A few weeks ago, I was invited by Maxx Coffee to be one of the speakers for their Awesome Autumn drinks launch and talked a bit about my passion in blogging. I have always loved sharing positive things for people and hoping they would get inspired by what I do, and believe it or not back when I was in highschool, I have always wanted to inspire people, I thought it was cool in the kindest way, but back then I had no clue what I was going to become, so long story short (and I've shared this a million times) I started this blog and sort of like drowned in my own passion and here I am running this blog for more than 4 years already (I know right I still can't even believe it). I believe in the power of passion and your self-power, your future is in your hands.
Awesome Autumn drinks by Maxx Coffee
The event took place at their Nobu outlet in Semanggi and it was packed with online and print media friends, and even though I was a guest, but I wanted to thank the media friends for coming and covering the event, it means something for me and Maxx Coffee.
So before I talk further about the event, if you're a first timer to Maxx Coffee, let me brighten you briefly. Maxx Coffee is not a foreign franchise brand, in fact it's a local coffee brand built by the giant Lippo group (which is a famous property developer in Indonesia) with outlets that are rapidly growing and spreading all over Indonesia. One thing that I appreciate a lot about Maxx Coffee is how they try to promote local beans and use mainly Arabica coffee beans for their coffee. And how's their coffee for me? Well I've tried their cappuccino and I found that it had a medium-strong body flavor with the right amount of milk and nice finish. I hope I was not just lucky and they are indeed consistently good.
If you wonder why they're launching Autumn drinks in Indonesia where we technically don't have any Autumn here, well I guess it doesn't matter to me. They're trying to bring the autumn vibe to this hot town through their drinks with the hopes that they would cool you up, the three drinks that became the highlight for the Awesome Autumn season are the Roasted Almond, Houjicha and Black Sesame beverages that are available in hot, iced and blended (frappe).
Houjicha Frappe, made from Houjicha or roasted tea.
Roasted almond latte
Guests were more than welcome to grab the complimentary drinks and food available on the pretty display, there were the new latte beverages and fraps available and I sure had my personal favorite (review of the drinks below).
Edward Teonadi, Research and Development Manager of Maxx Coffee Indonesia
Me paying serious attention to the questions given by the media fellas, some were so damn intimidating LOL.
Together we posed for pictures with the Awesome Autumn drinks on our hands
There was a fun itching latte art competition held for the media friends, and because they're pretty generous, all contestants did not go home empty-handed and left with the cute prizes!
So "itching" is basically a latte art style where you kinda make strokes using the help of toothpicks of anything with sharp point (but do keep them safe ok!). Here the contestants made their creative latte arts using chocolate sauce as the base and toothpicks to form the latte art, it's very easy to do and you can totally do this at home!
Ok if you noticed I haven't talked much about the drinks, that's because I wanted to briefly review their latest outlet in Cideng which is very-very near where I live (yay-ness say what?!). The spot was previously the home to 711 and across KFC Cideng, it's easily noticeable from the fancy-catchy design and huge logo placed on the building.
The interior of the outlet was simply designed and very coffee shop proper (well my kind of coffee shop proper) with mainly wood decorating the interior and the lingering smell of coffee living up the ambiance.
Went here with my brother, paid for all the drinks & opinion fully remains my own <3
Left to right: Roasted Almond, Houjicha and Black Sesame iced latte
Houjicha and Roasted Almond ice latte
These Awesome Autumn drinks are unique and some I have never seen anywhere else in town, and talk about unique, I feel like lately Indonesians (mainly the youngsters) are more open with trying new and unique trends, even though sometimes they are a bit out of the box, and hopefully these drinks can be well received by the public! Not to mention, they came in such simple and pretty colors that are tempting to the eye.
...and if you ask me whether I like the hot, iced or frappe the most? ICED LATTE ALL THE WAY! I feel like the latte version of the drinks really showed the best flavor character of each drinks and gave such good impression to my palate, especially the stronger ones like Roasted Almond and Houjicha, not that the hot or frappe drinks are bad, it's just the I prefer the iced latte version.
Roasted Almond Latte
The almond flavor was very rich and blended nicely with the creamy milk which acted as a balancer as well. It's nutty, rich but light in the same time and thankfully I didn't find the almond flavor artificial even though it's a very thin line when it comes to almond. This is a nice drink to slurp on the hot day.
Houjicha Latte (non-coffee)The Houjicha aka Japanese roasted tea flavor was really strong but at certain note, the burnt flavor of the roasted tea was very delicate, it's rich without overpowering one's palate I believe. The houjicha was my favorite among the three.
Black Sesame Latte (non-coffee)
This had the lightest flavor character, as well as the creamiest without tasting overly milky, all thanks to the generous black sesame mix given to the drink and that really balanced out the milk. Black Sesame is incredibly healthy especially for pregnant women (or new moms) as it help the body to produce more milk.
Must admit that I found their newest beverage line-up is fresh, playful and tasty in the same time. Next time what? Corn latte maybe? That should be delicious. Best of luck for Maxx Coffee and I am looking forward for more of your innovative and fun creations in the future!
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