Back in 1996, Bengaluru witnessed the start of café culture with the opening of the first Café Coffee Day outlet at Brigade Road. And like we all know there has been no looking back ever since with the company, ABCTCL opening over 1000 cafes around the country.

I can clearly recall how everyone fell in love with this café that is rather known for its tagline, ‘A lot can happen over coffee’. True that is! Many of us chilled over the frappe and warmed our evenings with cappuccino. I myself had a strong emotional connect with the chocolate fantasy and I am sure many more have memories to cherish.

We openly accepted this new culture like it was always ours and did not mind shelling off big bucks on small coffee cups. But the quality, taste and the ambience was worth it. It really was! I still remember almost risking a friend’s life midnight once to gratify my CCD coffee craving. Even while travelling coffee lovers like me would beam at the sight of a CCD for that would be one thing making us feel at home.

We had CCD’s everywhere soon. From our colleges to homes to offices, there would be one outlet in our approach for sure. Now there are more. At every nook it exists like a pit shop. That’s just a fair deal for the CCD lovers.

But hey what the company could not realize is that this fast pace multiplicity would also come about at some cost. Now when you go to the nearby CCD you still get the same ambience and the same friendly staff. But what you don’t get is the same coffee. The paneer tikka have lost its flavour and the chicken puffs are bland and boring. Sometimes I have encountered stale food and the things that you want are generally out of stock and a lot is not available because whipped cream is gone for a toss. My favourite cold coffee is generally gross for it’s either too light or just too strong. And after such experience when the cheque arrives, paying a small fraction of your money also looks like a fairly big deal.

I am not writing this post because I hate CCD but for the love I have for it. I am making this effort so that someone reads it and rectifies before the standards stoop even more. Love you my frappe… I so want you back the same way.

xoxo

Shagun