Breakfast at Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf

I arrived 40 minutes early for our 8 o’clock meet up at Greenbelt. Tired and sleepy, I figured a breakfast would do well to revive me. We were supposed to meet at Starbucks, but the first thing that I saw when I stepped out of the cab was Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. I’ve always loved CBLT’s pastries and pastas, now I want to try their breakfast.

Eggs Ben Breakfast set at Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf

They have a few breakfast sets that comes with your choice of coffee, tea or juice, and a cup of stewed fruits. I went for the Eggs Ben, basically eggs benedict on rosemary focaccia, with a couple more slices of bread and some butter and jam, and a cup of English Breakfast Tea for Php 229.

The presentation is good. I sliced a small triangle and took my first bite. What can I say? It was good; the flavor of the turkey ham and the hollandaise sauce mixes well and thanks to the otherwise flavorless poached egg and the bread underneath, it wasn’t overpowering.

Eggs Ben Breakfast set at Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf

After a couple more bites, I moved to the slices of focaccia. Using my hands to break off a piece, I was disconcerted that it took some effort. One bite and it confirmed what I initially thought: this bread is tough. All the focaccia I’ve encountered have been soft, so eating this bread that required a fair amount of chewing was a bit of a shock. Maybe it’s old and stale or was the victim of an unfortunate reheating in the microwave. Nevertheless, this was the only sour note in an otherwise hearty breakfast.