The nice thing about quitting your job and taking up blogging is that a lazy afternoon at a coffee shop and a spa can arguably be considered work. (Those of you who are feeling the first twinges of jealousy remember – I have no income!)
Choose your own adventure — Anomali maps out the flavor notes of coffee from different parts of Indonesia
I’m sitting in Anomali Coffee on Jl. Senopati. First strike – the wifi doesn’t seem to be working. Boo. But enjoying a lovely cup of Toraja coffee and a chocolate croissant (4pm is the new 8am folks!), I slowly get over it. Anomali is a great place to take a coffee tour of Indonesia without leaving Jakarta. Slowly but surely I will make my way through their list and report back on my discoveries!
I find delicious irony in the fact that after Anomali I am headed for Tea Spa. For the most part, the world is arguably divided in two – coffee people and tea people. (Has anyone mapped concurrence in people, such as coffee people being predominantly dog people, etc. etc.?) Of course, loving to be ornery, I consider myself to be both.
Adequately amped up on caffeine, I walk the short distance to Tea Spa, on Jl. Gunawarman 9, in the Senopati area of Jakarta. With a tea room on the ground floor and the spa on the upper level with — you guessed it — all tea treatments and products, it is an unassuming standalone building with a curious combination of exquisite detail (such as crown molding) and mild decay (worn carpets.) And HORRIBLE elevator music. Give me gamelan, koto, er hu, ANYTHING but Muzak! I opt for a three hour signature package which includes a heavenly French massage, a “wrap” which is basically boiling hot padding placed around your stomach and thighs, a body scrub and a mask. Well worth the IDR 430,000. Overall, I give Tea Spa a thumbs up. Good value for money, nice ambiance (please, please change the music though!) and the therapists speak English. And now I’m going to melt into relaxed puddle. . .
Coming up next: Next week I am excited to be taking a 4 day barista course at ABCD – A Bunch of Caffeine Dealers – at Pasar Santa. I also plan to review other spas and compile a best of list of both cafes and spas!