Waking up a bit earlier than planned this morning, on a Saturday morning nogal, I head out to Harties. I have an early, 7 am nail appointment with my other Sister from another mister, Irene. I just love early morning drives, especially those on a Saturday. It is as if they have this mystical something to it that makes it special. The Magalies mountains sets the tone for the day with clear blue skies, washed clean after some rain this week, shortly after one of THE hottest January months ever.
None-the-less, the plan was to go and do my nails, run some errands at our local shopping centre, Village Mall and then return home to do some day job tasks. Leaving while the whole household was sleeping, meant I could not whip up my shake in the blender. I leave with only coffee to fill my stomach and off I go.
One of my stops in Village Mall was Woolworths Food, to acquire the fresh salad and fruit for the week. On the way out, my stomach reminded me that it STILL only has had coffee to consume. I stop at the recently installed coffee counter (and with recent I mean towards the end of 2022 – somewhere in the last quarter of the year, Woolworths decided that those in Harties can be spoilt with a coffee counter). Now I am doubting whether it was 2022 or 2021? The days fly past so quickly, I cannot tell. Anyway.
Since the installation and erection of that particular coffee bar, I have only walked past, smelling the very lovely smell of freshly ground coffee beans. Always in a hurry and never having time to stop and just buy one. Today I stopped there, actually wanting to purchase a muffin or something and a coffee. Whilst inspecting the muffins on display and without looking up at the Barista, I asked what muffins they have, I am hungry.
She answers me saying she has plenty of nice things. I ask about the coffee. My question was Is it Lekker? Her reply? Lekker is an understatement. It is Coffee e Monate. I look at her, almost saying HUH? but decide to politely ask her to repeat what she said asking for an explanation of what she meant. She says it is Coffee that slaps. Now she has my attention. Coffee that slaps. What IS that supposed to mean? I guess very much more than Lekker coffee. I LOVE coffee. I consume too much coffee I think.
This convinced me to continue with my decision made a few seconds earlier to purchase and try some of Woolworths’ coffee on this particular Saturday morning. Because, boy oh boy, I need some caffeine to stay awake! We have a pleasant and loud conversation, laughing, talking all the while she is making the coffee. Somewhere during this time, I decided to write about my experience, and I asked her to write down the phrase, because, for the life of me, I am NOT going to remember coffee e Monate until I return home.
During our conversation, I learnt that the lady, with the ever so lovely smile and personality that is also e Monate (if I can use a part of the phrase she taught me with something else – not sure if this is how it works in Tshwana. With this I mean her personality cannot be described with a word like Lekker as that would just be an understatement). Anyway, I learnt that the lady has just returned from leave. She explains that is the reason why she is in a good mood today. Tomalo (I think that was her name – the picture on my phone does not show the name tag clear enough) asks me what coffee I want and do I want to add something extra like sugar, honey or sweetner. I give through my order for a Grande Cappuccino with one brown sugar.
The other Barista calls me to the till to pay. I swipe my Woolworths card more than once and miraculously I get a discount of more than 10% on a Grande coffee at Woollies. Before I leave, Tomalo (sorry if I have your name wrong) says I MUST taste the coffee before I leave, to be sure it is nice. I asked her in Afrikaans Het jy die suiker geroer ook? She explains that while on leave her Afrikaans became a bit rusty, I laugh at this and repeat the question in English.
She stirred it, like a good Barista would do. I take a sip, and gesture with my hand to my face that it IS Coffee e Monate (Coffee that slaps). For the life of me I cannot pronounce the gentlemen’s name, but I ask him and Tomalo to smile, I want to take a picture for my blog entry. Ever so excited they pose and laugh for this picture. Eventually I have a photo that is to my liking, showing everyone’s smiles and excitement.
Before leaving, Tomalo tells me to say hashtag best_baristas_in_harties with my entry. People will comment is her response. We continue to joke and I added a few hashtags to this – #coffee_e_monate and #best_coffee to name a few. She even said that I must return for a second date, this was now the first date. And I must say, I may just make a Woollies Grande Cappuccino a part of my weekly shopping list. Sadly, my coffee did not last as long as the lekker feeling after having this discussion with these two people! It was finished before I got to the dam wall, heading back home to the lovely Skeerpoort.
#best_baristas_in_harties #coffee_e_monate #coffee_that_slaps #best_coffee #Woolworths_harties #saturday_morning_vibes #what_a_lekker_experience #have_you_had_coffee_e_monate_yet?
