Tummy Prosperity: X Coffee, Where Caffeine Meets Algebra

Going back to the street of Wolter Mongonsidi seemed like a nostalgic moment to me as I used to go here like almost on weekly basis or once every two weeks at least for dinner, when my office was still at Gatot Subroto. Now that I've moved to BSD, this area was pretty much untouched or just the one I passed by when I was going to any destination nearby it.

That's probably the key reason I didn't even know initially that there's a new coffee shop planned to open in this particular place. Not until this week when it's finally there, having its premiere opening for public.

At first, I thought it's located near Neo Hotel Tendean but actually it's there, right inside the hotel, occupying the front space next to the receptionist and just besides the petite swimming pool. It's actually an ideal spot for a coffee shop inside the hotel as for me it's the place where the hotel guests would be most probably spend their time for chilling or meeting over coffee. Moreover, it would be an easily accessible one for non-hotel guests as they could directly spot the location once they reached the hotel's entrance.

Despite the great accessibility, the space itself was quite tiny, having two sofas for the indoor part, which might accommodate only up to 8 people at maximum in my guess. Some people might prefer the outdoor space, or perhaps the hotel lobby or the restaurant next to it, well as long as you did dine there for sure ;). Another option would be to have your order being taken away so you needn't worry about seating.

Arriving there, I was initially confused when trying to find the entrance door of the coffee shop. Well I could see it's there, but I couldn't right away come into the venue from the outside of the hotel. Instead, I had to walk in from the lobby, perhaps for security reason? Never mind :)

The coffee shop itself has been there for less than a week. I'd expected that it's a newly established one, but I hadn't thought before that it's still this 'young'. The gorgeous owner, who's still very young as well, warmly welcomed me and guided me in making my order by coming up with several recommendations. I was astonished that she's even younger than me, yet she's already had her own business. Salute!

The concept presented by the venue was a distinctive one in my humble opinion, bringing back my high school memories when I got introduced to something called algebra. Yes, if you didn't know it's a cafe, you might have mistakenly thought it's a Math or Science Course Center LOL. Even the logo was intentionally made like an element residing in a periodic table which you might have met before in Chemistry subject. Not to mention, the menu which looked more like a 'formula sheet' being full of Mathematic equations. I couldn't praise the owner even more, for all those remarkable ideas flourished from her creative brain.

The items mainly listed on our 'formula sheet' or during high school or university I usually called as 'cheat sheet' (since we're indeed allowed to make one and used as reference in any exam), were coffee and tea only. The other menu offered were pudding, cookie shot, and cone shot; all of which basically contained coffee and tea as well.

Z - CO a.k.a. Cookie Shot (IDR 20k)

Wow! Just realized that it's been awhile since the last time I had my cookie shot. Probably 1.5 years ago? Time did fly uber fast! Yeah, my last one was Dominique Ansel's, which I had in Tokyo during my good old time sobbing. I knew I would be called insane if I benchmarked this to Dominique Ansel's so I wouldn't. Nonetheless, I was still expecting it to be an indulging one to cure my longing for decent cookie shot. Overall it's okay, just that I wished it to have softer texture so that it could be easier to bite. The espresso shot inside it was great one, strong kick to fully wake me up!

X - A a.k.a. Almond Milk Coffee (IDR 30k)

As expected, the texture of this coffee was thicker than the default one with full-cream milk. For you who have tried Almond Milk, you definitely know that the flavor's kinda strong as well so if you're not into Almond Milk, this cup might be not for you. For me whose palate's quite tolerant to almond milk yet indeed not its big fan, I preferred to have stronger coffee taste in my cup, which seemed to be dimmed by the bold almond milk. Well, pardon my curiosity, but giving a try's the only way to figure out if you'd love it or not ;)

X - M a.k.a. Iced Milk Coffee with Brown Sugar (IDR 17k)

Whereas for the cold version, I went for Iced Milk Coffee with Brown Sugar, exactly like my favorite from the other coffee shop, which's now mega-flourishing in Jakarta having booming orders at online pickup service every single day. Setting an initial high standard, this cup successfully turned out not disappointing despite that I could still see improvement to be done, particularly with the coffee touch in the glass. My palate preferred it to go bolder, but again it's preference. So if you're those fancied lighter-bodied coffee, this one was doubtlessly yours.

As a brand new comer, X Coffee could be your next destination plan especially for those with high curiosity on 'just-born' places. Keep up the good work, X!