Came here with Medium to High expectations knowing that @Rex Caffe is being operated by the original Antica Tostatura Triestina coffee maker from both Italy and America. Afterall, who shall know better about their own coffee blends?

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ESPRESSO -
When this arrived I was already suspicious. It had a light yellow-white tinge to the Crema colour, which also happened to be overly thin and nearly non-existent, < 0.5mm or even less! A sniff of the Espresso revealed very little nose, the final sipping confirmed my upfront hesitation. A rather poorly made espresso shot which is really off the mark, it would make Caffe Kenon's espresso feel like World Barista Champion material! My cup was too blonde, too thin without essential coffee oils extracted, and unconcentrated with watery consistency - also carried too little aroma and depth of flavour. Even the demitasse cup was too cold and overly reliant on being pre-warmed by the machine's top-vents rather than properly pre-heated with hot water. And the Coffee beans weren't freshly grinded but dropped straight from the Hopper into the group handle. All of these mishaps shouldn't be happening at such a Top-end shop, albeit commercialised from the outset.

Whilst sipping my disastrous drink, I took a sneak peek of another seemingly more educated Barista in the same shop making other coffees. I saw slight improvements in techniques but ultimately it was obvious her Espresso wouldn't be much better than the other barista on duty. Already utilising a pressure pre-set Clicker Tamper which should have eliminated at least 1 inconsistent variable - it was obvious one problem is that the Grinder measurement was set way off the mark for this pre-set Tamp Pressure, for that coffee beans at that time of the day! It need to be set a fair be finer, especially when the beans aren't freshly roasted but imported.
SCORE: 1.5/5

CAFFE LATTE -
This was again a bit disappointing. On the positive side - this milk coffee's temperature was just right and not too hot, but for others it might register as lukewarm. However, the milk frothing or stretching wasn't upto standard. It lacked enough aerated microfoam despite some largish bubbles intact - with barely 0.2-0.3mm of froth, this might classify as a Flat White or Regular Coffee, but Caffe Latte it was not!

The coffee taste was a bit weak but that's expected, knowing how poorly the Espresso base shot was produced.
SCORE: 2.0/5

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IN SUMMARY - this was quite unexpected but 80% blameable on Barista problems and 20% down to its imported Blend restrictions. Its not close enough to the mid-high standards set by say Coffee Assembly, First Pour, Quarry Bay Epoch, ROKA, PIERRE, Robuchon L'Atelier, Zambra, Initial Cafe, Glory, CREMA, Coco Espresso, FUEL, Cafe Y Taberna, Bonfire Cafe, or even TW Concept in TST, etc. Despite using the same brand, its also worst than some of the better run Caffe Habitu's or ex-Via Quadronno: the Elements store and sometimes the one under Hutchison House are both better.

Debailleul, Cafe Suzuki, Crystal Cafe, Caffe Kenon, Delta Cafe, COCO Mira, Cafe Golden, VERO, GVSTO, Robuchon Salon de The, McCafes, Percy's, One Bar, Le Gouter Bernardaud plus some I won't remember or bother to mention or still haven't tried (quite a few!), when under the right baristas on occassions beat here as well.

How can one not be then disappointed? The opening @ Rex Caffe by a world famous Italian shop - should have been about bringing in better coffee and barista training to stimulate the Hong Kong coffee scene. Not for me to 畫公仔畫出腸 and pay on average $25 a coffee as a customer then teach them its not upto standards. How about they pay me instead?