Juniper
There’s no doubt in my mind that the newly opened Starbucks Reserve @ Gardens Mall is the most ‘happening’ café in town. The queue is perpetually long and even though the café is spacious with many tables, you’d be hard pressed to find a seat during peak hours or even non-peak hours, for that matter.
I was there for my maiden visit yesterday after 4pm and it took more than 10 minutes to place the order. Customers keep coming in virtually every minute and it’s like a crowd begets a crowd but then I am sure many people are curious as to what Starbucks Reserve offers that’s different from other Starbucks outlet.
For one thing, this is one chic café as you are surrounded by all coffee paraphernalia and décor from the bags of Starbucks exclusive coffee beans to the map on the wall denoting the major coffee growing regions on this planet and yes, they’ve got an awful lot of coffee in Brazil.
I ordered Starbucks Reserve Vietnamese Da Lat without realizing that this is their latest coffee or that it’s their first single-origin coffee from Vietnam. It has a bright refreshing acidity highlighting kola nut, toffee, and vanilla. It is excellent as espresso, brewed coffee, or even cold brew. I drank it without sugar and the bitterness is sharp and crisp. The only size offered was a Grande and it was HUGE. I drank ¾ of it and felt like I had consumed too much, like my coffee quota for the week. Nevertheless, Starbucks Reserve Vietnamese Da Lat is a superb coffee prepared by the pour over method here so you can watch as the coffee drips down into the jumbo sized cup. This is the largest cup of coffee I’ve had ever. Starbucks Reserve is worth a visit if only to soak up the coffee ambiance.
