The Ding Dong Che 500

I do most of the coffee shop's business on my electric scooter. Signs of the times or perhaps a dead give-away that I am in Kunming. I currently drive a Shanghai Lima 2008 model. This is my fourth scooter since moving to China. Kicking the tires on my most recent purchase was different than most times as I have noticed many new improvements. For example, my Lima 2008 features a V-2 engine battery. Two batteries! It seems inconsequential but anyone looking under the hood floor mat would know that this little bike packs a punch.

No this is not my bike. But a very nice prototype in Thailand.

Maybe its been too long since days of driving real motored vehicles around but scooters have a bit of thrill in them. Perhaps its the smaller bike lane and the smaller vehicles that makes whisking around people on a scooter seem a little more fun than its suppose to be. But all this to say I would be the first company to sponsor a scooter at the Ding Dong Che 500. In fact I think that my four years of scooter driving experience would give me the inside shot at a spot as a driver of my Chicago Coffee sponsored scooter. Although I am sure that all those scooter-driving middle-age Chinese women with the detachable sleeves would apply in droves.

5 months and 20 days

That is how long I have been amusing myself that I have oodles of material to write a book about my coffee shop experiences. I am not sure I will ever get around to writing that book as long as I am doing what I am doing now but I thought I would at least begin blogging my musings about the unique life of running a coffee company and in Kunming, China of all places.

It's been amusing to see how blogging and forums has completely overhauled the way information is communicated. Now, for better or for worse, every person can have a voice about the way things are and the way things ought to be. I have been a part of this crowd for years but my new blogging efforts will be focused on a refreshing take on the truth and an in-depth and very personal look at the world through the eyes of a small coffee company in Kunming. It is this Crema Vita, a life fueled and spurred on by the crema of a fresh brewed espresso, that drives my reflections.