Kopi@The Road....

Rocky Cafe....one and only.....

Coffee is like the liquid stimulant and booster running through my veins each day and keeps all the "rusted" parts in my body to run and function well enough. I dunno ...I just love the smell, aroma and taste of this wickedly good brew each day and not having one is like having withdrawal symptoms of epic proportions as the mind goes bonkers a bit. Hahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaa........the small little indulgence that I love a lot, actually. 

The coffee machine from the car.....

If some people are hung up with their individual liking on something or ritualistic endeavors each day, mine would be coffee addiction. Nothing beats a nicely brew cup of good coffee. There is so many theories whether coffee is good for your health or not but as far as I am concerned, take in anything and you'll eventually die anyway. So, might as well indulged and splurged on a something that you'll enjoy and die happily, right? Hahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaa........

Anyway, my colleague, YiVon ( another die-harder coffee fan! Starbucks, listen here, you people should reward her astute devotion to their brand coffee !!!! ) mentioned to me the other day regarding this Rocky Cafe. You see, we always keep each other informed of any new cafe outlets whereby we can try out some coffee brew and so on. So, it was nice to add another cafe outlet to my cafe listing. The only problem with Rocky Cafe is that it is not situated in an outlet/building but along the Kota Laksamana road near the sea.  

Nice coffee making area....

As an enthusiast of a good cuppa, I went out to check it out myself at Kota Laksamana with SLing and Syuen last night. Boy, it was a good breezy night and the evening heavy showers had indeed taken off a lot of the heat away making the evening a cosy, breezy and cool evening. What better way to celebrate this by having a good cuppa of Laos coffee for myself and an iced coffee for SYuen. The proprietor ( I forgot to ask his name! Can you imagine that???) was a crew cut Chinese fella whom I shall call Rocky. He is averagely built, happy -go-lucky, smiling and dark skinned. He wouldn't look like some fancy coffee barista but more to like some escapees from some prison somewhere. But, it was easy to speak to people like him as he is easy going and always a smile away. With a few teeth missing at the front row, he looked genuinely happy serving his customers with a willing smile. I guess, that's what made the situation such a warm and easy one. What attracted people to his "stall" is actually his nicely decorated car which doubled as his coffee making area at the trunk area. What an ingenious idea indeed!

Sitting on camper chairs & enjoy the breeze

I then struck a conversation with Rocky as he served me my Long Black coffee. Ahhhh! It was nice and I love the aroma. I guess, my only tiny complain was that it could have been a little bit hotter but then coffee served at 80 degrees  hot would be good/ideal for a good cuppa, actually. As I speak to Rocky , I am amazed by his tenacity to stay in the business despite being hounded/harassed by the local authorities each month even though he had applied for the usual permit to do his business. Travelling to and fro from Tampin town is another thing.  I guess, I see a man who is just eking out an honest living and trying to bring a good cuppa to the people. The Laos coffee beans aroma seemed medium strong , slight hint of bitterness but nevertheless, good bodied than most coffee I have had. ( BTW, I still love Budan's Brew of Lorong Argus, Penang which I felt gave me the best cuppa of Americano by far! So, CONGRATS to Budan's Brew!!! )

Anyway, I learnt from Rocky that the idea to serve coffee from a car was mooted by a Westerner friend. He soon picked up the idea and started his business. It was good speaking to him and knowing that he had to rough it out with the local authorities made me marvel at him actually. 

Sharing a joke with Rocky...

But I guess, in many ways, his resilience and the tenacity to make it makes it all such a worthwhile effort to have a cuppa with him. You could see that this was an experienced man who scouts for the best place to do his business and at the same time knows his beans,man. I purposely engaged him on the coffee beans he was using. He spoke to me of the coffee beans that he is using and how Laos Arabica coffee beans taste and so on. Here was a man who looked like some hard core escapee from some prison  cell somewhere serving some hard core years but he knows his stuff, man. Earlier of the day, I had gone to another cafe whereby the proprietor don't have an aorta of idea what blend of coffee he was serving me lest telling me it was some Indonesia coffee when I asked him what type coffee beans is he offering in his cafe. He kept repeating Indonesia coffee bean and I am sure ( I bet my last dollar in my pocket!!!! ) the proprietor of Budan's Brew of Penang would  give him a shelling for bringing disrepute to the Indonesian coffee beans! 

Anyway, Rocky spoke of blending it right and making it a good cup while his iced coffee is usually the clientele favourite. I asked SYuen about it and she said that it was good and so did SLing. So, it must be good as I like my coffee black. 

Anyway, if you are passing by the Kota Laksamana road by the sea side heading towards Klebang, you won't miss the nicely decorated car and a few simple campers chairs near the beach front. Support that guy, man by having a cuppa of iced coffee. Nice breeze, nice fella and nice iced coffee.....couldn't asked for more, actually.

As I left that place with family in tow, I am glad that the entrepreneurship spirit still lives on nicely. People with dreams will always have something to dream about and to move forward unlike. The most important lesson I learned from this fella is "Be Happy and You can"! 

Yup, "Carpe Diem" - Seize the Day, right?