Drinks of life and death

Drinks of life and death

Kid-Mai Death Cafe explains the cycle of life through their signature drinks

SOCIAL & LIFESTYLE
Drinks of life and death
Photos: Pang Songthamniti

You don't usually see the words "death" and "cafe" go hand in hand together but anything is possible in the world of eateries and cafes in Bangkok, and here we have a cafe that is centered around the theme of death.

Within walking distance from the Ari BTS station, curious customers will notice the ominous-looking tunnel of an entrance to Kid-Mai Death Cafe. As you venture inside signs light up with messages such as "Are you tired today?", "Is there anyone waiting for you?" and "What's the purpose of your life?" The morbid doesn't end there as once you come out of the tunnel, you are presented with a mockup of a Thai funeral where customers can lie inside the coffin and feel what it's like to be dead.

With a sinister entrance, one would tend to forget that they're actually heading towards a cafe. And in some ways they may be right, as Kid-Mai Death Cafe presents cafe aficionados a strange new way to experience what's it like to feel dead as they wait on their drink orders. The cafe, founded by the Kid-Mai Foundation, was created merely as a way to attract the young generation to delve into the teachings of the Buddha, mainly to bring awareness of death. While death is inevitable, people rarely discuss it, therefore the cafe offers sermons and activities that encourages people to do good deeds in this world before their time has come, so that no regrets would occur to them should their demise becomes untimely. Therefore, despite being called a cafe, Kid-Mai Death Cafe's menu is more of a supplement than a main selling point for the establishment. So come for the drinks, stay for the teachings.

Nevertheless, and all weirdness aside, we tried all four of the cafe's intricately-designed signature drinks with each representing a stage in life. The first drink, titled 'Born', (B65) is meant to signal the birth from the mother's womb. That's right, this fizzy drink with its combination of red jelly, raspberry or cherry (depending on the day), soda and strawberry, lychee and lemon syrup mix is meant to represent the beginning of your life. And what a sweet beginning for life's journey it is served in a plastic cup that you may have mistaken it for a cocktail.

Next up on the menu is the 'Elder' (B65) drink which is essentially hot cocoa topped off with cocoa powder, marshmallows and milk foam. Meant to symbolize the point in life where we start to age, and our organs start to fail, this is a standard hot chocolate drink. We struggle to understand why anyone would want to drink this on an outdoor cafe under the scorching sun but to each their own. At least it is served in a black mug which goes well with their death theme.

Our favourite is the bloody looking 'Painful' (B75). A whipped cream float that is stuffed full of crackers, crumble, jelly, jam, and even a Pipo jelly thrown in for good measure. Living up to its name, anything that is red will be in there. To achieve the bleeding look, the drink is covered in sweet strawberry sauce. Therefore, sipping the drink on a straw will be difficult which is why the drink is served with a spoon for easy scooping.

After suffering through pain, comes the last drink 'Death' (B85) which is an iced cocoa milkshake topped off with whipped cream and Oreo cookies. We give bonus points in creativity for placing a chocolate Pocky stick that is meant to represent an incense stick seen those at Thai temples and funerals.

Kid-Mai Death Cafe's drinks are aimed more at gimmick than unique tastes. We applaud at the cafe managers in coming up with such designs and recipes for the drinks and associate it with the life and death cycle. While creative in its concept, and may have taken it a bit too far with the theme, the drinks taste just like any ordinary drink you would find at any cafe. However, the main reason customers would come to this cafe is more on the activities and setpieces on offer rather than the drinks themselves. The prices are reasonable and customers can get a 20 baht discount if they decide to put themselves in the coffin for three minutes, which is easier said than done (and a complete nightmare for claustrophobic people).


Kid-Mai Death Cafe, Ari 1 / Mon - Sun: 9am-7pm / http://fb.com/KidMaiDeathAwarenessCafe, 065-095-6959

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