Great Cafes: Milano's Cafe Bianco Latte

Milano is the birthplace of the ECM (espresso coffee machine, NOT electret condenser microphone! LOL!). Also the birthplace of Dolce e Gabbana. OK, caffeine and fashion, not anybody's ideal mix!

While I did look around the city for those glitzy designer boutiques, my true radar was fixed on coffee.

The journey to a latte starts from the first step. Via Turati...


This cafe could've easily passed off as "uninteresting"... until you actually bother to stop by, drop in and sit down. The exterior looked essentially chic but seriously, you need more than chicness to entice a true coffee lover into the Venus flytrap.




Entering Cafe Bianco Latte is like entering a white-washed fantasy playground... This is a place you know, will take your coffee presentation seriously. I paid special attention to its many house merchandise, hoping to get a few before I leave Milano. (But I never made it back to Bianco after this visit!)

Window dressing at Cafe Bianco Latte...

I didn't stay long at this lovely cafe. Would've loved to, if not for a canine visitor panting and drooling away in a corner. Dogs and I don't mix. Unless it's a hotdog!

But I did promise my travel buddy Wahdi we will drop by again - sans canine!

This cup now sits handsomely in my showcase...

I must return to this cafe one day...





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Coffee Collectibles: Coffee Advertising Mugs

It's almost natural that coffee lovers are into collecting coffee mugs... I am no exception...

While I cannot consider myself a serious coffee mug collector, my collection is getting bigger all the time! Most of which are gifts from friends and family members who know I would anytime appreciate a coffee-themed gift!

These mugs I feature here are the latest additions... I have picked them up from the neighbourhood mall... Nothing fancy, just some ordinary mugs modelled after vintage coffee advertising graphics...






Mother's Coffee? Not true! I have picked up coffee-drinking from both my maternal and paternal grandmothers...


These mugs, if they last that long, will surely serve me well when I run my own cafe in the future...




In the meantime, they will need to sit very quietly in the display cabinet, along with all their friends... One day, they will be serving good coffee... handcrafted by me!






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