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2010-09-19
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This is one of the much talkabout café in Hong Kong these days. Great location, good pedigree, and award winning barista all play hand-in-hand in making this place the café of the moment. Starting with the person behind 18 Grams, Glory Coffee. To start, Glory Coffee operates by Aussies so you know they are well entrenched in the good coffee culture. I know this place back in mid 2009 when it hosted the first HK GBC at its headoffice in Kwun Tong. I had its Brazil Datterra and organic Peru an
Starting with the person behind 18 Grams, Glory Coffee. To start, Glory Coffee operates by Aussies so you know they are well entrenched in the good coffee culture. I know this place back in mid 2009 when it hosted the first HK GBC at its headoffice in Kwun Tong. I had its Brazil Datterra and organic Peru and thought to myself at the time that this one will definitely improve with time. And it did. An email in Christmas 2009 to follow up on its planned café in Kwun Tong area had gone awry but I’m glad that Glory finally makes it to a much better location at Causeway Bay now.
The name 18 grams was meant for the approximate amount of coffee it used. 18 Grams uses double basket to pull its shot no matter you order single or double espresso. IIRC, this is the trick that Starbucks employed extensively before they ‘downgraded’ to super auto, one push button machine you see these days as it helps reduce the problem with the consistency and training.
Let start with its black coffee. When I heard people asked me whether I visited this place, all I heard was an earful of ‘why so dark the roast’. Prepared for the worst, my espresso was actually quite nice on the first visit. The blend has a ‘hip’ tone one can easily sense due to the contribution from Ethiopia Sidamo without knowing its composition in advance. This “IT” coffee from Africa was widely used in famous blends like Square Mile’s Winter Espresso blend, Social Coffee’s 92 pt coffeereview Espresso II and 93 pt Ethiopia Sidamo Espresso SO, Sydney based Mecca Espresso's Dark Horse blend, Bangkok Espresso Lab's Timeless blend and hkcoffee’s competition blend, to name a few. In a word of a roaster, this coffee tastes good and priced right at the moment I don’t think this is the last blend you see that carries Sidamo as a ‘booster’. Nevertheless, the sweetness of the cup just suddenly stopped with no reason and warp into a dark roast tone, which grew over time and get worst in the aftertaste that lasted very very long. While the blend was somewhat saved by Kammie, the first runner-up on 1st HK GBC in 2009, on my second visit there, it had a more balance cup overall with the much more subdued orangey tone. The latest incarnation of this blend was roasted lighter to solve the problem and the increased proportion of Sidamo made the coffee more fruity which I like. Further improvement is possible vs. its peers.
My first milk drink here was slightly hotter than my acceptable range while Kammie helped correct it on my second visit. The third cappuccino I had here was spot on as I told the barista for my temperature preference and its texture was on par with cafés with Aussie/NZ root in Hong Kong. Nevertheless, this third visit gave me a very interesting tasting notes, a cappuccino with lots of nuttyness and orange rind at the finishing vs. a typical chocolaty dominated tone most capp delivers. If you love nut, this is the place as it’s the roaster favorite. By the way, ask the barista to hold the chocolate/cocoa powder and make the drink ‘warm’ as I believe that’s the way one can easily appreciate the skill of the barista which got lost in a hot chocolaty powder drink.
The much talkabout drink during summer is something cold and, in this case, it’s a Shakerato. Shakerato here is a double shot espresso 'pour' on ice in cocktail shaker and, of course, shake vigorously. Shakerato was served at the table with a barista poured the coffee out of the shaker using a strainer to block the ice. Two blushes with these drinks did not change my mind that even the best way to enjoy is hot. Like what Nick Cho, one of the coffee extraordinaire, indicated he was so adamant against it so big it was in Washington Post (please google it if you want to know more), I agree with him to a certain extent that espresso and ice do not mix well. The balance of this Silly Monster you found it so beautiful in its espresso/ristretto was throw out of whack with blunt/sharp acidity with no sweetness and bitterness so stiff like one pounded the wall. The syrup in my second one, prepared by Kammie, did help but not much. Refreshing, good looking Guinness foam head aside, Shakerato seemed to need a specially formulated blend with a very dark roast style like Peet’s or Caffè Vergnano (I was recommend for the latter as I can’t take coffee there at all).
Food offering, its All Day Breakfast came in quite steep at HK$78 though this could be passed as the norm for this location. Salad, typically treated as a "plate decoration", was the best part of this plate with a low enough temperature to keep the veggie crisp and clean, and nice yet inoffensive tangy and sweet dressing. IMHO, the temperature was so important but somehow most shop failed to grab the idea and serve its salad 'lukewarm' to the room temperature. Kudo to 18 GRAMS on this. The scrambled egg was passable with a hint of sweetness from the added cream, I believe, and the baked bean was OK. The gammon ham was too salty while the croissant was quite dry. Overall, it was OK. Other breakfast items worth a try too, IMHO. Toast and Jam was interesting with fig and cinnamon apple replacing usual suspects.
While this is still early in its operation, the weak point of 18 Grams is its ‘Mano’. Kammie helped rough out all the edge at 18 Grams vs. the other barista, which is good but still needs some time to run down the learning curve. If I hadn’t ordered espresso, which is beautiful with nuances and things, the last time I was there, I would have written off its blend. The reason is that my usual ristretto was so harsh I really had a hard time finishing it. Ditto with milk drinks. Also, the blend itself can be improved on the sweetness which somehow came a little ‘too late’ one might give up on the drink before they realize that it’s quite good. This wasn’t a problem with the similar blend I mentioned earlier at other roasters/cafes though
Like Glory Coffee, 18 Grams will definitely improve with time. I believe that more likely you won’t find the same experience I had next time you drop by as the passionate staff and roaster there will keep on improving its offerings. This is a good thing which keeps us all coming back to this place, isn’t it? I'm looking forward to a better cup next time I drop by...
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