Bukit Timah - condos to avoid?

[JR8]

I went driving in ma hood and saw no Starbucks. There might be one at Jem. But as there basic Americans is shit and the fancy frappe stuff is consumed by fools who don't understand coffee should be black I care not.

Yey! ^+1

If you don't have a Nespresso machine, you sound like a candidate. Quality rocket-fuel at about 20 cents a shot.

[the lynx]

This likely tells they are not competitive enough to have a place in West Mall. There is already Coffee Bean Leaf over there.

Yes, where CBTL is, Starbucks won't be there.

[JR8]

Starbucks isn't a coffee company, it's a marketing company. And they invest billions in determining optimum (NON ULU ULU) locations to deploy. Thus it's a good metric. I even used to use it here in the states when looking for somewhere to live. "Where is the closest starbucks? None within 2 miles? Then that place must have nothing else around" and it usually worked.

That said, I'll sheepishly acknowledge that there is like 10 starbucks within a 5 minute drive or one MRT stop of BB. BUT NONE IN BB! EVEN BATAM HAS STARBUCKS. What does that tell you?

The metric makes perfect sense. In London one measure of a neighbourhood that's 'about to happen' is when it becomes a hang-out for artists and the associated arty uber-trendy (cutting edge) fashionista crowd. Once they move in, and the money follows, they eventually get priced out, and so move on to the next such area. The cycle repeats. It started with Chelsea, now one of the super-poshest districts of London. Islington followed, Hoxton is still a work-in-progress AIUI.

IME Starbucks are also an interesting indicator, though when they show up things are already well underway. Other indicators are pubs that start serving high-end food, big scruffy pubs ('boozers') that get closed and turned into fashion boutiques or higher end restaurants.

.... etc...

[x9200]

I went driving in ma hood and saw no Starbucks. There might be one at Jem. But as there basic Americans is shit and the fancy frappe stuff is consumed by fools who don't understand coffee should be black I care not.

Yey! ^+1

If you don't have a Nespresso machine, you sound like a candidate. Quality rocket-fuel at about 20 cents a shot.

Fully agree. I haven't managed to find anything better than this. I also have a Krups all-in-one-self-grinding-bloody-expensive-who-knows what yet machine and what it makes tastes even worse than the Starbucks one.
Some of the Nespresso capsules are really good, but the price is more like $1 per shot or you meant a different one?

[x9200]

This likely tells they are not competitive enough to have a place in West Mall. There is already Coffee Bean Leaf over there.

Yes, where CBTL is, Starbucks won't be there.

Some bigger malls have them both (eg. Vivo City, Marina Square).

[JR8]

If you don't have a Nespresso machine, you sound like a candidate. Quality rocket-fuel at about 20 cents a shot.

When we got ours, it came with a box of 5*5*10=c250? free coffee pods?
Like this.... http://www.noeesnook.com/wp-content/upl ... G_1596.jpg

Despite maybe even a year ago researching how to pirate the used pods, or get a reusable pod-shell, we are STILL going through our original supply. Sometimes I have 3 a morning, sometimes none, it's like a bottomless supply in some senses... it just goes on and on.

The machine with all the freebies was about 100 euros, hence my stab in the dark of '20 cents a shot'. Either way, it means we have pretty decent coffee pretty on tap. The 8-10 'sleeves' of caps we still have left all seem to tend to be from the mega high end of the strength scale 8-9-10/10 .... (I like it strong, but some of them are seriously fierce, it's been interesting to serve myself coffee that I wish wasn't quite SO strong, as I'd thought I was quite an anything-goes kinda coffee drinker... ) so if I start acting fully wired some mornings.... ...


p.s. From the sample box, I have kept the lids from two tubes of pods that I particularly enjoyed (Cappricia and Dulsao). If we get to buy refill pods, those are the two I'll aim for (of those enjoyed so far) ... yes it isn't cheap if you have to buy them post-promo, but life is short too ...


p.s. Our freebie box (as pictured) came with 2 * tubes of each blend, not just one. Hence why it keeps going and going ...

[x9200]

Same thing. The regular price at the official store is around $1. Yours must be an addict development package.

Intenso
Kazaar Kazaar SGD 1.07
Dharkan Dharkan SGD 1.07
Ristretto Ristretto SGD 0.91
Arpeggio Arpeggio SGD 0.91
Roma Roma SGD 0.91
Espresso
Livanto Livanto SGD 0.91
Capriccio Capriccio SGD 0.91
Volluto Volluto SGD 0.91
Cosi Cosi SGD 0.91
Pure Origin
Indriya from India Indriya from India SGD 1.07
Rosabaya de Colombia Rosabaya de Colombia SGD 1.07
Dulsao do Brasil Dulsao do Brasil SGD 1.07
Bukeela ka Ethiopia Lungo NEW - Bukeela ka Ethiopia Lungo SGD 1.07
Lungo
Fortissio Lungo - Lungo Assortment Fortissio Lungo - Lungo Assortment SGD 50.30
Fortissio Lungo Fortissio Lungo SGD 0.99
Vivalto Lungo Vivalto Lungo SGD 0.99
Linizio Lungo Linizio Lungo SGD 0.99
Decaffeinato
Decaffeinato Intenso Decaffeinato Intenso SGD 0.91
Decaffeinato Decaffeinato SGD 0.91
Decaffeinato Lungo Decaffeinato Lungo SGD 0.99
Variations
Caramelito Caramelito SGD 1.15
Ciocattino Ciocattino SGD 1.15
Vanilio Vanilio SGD 1.15

We also tried some reusable capsules but it did not work at all (weak, watery coffee).

[Hannieroo]

I keep looking at the machines. Maybe when we move and gave a bigger kitchen.

[JR8]

Is that per capsule!? Blimming 'eck.

The wife reports: 'It cost about euro125, but was e105 at the outlet mall. That came with all the free coffee. To buy additional sticks of 10 pods, retail, was about euro3* each, from the local supermarket'.


p.s. Gotta love the blend: 'Indriya from India'... like the only one where they're they're so proud they have to tell you where it's from . IIRC that was a right belter of a brew, 9 or 10/10 on the strength scale.


* = S$5 for 10. Or, 25p a 'double shot', at which point you realise what a total bargain it is...

[JR8]

I keep looking at the machines. Maybe when we move and gave a bigger kitchen.

Ours occupies the same little corner that the kettle does. Just the kettle is getting used less these days! The small Nespresso machine we have (Nespresso Pixie) is smaller than a toaster... http://www.nespresso.com/pixie/?l=en_SG that pictured here looks large only as that glass featured is a single espresso shot sized one, almost a 'big thimble'. It's a small unit.

[x9200]

Now I recall a colleague of mine saying each time he goes back to Europe he buys a s*tload of the capsules because it is much cheaper than in Singapore.

Our is also a tiny one and we have the coffee corner in the living room.

[JR8]

Yep deffo cheaper in the EU than here. But go there once a year and load up, AND then reclaim GST.

Quite funny how once or twice the water container on the back has gotten invaded/colonised by ants. But that I think is a 'uniquely singapore' problem! lol...

[migratingbird]

Ahhh was offline for a few days. Thanks to those of you who have given info...and I feel much better informed about coffee now too

[the lynx]

Yep deffo cheaper in the EU than here. But go there once a year and load up, AND then reclaim GST.

Quite funny how once or twice the water container on the back has gotten invaded/colonised by ants. But that I think is a 'uniquely singapore' problem! lol...

You, my sir, have a pre-existing ant problem. Ants will always forage to places where they have access to water and food. They can always get themselves through any crevice so there is no way you can seal the water container part of the machine. Better find the source of the problem and fix it.

[JR8]

Morning Lynx,
I think us keeping our windows open 24/7 doesn't help in this regard. I'm pretty sure the source is not within our home (I have experienced finding an ants nest inside a bag of documents in our home years ago - nasty/gross!).

I'd thought this time they might simply be coming in through the kitchen window, from where it's no more than 2M to the sink/coffee machine/water etc.

However, rather like trying to determine the precise source of a water leak through the ceiling, it's not always as straight-forward as it might seem.

And indeed on this more recent occasion, the ants (we could see various trails of them here and there) were coming from a neighbours apartment, under their front door, through the lift lobby/common hallway, under our doorway, through the lounge and to the kitchen (and back again! - so it's the neighbour that has the nest I reckon). Simply blasting the front doorstep with Ridsect resolved the problem within a couple of hours.

What we're seeing now is, no obvious ant trails, in fact zero live ants at all, but just a few ants floating in the water container every few days. So (touch-wood) I reckon these are just random foragers, and we are currently 'off-trail'!