three coffee bars that Byron brought us to, all very famous in Osaka, the SOT Coffee, the MOTO Coffee, and the ROKUMEI Coffee. These are reputable and dignified coffee bars where coffee connoisseurs would head to enjoy excellent coffee concoctions. SOT prepared coffee for me with some showmanship and the produced coffee tasted flawless as l have never tasted anything like it anywhere else. The MOTO Coffee bar makes equally high-class coffee but one is tempted to feel it has an edge over the two other bars because of its fantastic location, which is beside a flowing river and its house designed with an open veranda just below the river water, cavorting with the cool, fresh air and the alluring flowing water below. It made my excellent coffee doubly enjoyable that l did not want to leave our coffee table despite the customers waiting for their turn to enjoy their coffee in the same spot.
Of course we went to other coffee corners, too, like the R.J. Cafe where its coffee cups were edible being made in cookies. A unique and fanciful coffee joint. Just the same all their coffee drinks here gave me peace of mind and contentment. Japan offers to its visitors food galore that are both exotic and exquisite tasting spread in countless restaurants and street food joints, where many of which our palates had a grand time extremely enjoying their food and coffee.
In food alone, at the risk of being repetitive, Japan is absolutely one hell of a place. Believe me.
