Cafe Coffee Day

This is a piece I wrote many years ago and only a handful of friends have seen it. It feels only right to post this today, to put my love for CCD out there. 
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After a long time, I was at a Café Coffee Day today. I was looking to treat myself to one of their snacks to satiate my hunger.

 It was then that their cold coffee tempted me. I had given up on these about three years ago. (Due to severe acidity problems!)

I sat down to eat my sandwich which felt warm and comforting. When I was almost done, the tall cold glass of salvation arrived; the Tropical Iceberg! Yes, I had thrown caution to the winds given in. 

Picture this scene in the movie ‘Ratatouille’ where the food critic has one bite of this dish and his mind whooshes back several years to when he is in his mom’s kitchen eating her dish.

I HAD SUCH A MOMEMT.

One sip of the ‘Tropical Iceberg’ and I almost cried out loud. A million memories came flooding through!

Back right to the first time I tasted it. Almost 17 years ago.

Soumya is going to hate me for remembering this, but we had gone to college to collect our hall tickets for our Board exams. It was a very hot summer afternoon and we couldnt find a ride home. Fed up, she said we should try out the cold coffee at this new place Cafe Coffee Day. I said that I could never drink a 'cold' coffee. Coffee is such an important drink to us South Indians that putting ice in it seemed like sacrilege. She convinced me by adding that we could also cool off in the Air Conditioned café. 

Anyway, we decided to share one and she said that this was the best drink on the menu.  

Oh! My first sip and I fell in love with it. The coffee, the chocolate, the ice….! Loved everything about it!

There are of course, so many other memories of this particular coffee. 

It was THE drink at so many birthday treats during my Engineering days. Anytime we wanted to hang out with friends on a cool summer evening during the semester break, it was always with a ‘Tropical Iceberg’!

My brother Subhash and I enjoyed one sitting outside Forum Mall when we had gone to watch ‘Sarkar’. We felt so grown up having gone off to watch a movie by ourselves, getting coffee and all. Little did we know that some years later, we would both work at Bosch, right across the street!

It’s a coffee that’s also chocolate, cold yet comforting. I can’t wait to have my next one and add on to the memories!

P.S: When we took our daughter to Cafe Coffee Day when she was just about 6 months old, she lunged for my cold coffee. That's my daughter, alright!