RLPF.ar

Both of the graduate students for my Friday afternoon lesson are ill today, so I decided to take a breather and catch up on some record-keeping at a café in Zhujiang Xin Cheng (珠江新城, "Zhujiang New Town"), one of the tonier areas in the center of Guangzhou. Of course there's a Starbucks on the corner of one of the main intersections. Once I had an espresso at a Lavazza café in the same neighborhood; alas, its location (directly across the street from said Starbucks) has led to its premature demise. On other occasions I had walked past a place called Dilettante Mocha Café, so I thought I would give it a try today.

Question: Is the mocha better if the place calls itself a "mocha café"?

Answer: Yes. Yes!

You have half a dozen choices of the kind of chocolate to put in your mocha, explained in detail in the menu. I opted for a semidark and... wow, is it ever rich! Quality ingredients to make a difference.

As any coffee lover already knows, Starbucks has the main benefit of being predictable: never great, but at least you know it won't suck too badly. But if you step off the beaten track, the result could be awful but every so often, you'll stumble onto a little cup of heaven -- in this case, calorie-laden and gloriously fattening heaven! Worth the risk.