hapi bday sbux

bacon, eggs and pancakes in starbucks...  a rare sight!

actually happens once a year, during sbux 6750's birthday -- celebrated annually with a dawn mass and breakfast for all.

cheers!!!

starbucks in the garden

chickitout...

a li'l starbucks kiosk in a house!

(it's actually an old to-be-disposed-of kiosk that was transferred to a home...)

it's so mtv cribs!

yun lang...

pinay pride

this is the backside of one of the most successful filipinas i've ever met.  (photo taken this morning).

her name is mercy corrales.  doesn't ring a bell?  probably, because she hardly comes out in the papers/tv, even if she's extremely newsworthy and inspiring.

she worked with levi's for 30 years -- where she ended up running the brazil market, and later on the japan market.

think about it a (1) filipina (2) woman running levi's in JAPAN.  

and don't be fooled -- levi's in japan is on a totally different level from the levi's in rest of the world -- she pretty much made it that way.

a few years back, she was asked to step out of her retirement to run starbucks japan, with nearly a thousand stores.  

uncredeeb.

battle of the beans

hi sis,

here's something to entertain you while you nurse your newly broken limb :( ...

yesterday, i attended the starbucks version of the olympics.  it's called the ambassador's cup (because the winner becomes the 'coffee ambassador' for two years until the next cup).  it's done all over the world -- and the super thing is that it actually started here!  it was called 'battle of the beans', until the international office took notice, evolved it and made it global.  go philippines!

ANYWAY, it started with a few speeches like this one (woohoo!)

Then in come the 12 contestants (finalists from the rigorous company-wide elimination rounds).

the questions were so difficult.  chickitout -- photo above shows the first and supposedly easiest question.  it reads "according to coffee experts, the most desirable taste is achieved when coffee is _____ soluble solids.  (a) 1.1 - 1.3% (b) 1.15 - 1.35%, etc...."  (wuh!??).  not to mention there were other challenges like coffee tasting, explaining, etc.

then of course there were the intermission programs (this number's latin american representing latin american coffee -- oye!)...

back to the competition, 5 left after a few rounds... 

the winner!

in 2010 again!