I am not always the best when keeping in touch with people around me but I am available when anyone reaches out to me. When I recently got back to my apartment, a few of my friends reached out to me and wanted to have a coffee meeting. I definitely can’t say no because I want to hear the new gossip and things that are happening with my friends. Besides since I am back in the city, I am sure there are a lot of places that I have yet to discover and new places that are popping up. As a city with a lot of students, they always offer co-working space friendly cafes that are catered to spark discussions and also a lot of subculture cafes. You can find pet cafes and vintage cafes. There’s also quite a few innovations that keep happening in the city. That being said, the coffee shop scene is pretty vibrant and the bonus point is that everything is extremely affordable. Another thing is that you don’t get told to leave because everyone here is sitting with their laptop and doing their university course for a long time in one spot. Anyhow,without further adieu, here’s a unique find this month that I visited with my friend, Journey Coffee & Records.

Journey Coffee & Records

Like its name, the cafe is also in the same building as a thrift store and vintage store records. This coffee shop is located on the 2nd floor of the building and it has indoor and outdoor spots that you can choose from. Their coffee selection has a record theme as well and paired with the coffee, they also sell hotdog and burgers with fries. Like you see below, the place is vast, well-lit and with a lot of chairs that look comfortable. The place has quite a brutalist aspect to it while remaining minimalist with some rough finish on its interior. The coffee shop in this city has a lot of different vibe but mostly, they’re always catered to people who want to hang out in a well-lit place to work or to study.

Another fun part of this coffee shop is the photobox that you can use with an additional charge.When I was there, I didn’t try the photobox. Me and my friends were only sitting down for hours on end, catching up on a lot of stories. While around us, a few patrons were working on their laptop and some students were having a discussion.

In that cafe, they also have a nice collection of books from philosophy to architecture that you can read on the spot. The architecture book options are pretty intriguing and especially the one with the Eco architecture. The surrounding area is also decorated with vinyl records. And if I were to say the overall vibe of the cafe, it’s a modern take on vinyl records. The staff were dressed vintage-ish and grunge mostly and it looks pretty unique. If you’re not into self-service this might not be your type of cafe as it’s mostly self-service and you have to pick your own coffee and food to the counter.

Blitzkrieg Pop

A coffee so hard to pronounce but it’s actually just iced coffee milk with salted caramel. In this coffee shop, they don’t go glass which I think is less environmentally friendly but I am guessing due to the staff that are only a handful, there’s nobody to wash the cups. Even when I was there they looked like they were understaffed, so cleaning the coffee cup definitely would be a hassle to them. But the coffee that I ordered was really good. The caffeine was so strong that I was surprised by the price offered. It was that good. Usually I find that cheaper coffee has a weak caffeine but that one was pretty strong. My friend tried the milk as she’s not a coffee drinker and told me it was way too sweet for her taste. Maybe after all, it wasn’t the caffeine that got me but the sugar rush that kept me awake for long enough.

I also tried the food in the place and they were pretty okay. I definitely had the better hotdog and burgers but again, it was money for value. The hotdog comes with fries and also mineral water. Since I haven’t eaten anything that day, it was pretty filling.

Considering the comfort of the place and the price, I am definitely going to go back. It’s one of the coffee shops that I was randomly throwing my dart on and turns out to be good. There are many more new places popping out that I have to check out. But again, as I said, I am only going to do it 3x a month, so stay tuned for more coffee shop reviews and all things cafe.