There’s nothing extra-ordinary about the coffee shop we headed to in General Santos City immediately after the tuna floral parade that Wednesday. It’s located at a gasoline station and has the usual “coffee café” ambiance, with the latest ‘wi fi’ hotspot.
It was our last stopover before going home, Manila-based media coordinator Shane “Ayo” Gunting assured us. Oh okay, my taste buds were still in the development stages for liking coffee and one more wouldn’t hurt.
I ordered the house special, a cup of caffe’ fagioli malt, a frothy concoction which tasted more of chocolate than coffee. I learned later it was a mix of chocolate, malt, coffee and mocca. The cup was huge, w
ith a unique flat handle that’s different from the usual coffee cup. All coffee orders are identifiable by the splashes of cream created into distinctive flower designs on top of the cup.
The coffee must have been too strong for someone like m e who is not a habitual coffee drinker because I began to feel a little bit “high”. I take coffee mildly, even dividing a sachet into two servings.
Fagioli Coffee Club manager Hazel Mae N. Santibaez laid out mini-cakes of various flavors.
Not a sweet lover, I shrugged off my shoulders. No thanks! The hairs at the back of my head stood as I looked at the mini cakes oozing with sweetness and vowed never to take a bite but somewhere in between conversations, somebody handed me a small spoon which I absently dipped into the side of the moist chocolate cake. I brought it to m y mouth and licked, then I spooned a generous heap and another until before I knew it, the mini-cake was already half. The cake was so sinfully delicious, moist and creamy to my mouth it broke down my reserves and defenses against sweets. Afterall I am just a human being, powerless against the sweet temptation.
I was planning to doze off the trip but it ended Jojie and I swapped stories the whole trip long, as though we haven’t seen each other for centuries. Before we went to the Fagialo, I could hardly keep my eyes open, I was fatigued and exhausted and looking forward to the trip back. Getting up at 5 am was torture, it seems I melt when I get up before the sun rises and as the sun gets higher, I get weaker and sleepier and the feeling carries on for the whole day.
Back in Davao, sleep was the last thing on my mind. I was still in a hyper stance but I could feel my knees and limbs shaking even it was past midnight.
Fagioli’s tantalizing menu offers bollente (hot concoctions), flavored caffe’ fagioli/caffe’ latte and cappuccino. They also serve variations of amaretto, caramel, chocolate mint, hazelnut, irish cream, macadamia and vanilla, and caffe mocha with peppermint, garden mint and basil flavors.
Fagioli coffee club is located at J. Catolico Sr. Avenue, Lagao, General Santos City.
When you’re in GenSan, don’t fail to drop by Fagioli’s and life will never be the same again.