On Black Beans

So while I’m wandering The Island solo (the wife and tatertots are dodging bushfires in a sun burnt land), I see the sign:

“No. 1 Premium Coffee in Korea”

OK. You’ve caught my eye.

Why you cheeky promotional sign, you.

Clearly, you know I love enormous pitchers of strong, black, Arabica coffee beans in steaming hot water. And you obviously know that I’m a slut when it comes to gimmicks and quirky displays. (Even when you slip the word “premium” into the phrase to make it a tautology.) Tell me more, you cheeky Asian marketing hook…

The sign read Tom Toms.

Oops, no - - on closer inspection it is “Tom N Toms”.

Now you’ve got my attention.

Those cunning Koreans have slipped a GPS into a Coffee cup. (Speed camera in 100 meters. Place coffee in left hand. Please Slow Down. Long medium drink ahead. Burn lips here.)

So I’ve pretty much got this blog written as I amble across the pavement to TNT. (Did the Marketing department think through that acronym?). And then when the décor appears to be a Korean version of Starbucks, I’m thinking this must be a franchise from the southern Koreans, not from the northern land run by the little feller with the tiny willy. No, at this point, I’m thinking I don’t need to change a line of my pre-written prose.

I order a large long black (which after some to- and fro- with the nervous, young, uniformed lady behind the counter I concede to be a “Grande” black coffee). I get served a shot of Expresso in a “Grande” cup … now I know I don’t need to change a single word of the blob I’d written in my tiny mind as I’d crossed the street.

Then I wheel around to find a table under an air-conditioner, and there it was …

A promotional banner.

Now, to set the scene … I am quite experimental when it comes to mixing beverages with exotic foods. For example: Cheese Pizza and Red Wine. Or Chilli Dogs and Bourbon + Coke (no ice). Heck, this one time (at Band Camp) I even dazzled my colleagues with my culinary conjecture by drinking a Coopers Sparkling with my Cocoa Pops.

So the TNT banner has Pretzels.

Many Pretzels.

Many flavors of Pretzels.

Mmmm. Salty pretzels.

Sure there wasn’t a GPS in my Expresso. But to combine tasty Pretzels with steaming hot Coffee? That’s like Wow. Like Wipeout.

We have so much to learn from you crafty Koreans.