Hugendubel
201100316 Kim Nam Hye
I personally really like to spend time in café. First of all, I like the comfortable moods of staying in cafe. Besides, I can concentrate on my assignments easier in cafe than anywhere else. I also enjoy reading books there. Of course, I love variety of delicious drinks and desserts too. During my time in Germany as an exchange student, there was a cafe called 'Hugendubel' which I visited very often - three to four times a week. So, I can remember it very vividly and specifically still now.
If you want to spend your time in Hugendubel, you first have to pass by lots of colorful books neatly loaded on each shelf, since Hugendubel is located on the 2nd floor of a big bookstore. Passing by those books for about 15 meters, you will encounter the vivid red stairs. I always thought that these stairs are well designed for human. The stairs are very low but at the same time robust, so it was very comfortable to go up and down. Kids go up stairs safely. Likewise, elderly people don't need to feel hard pain on their knees while going downstairs. Whenever I used the stairs to go Hugendubel, I felt as if I was still walking the flat floor. It literally seems to be the extension of ground.
The moment you enter the cafe, mouth-watering desserts on the show-window will definitely catch your eye. Each of them shows off their vivid colors: ivory, orange, flamed-red, black, chocolate, and dark brown. On the stand near the cashier are placed thick layered-cheese cake, impressive dark-chocolate cake, healthy-looking carrot cake made of real sliced carrots, one of my favorite poppy cake, and acerbic raspberry cake of vivid flame red color. In addition to that, there are hand-made cookies of many flavors, croissants, and other eye- catching delicious breads. Among them, what captivated my heart was 'Mohn kuchen'(the poppy cake). I have never tried this kind of cake before, as it is banned to eat poppy seed in Korea because of the addictiveness. So, it was a new world for me. Poppy cake not only has a unique appearance, but also has a distinctive flavor. The Dark grayed poppy seeds are densely laid on the top of the cake and well-baked brown bread accounts for the bottom part of the cake. The coordination of these two parts looks great. Once you bite a bit, the poppy seed is popping on your mouth. At the same time, you can feel kind of racy flavor of the poppy seed. At first, I was afraid of trying this poppy cake. But, after trying it, I was addicted to it.
When you look up side right back of the cashier, you will find a few menus for drinks. It is handwritten in German. When I wait for a line, a blond hair and blue-eyed clerk asks me in German with bright smile asks, "Was bestellen Sie?"-which means "What do you want to order?". I ordered without hesitance with a shy smile. "Eine Tasse Cappuccino bitte."- A cup of cappuccino please. From the pick-up desk, I cautiously take my cappuccino.
Now the next step is to find where to sit. When I Look around the whole café, various people are around me: Old men and women with deep carved wrinkles, young students looked in their early twenties are on the brink of burying their face on their books. There are also small kids with a lovely peach on their cheeks. They looked very curious and even adventurous, as if some brightening beam is sparking from their eyes. While standing amid the place, my ear is full of German. But it passes so fast from inside to outside of my ear that I can't catch the meaning - like a flash shot of camera. I stare around available seats. Actually, the seats are very ordinary, and nothing special. Few light brown tables and chairs are arranged sparsely. Once you lay your butt on the hardwood chair, it might felt very stiff. Now I start to taste the sip of my coffee. Though I ordered the hot drink, the temperature is always tepid. I suppose that this is because they mix both hot and cold milk while making my cappuccino. Fortunately, I liked the moderate temperature as I don't need to feel pain on my mouth due to too hot temperature. It's the right temperature for me. I feel something bitter but at the same time sweet because of the lactose, additionally soft. I love the mixture of bitter coffee extract and sweet milk. When they are blended, they form a delicious spicy taste. Also, the mixture of coffee aroma and new books' unique scent comes delicately to my nose. I like the combination of those two, as I can feel it only in Hugendubel : mixture of bookstore and coffee shop.
While writing this, I awfully missed all of things related to Hugendubel: poppy cake, tepid cappuccino, hand-written German menus, the aroma of Hugendubel, and even the vivid red friendly stairs. I hope to visit there someday in future, and enjoy what I had done again.
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