opinios

I'll Have The Usual...

I have quite the routine going on Wednesday evenings.

After a full day teaching at junior high school I am pretty tired, so I sleep most of the one hour train ride to Hanno, in Saitama, where I teach an evening business class at a pharmaceuticals company.

By the time the train pulls in I have had my nap, am feeling refreshed, and usually have an hour or so to kill at the bakery/coffee shop in the station (strangely named Prince Fournier). I have been teaching this class for nearly two years now, and I always come to this bakery before my class to kill time, so they know me pretty well.

And they know what I order.

I don't mean to be boring, and normally I like to mix it up, trying different things. But sometimes you need comfort and routine. As a result whenever I come to Prince Fournier I always have an ice cafe au lait (aisu cafe o-reh) with whatever lemon pie, cinnamon bun or custard cream tart takes my fancy. The pastries at this place are delicious and the ice au lait is the closest thing I have found in Japan to a decent tasting iced coffee (ask for an ice coffee anywhere in Japan and you will get a black, bitter, cold coffee. Yuk.) Farmers Union it aint, but it goes down ok nonetheless.

It's hilarious. By the time I have picked out my cakes and nibbles, the smiling staff already have a cup churning out the cafe au lait from the drink machine, and I haven't even placed my order yet. It makes me feel very welcome and all warm inside. I have often wanted to say "the usual, please", like in a Seinfeld episode, but they always beat me to it!

Only today, I just didn't feel like it.

I feel like I am maybe coming down with a cold, and thought I should avoid dairy products and perhaps go for an orange juice. But before I could spit this out, the iced coffee had already been made. They are always so nice here so I didn't feel like I could not accept the drink, especially when I have been enjoying this special treatment up until now. I would hate to see them hesitate next week when I go back to the ice au lait.

So I drank it. And it tasted pretty darn good.

Still, I wish they would learn how to make an ice coffee without actually putting any ice in it...