咖啡香房

营业中

休息中

这间咖啡店是我们由它刚刚开店(2003)，一直帮衬到今日，由我们完全唔懂咖啡到现在略懂一二，这里的水准也是依旧如一(美味)。还记得当年，香港还未有咖啡文化，咖啡给我的印象，是一定要加糖加奶才好饮的，斋啡只有苦味，但第一次来这里，主理人竟然叫我们饮斋啡，(心想：不是玩我们嘛？) 但也决定一试，想不到，从此便爱上了，可惜当年咖啡店的选择实在太少，不像这几年越开越多，部份咖啡店的水准也明显很高。这里主要是买烘焙好的咖啡豆，而只有星期六日中午，才有提供堂坐品茗咖啡（但只有四个位），小吃也只是间中才会有，而主理人也只是用最简单的手冲方法冲泡咖啡，只有真正喜欢咖啡的人，才能领会当中的知味。每个人也有每个人的喜好，我自已就比较喜欢偏浓，而不是太酸的口感，当然如香气高就更好了。今次叫了Guatemala 及 Burundi 。 Guatemala ~ 味道复杂而均衡，带有阵阵香料味。 Burundi ~ 味道不算太浓，带有花香及果甜、微酸、回甘香甜。 继续阅读

本人一向喜喝意式的特浓咖啡，但其实喝咖啡喝得多了，也会开始欣赏其他的冲煮方法，烘焙方法等，情形就有如喝得多法国波尔多，也会去喝喝布根地，又会喝喝意国的Barolo，西班牙的Rioja等，誓神劈愿的喝死一款，也许真的没可能吧，所以世事真的冇绝对。见有个多小时的空档，当然就去偷杯咖啡，打了个电话给这上楼的小店，确定有开门之后，就来跑马地一趟，为的都是杯咖啡。此店由Kitamura San所开，本人也不方便充什么识人了，基本上此店的介绍HKE吧及Boblam兄已经介绍得非常清楚，本人就光谈咖啡好了。一打开屋门，真的劲清香，果然是玩轻炒的地方！坐下寒暄了数句之后，就问Kitamura San是日有什么推介，她介绍喝喝是日才炒出来的哥伦比亚豆，先要了杯哥伦比亚，用了最普通的方法，用上泸纸滴漏，由于Kitamura San似乎不太愿意其店的照片公开，所以本人唯有用一张另外照片来代替好了。看来水非常滚，杯咖啡真的很热，Light roast的哥伦比亚豆散发出阵阵清香，跟喝意式的espresso是另一回事，由于豆是今朝至炒的，果然是非常之新鲜，Kitamura San还让豆在透气，未曾放入雪柜。咖啡表面一点油也没有，果真是light roast，但整个味道是轻柔而香醇，淡淡的酸味带来一种近乎 橙的果香，放久了也不会酸，质地轻柔淸爽亮丽，的而且确是非同凡响，那股近乎甜蜜的味道留中口中久久不散，感觉非常之平衡，也平易近人，三十元一杯，以一杯这么高质及新鲜的咖啡，这个价钱简直是超级抵。之后再点多杯重口味一点的，Kitamura San介绍了秘鲁豆，这款豆dark roast了一点，嗅起来那阵焦香就是最好的证明，咖啡同样的很够热，喝起来炭烧的味道重一点，反之整个咖啡的口味冇咁复杂，所以个人比较喜欢前者。不过也不得不提，其实此豆那个香味仍旧不错，始终也只是昨日才炒好的豆，keep在雪柜内都很新鲜的，廿五元一杯，都确是值的。喝得多Espresso，偶尔喝一杯这些清香形的咖啡，又真的是不错，晚一点再介绍虹吸，又可说是介乎特浓及此冲煮方法之间的另一个感受，想起本人又想喝咖啡了。 继续阅读

一间很别致，很有个人风格的咖啡店！之前在一本讲咖啡的书看过这店的介绍，星期日那天终于有机会亲身拜访！ 店主是一位很nice的日本人，店虽然不太大， 但是装修，摆设都很别致，很有日本的style! 咖啡呢，跟其他一般coffee shop的不一样，咖啡的味道很香，但是不浓，而且价格也比较便宜，是一个饮咖啡的好选择 继续阅读

这家咖啡店在很多杂志，书本都介绍过，这天终于见见庐山真面目！店不是很大， 但是进去有一种很warm， 很舒服的感觉，而且店里有很多精致的摆设，真的很日本风格，肯定是日本老板的精心之作！ 那天点了一杯咖啡，忘了是什么咖啡， 味道不是太strong，但是咖啡味道挺好， 本人觉得比一般的咖啡连锁店的好喝， 下次再去时应该买一点回家自己冲 继续阅读

In business since early 2000s, Kitamura san is among one of the earlier force in the industry. I have been ordering coffee from Kitamura san since May 2008 when the shop was still in a building in Tin Hau area though I’m not a regular one here. I re-visited her shop back in April last year and definitely like her new place much more. Open, airy with lots of drip accessories, this is a drip coffee heaven and there’s lots more offerings at Kitamura san’s shop than just the recently discovered hip dripper Hario V60. As far as I remember, Kitamura san also offered her drip coffee on spot in a paper cup and some baked goods or stuff that went well with her coffee, depending on the day. Nevertheless, you should give the shop a call to see whether she’s there before dropping by.Some of her practice was quite unique including keeping roasted coffee in the fridge can be controversial to current Indie coffee trend. Nevertheless, I typically ask Kitamura san for any coffee she roasts fresh at the time and packs right away after it is cooled enough without going into the fridge and mails me as soon as possible. I only have her words that that’s what she did to all of my orders. So, this is like an omakase for coffee which means I only know the coffee when it arrives. My latest order was Colombia.I requested for a lighter roasted coffee. However, the coffee I received was very dark roasted. One can see oily surface of the bean even though this is only about 1 week after roasted date. The look of the coffee indicated that roast level at least Full City Plus to French Roasted, the level that pretty much imposed the roast profile on the bean which will overwhelmed whatever origin tastes the bean has. The oily surface indicated the ‘count down’ of the bean as rancidity will soon follow due to the chemical reaction of oil and air which is the same as most oil products. One can compare directly how dark the roast was with the coffee bean from the same source.Both coffee below are Colombia coffee. I happened to have on hand from hkcoffee.com which was approximately two weeks after roasting at the time. The coffee from the same location typically subject to the same processing so they should response to the roasting in a very similar fashion. Of note is the dry surface of older coffee which theoretically should be more oily than the recently roasted one at the approximate same roast level.Just the sight of it can give you a hint of what to come, the cup profile that will be overwhelmed by the roasty toasty taste due to the roast and the minimal profile from the origin of the bean. And my taste buds and others told the same story. Parallel of what Gary Vaynerchuk of Wine Library TV/dailygrape.com called overwhelmed oaky taste in red wine “Oak Monster”, the “Roast Monster” in the cup killed almost every nuances of the origin profile the only thing that got left is its nuttiness which is synonymous with coffees from Colombia. The acidity, flowery, exotic aroma/fragrance are typically of less significant in the taste profile of coffee from Colombia to begin with. Nevertheless, some could still survive in the lighter roast but they won’t see the light of the day with this kind of dark roast level. I typically describe the dark roast taste as more toward very dark chocolate and, in some sense, borderline with bitterness though not yet cross over to that area unless you brew at very upper range of 200 +/-5F, the SCAA’s recommended temperature range.However, the coffee was clean, a prized possession for any roaster to have this high quality coffee, thanks to Japanese’s meticulous selection of its coffee. The roast tone is also a nice change from what is hip and in these days from Indie roaster, ie acidity snap, flowery and exotic fragrance. Even an acid lover like me can be numbed by coffee from those Indie that seemed to ‘try’ too hard to impress with its tooth-aching acidity and exotic fragrance sometimes reminiscent of moldy/mildew things.Also, I believe this roast profile is typical to Kitamura san as all of my coffee ordered over the years from her have a very consistent kind of dark roast profile. I cannot say she has never roasted light; my order from her was not that frequent to detect such change if there is any. You can see the comparison in the picture and the shinier dark roast bean is from Kitamura’s. Note the oily surface and the roast date of about 1 week in the picture vs. at least 2 or more week for other famous Indie’s including hkcoffee, Richmond Hill, Ontario based Social Coffee Company and British Columbia based 49th Parallel (labeled under Crema Coffee of Toronto) which have absolute no oily surface, implying a much lighter roast and more origin tasting note in the cup.So what is the benefit of this very dark roast profile. Surprisingly, this roast level worked well for me on coffee with a rather harsh acidity like Kenya. When I first tasted her Kenya, I was shocked it’s unlike any other Kenya I had. Had I don’t know the name of the coffee before, Kenya will be the last thing in my mind for Kenyan beans from Kitamura san. The overwhelmed roasted profile in the cup balanced out the harsh acidity, reducing it to a more manageable level one can easily drink and enjoy. In a word, the dark roast profile reduced the cup for exotic and forward acidity to a very balanced cup I thought I was drinking coffee from Central America which is renowned for its bright acidity and balanced nature. Don’t get me wrong on this but, to me, her Kenya is unique and charming in a way though some would say what’s the point of having Kenya if there was no harsh lemony kick from the bean. I said that’s what I like and if she has it in stock, freshly roasted, then go for it as it will be rancid quite fast after 1 week to 10 days after roasting.I remembered the conservation with her a long while back that she roasted her coffee darker following the popularity of Starbucks in this territory. It’s also another way to describe her coffee in that her coffee is very close to Starbucks style. Now, for those who sneered at Starbucks, you can appreciate how Starbucks coffee will taste like when it is freshly roasted. This is an easy way to see how the freshness of the coffee after roasting affects the cup quality and understand why the world these days put a lot of emphasis on the freshness of bean from the roast date. While Kitamura san coffee is bold to extra bold, to use Starbucks’ terminology which seemed to imply dark roast, the liveliness in the cup is mesmerizing in a sense. If you are a Starbucks’ fan, you should really try Kitamura san coffee for a change. Make sure you finish her coffee within a week or 10 days to avoid the rancidity from the reaction of oil on the surface of the coffee bean due to the dark roast style to the air.To me, Kitamura san is a great treat once in a while after one enjoys the Indie coffee from the whole year. The dark and roasty tone should be good with clean tasting food like Japanese style cake and pastry. You’ll be surprise how well they all go together.In addition, the darker roast also worked very well in a blend. One can easily achieve a simple but tasty coffee with an equal part French roasted Colombia for caramelized sweetness, full city to full city plus generic Sumatra for body which seemed to be a thing for Hong Kong people, from my observation, and some bright sweet acidity snap from Central American lightly roast beans such as Guatemala. Yes, blended coffee is not what’s all the rage these days; progressive roasters scoured all over the world for the best coffee and roasted their coffee lightly to let the flavor of its origin shines is. However, once in a while, this kind of blend gave a more satisfying experience and Kitamura coffee is definitely a source that makes this thing happen, particularly on a darker roast profile which is quite hard to get freshly from Indie roaster in Hong Kong which followed mostly lighter roast principal.So, Kitamura san is a really nice change for coffee lover to a more traditional Japanese style dark roasted coffee. Also, I find the coffee here much better than Okada coffee both in term of coffee quality and the price, ie you could do much better than Okada coffee with Kitamura san's coffee unless you like to really sit down and eat/drink something which Kitamura san wasn't the place in the exactly same as Okada. Highly recommended for this category. 继续阅读