#44 - Have 50 Coffees in 50 Different Cities

Regarding Kettle Lists – and drinking 50 coffees

If you are new here, this intro paragraph will be useful to you.

However, if you are a regular and know what ‘Polly’s Pad’ is all about then feel free to skip ahead.

What is a ‘Kettle List’? If you want the long version, check out my post here. It even includes all of the tasks on the list.

If you want the TL;DR, it’s like a Bucket List but less depressing; instead of doing all the things before I die, I want to get them done before March 2027, when I turn … well older.

I am writing up every task, whether completed or not, and I will update them as I go.

And here is task #44 – Drink 50 coffees in 50 different cities

50 coffees – An excuse to feed my caffeine addiction

This task is all about coffee; that wonderous drink that fuelled me through college, University and continues to do so through middle-age.

This page will be a caffeinated work in progress until I have completed the task. My intention is to add the pictures of me with the caffeine in question as I visit 50 Cities – although my definition is fairly loose, so for ‘city read: City/town/district/area.

To be honest, considering the amount of coffee I drink, I am hoping to exceed 50, it is however entirely dependent on me visiting lots of new places.

Coffee 1:

My first official coffee (because anything in Bristol doesn’t really count) was in Greater London – Heathrow Airport at the start of my Japan trip on April 4th 2017.
I also got to tick a county off too, so that was a great start to the Kettle list!

It was an early morning latte – and the first of many I would have in the first 2 weeks of the challenge.

Coffee 2:

Osaka, Japan – 5th April 2017
While waiting for Yumi to finish work we had a wander around Namba Parks and found a coffee shop: Bagels and Bagels. It was here we tried our first Sakura Latte. What a great start to my 50 coffees task!

Also, It was my first attempt at buying something in a Japanese shop, in Japanese, and it went rather well. I mean – we got the things we ordered, so that is always good.

Coffee 3:

Nara, Japan – 6th April 2017

Komeda coffee.

This is one of the coffee shops I looked up in advance and had been planning to visit in Kyoto. Turns out they are everywhere.

I had a few coffees in Nara, including all the ones I drank in Yumi’s house. This picture is me having an Iced Coffee, which totally counts.

Coffee is coffee.

Coffee 4:

Kyoto, Japan – 10th April 2017

Once we left Yumi’s home in Nara, we caught a train to Kyoto for our stay there. As I mentioned above, I had looked up Komeda coffee in advance. This branch is very close to Nijo Station, so we were frequent visitors.

As I had ‘walked the streets’ via the power of Google Maps, it was a very odd feeling to actually enter cafes that I had only previously ‘virtually’ visited online.

Coffee 5:

My Toyko Coffees.

So many coffees, but only one city. So ‘coffee 5’ is actually quite a few coffees

Harujuku, Tokyo, Japan – 15th April 2017

Toyko Dome City – 15th April 2017

Asakuka, Tokyo -17th April 2017

Coffee 6:

Wiston, West Sussex – May 2017
Not long after I had returned from Japan, I was off again.

This time for a weekend of camping in Wiston for the BCDO. Despite the weather, we had a lovely afternoon coffee and scones, all while hiding from the rain.

Coffee 7:

Newbury, Berkshire -May 2017

This may be the services on the way home, but it totally counts.

I had hoped to stop in one of the counties I have yet to tick off my list on the way home. Sadly this trip didn’t count, as I have already been to Berkshire, having spent time in Reading.

While the ‘county tick-off’ was not to be, I was able to “enjoy” a latte in the Newbury Services’ Mcdonalds.

Coffee 8:

Newport, Wales: 2017

This is a fairly weird one. We were in Newport for a funeral, so I feel a bit bad about including it.

But we did go to another city, and we did have a coffee in the pub afterwards. Also got to try out a Snapchat filter to prove I was there.

Coffee 9:

Berlin, Germany: 16th-18th March 2018

Wasn’t particularly impressed with this photo and I have accidentally ‘lost it’!

We found a Starbucks, and because I needed both coffee and WiFi we popped in. I had a bucket of coffee there, and then other lattes in various other places over the weekend.

Berlin was really nice, although at -7c it was a little cold for me!

Coffee 10:

Bovington Tank Museum:28th April 2018
It was Tiger tank day, and we even made a vlog of the occasion. The coffee was truly awful, but I did get to tick Dorset off my ‘Visit every county’ list.

Coffee 11:

Bicester, Oxfordshire: 29th April 2018
Well, the Cherwell Valley services, but totally counts. I purposely made a pit stop for a coffee and to tick Oxfordshire off the county list.

Coffee 12:

Milton Keynes – 29th-30th April 2018.
This was the closest Hannah could get tickets to go and see Dan & Phil in concert, so we made a weekend of it.

Managed to tick off a coffee, but also Buckinghamshire from the county list AND we got to go Indoor Skydiving!

Coffee 13:

Potters Bar, Hertfordshire. – June 2nd 2018
Okay, it was a ‘services’ again.

And much like our trip to Milton Keynes, I planned to stop just so I could tick Hertfordshire off of the county list. This was part of our journey towards Colchester.

Coffee 14:

Colchester Castle Park. June 3rd 2018
A coffee in the park while attending a Medieval Fayre that I have wanted to go to for the last 13 years.

I asked Toby to take the photo…so you can’t see the coffee, just my 5 chins, and will just have to trust me.

Coffee 15:

Cheltenham 23rd June 2018

We visited the Well Walk to celebrate my Mum’s Friend’s 60th Birthday. It was a quirky little place, that looked more like an antique shop than a tea shop.

No pictures of me with coffee yet again, but plenty of witnesses. Hannah will be going to Gloucester & Cheltenham University which is pretty near the Well Walk. Maybe I’ll get the chance to go again at some point?

Coffee 16:

Minehead, Somerset. October 6th 2018

Our girly weekend at Butlins, Minehead. It was a 70’s theme, so we got to see Leo Sayer, Gino Washington and some dancing pandas.

Coffee 17:

Southampton; March 9th 2019

Don’t ask! We drove all the way to Southampton because Harri wanted to buy 2 tortoises. We did get to tick off a new county (Hampshire) Also, I got to try out possibly the greatest pie I have ever eaten at Piecaramba! (I can thoroughly recommend ‘The Mountie’!)

Coffee 18

Weymouth, Dorset: Easter Sunday 2019

Having missed out on our last visit we decided to return to the Tank Museum with Paul in tow. It was very quiet for a holiday weekend, and we decided to risk it and go to Weymouth when we finally finished looking at everything.

Some genius – Me! I am the genius in this situation- had the wizard idea to bring coffee in a thermos. So I was able to drink it in whichever city we arrived in. So I got to drink coffee on the beach and watch the sun go down.

Coffee 19

Sutton Colefield, Birmingham: August 24th 2019

We spent a weekend at Paul’s friend’s house, so I seized the opportunity to tick off another coffee.

Coffee 20

Lymouth, Dorset: September 7th 2019

Pat decided to take us on a nice day out. We got to go to the beach, ride the cliff railway, and of course, drink coffee.

Coffee 21

Dublin Airport; 23rd October 2019.

We only got to sit in the airport, so it doesn’t count as a European capital, but I did get to have a coffee.

(Yes. It is the same jumper as above. I have a capsule wardrobe, what can I say!)

Coffee 22

Santa Monica, California 24th October 2019

The first of many iced coffees on this trip. I was amazed at the pricing of things in America. Some were far more expensive than I expected, while the food was really reasonably priced, for the most part.

They also appear to have an overwhelming obsession with ice. Much like my new overwhelming obsession with cold coffee… maybe I could do an iced version of the 50 coffees task?

Coffee 23:

Hollywood, California: November 2019.

Lots of coffee to be had here too, but this one was in the Disney/Ice-cream/Chocolate store on Hollywood Boulevard.

Yes, we bought far too much chocolate.

Yes, I have no regrets.

Coffee 24

Korea Town, California: November 2019

I appreciate that my accent isn’t the greatest, but the Starbucks staff insisted on calling me ‘Pauly’ for the entire holiday!

Coffee 25

Oxford Centre, Oxfordshire: February 2020

What with one thing, and another, mainly the ‘one thing’, I have not been out much this year.
I did get to go visit Carolyn in Oxford though and sneak in my only non-Bristol coffee of the year. It has also taken me to the halfway mark on this ’50 coffees’ task.

Hoping to get a few more in as the country opens up. After all, I still have plenty of counties to tick off and countries to visit.

Coffee 26

Barry Island, South Wales: June 2021 (It’s been a while!)

Having been invited on a day out with my friend Rin and her family, I was able to have a coffee by the beach. Oh, how I had missed the beach during lockdown!
I would return to the beach at Barry to tick another task off in Summer 2022 …must write that up.

For now, though here is me looking out to sea with a coffee in my hand. Which I obviously drank afterwards.