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For coffee lovers, the more café, the merrier. And I was quite happy to find another café that open its door in the area I frequent these days which is Tin Hau. Initially I thought this area will be another place for café crawl in Hong Kong. Turn out, after this visit, it will need some time to reach that stage to rival Sheung Wan/Central and Wan Chai.Typically, I don't really like visiting a cafe early on as most will need some time to whip itself up to be in a decent shape. Unlike others who like to be there first to tell people their experiences/stories, I don't really like to put myself through things like this just to be among the first to have such experience before others at a certain new place. I usually prefer to give them a 6 month period for all that kinked to be iron out.But this one is different as it is in the area I spent quite a few of my time there. And the café looks real good from the outside. The machine setting looks decent and the décor is good, a nice change to most cafés that is good on coffee but seems to fall short on other details in term of comfort and well thought out place, in my humble opinion.Once I step inside for the first time, I thought I was singled out for the type of service I received. When I showed up at 10:57am, the shop told me that they had not yet opened so I needed to wait till the official hours which started at 11:00am. But the impression I got was that nobody was quite in charge and I needed to leave the shop waiting outside until 11am. So, I asked the shop whether I can just sit and wait inside, in a way inviting myself of sort to be there inside the shop. It took them a moment to come up with a ‘yes’ at the time. Strange as it sounded then and now to me. So I sat and waited.Once another customer came in at 11:00am, the barista proceeded to take order right away, ignoring me in the process while preparing drinks for that customer. I really hate this kind of service I felt like I was cut the line while lining up. Mad was beyond the word I would use. A very big complaint here on the thing I hate the most.Also, the barista didn't show he cared or bothered who he served the coffee. Whoever and whenever get his coffee in order or not did not matter; that seems to be the attitude that the barista showed to me on that day. Or this is a last-in-first-out kinda practice because if that's the case they should put it in writing clearly on the wall somewhere so customers can see and prepare. I was at the shop first, a first customer to be exact on that day, almost felt like I put up a fight to be seated and waited patiently to order but got pass/cut the line with barista showing no remorse, feeling, care or anything at all about my being here. Should I not complain?It's easy to solve but, for customers, it can be like a straw that breaks the camel’s back, easily cause a drama in your cafe so this should be one of the focuses of any cafe, don't let customers feel they were cut in the line like this again.This is one of the main reasons I don't like visiting a cafe early on as most will need some time before it can whip itself up to be in a decent shape.Back to the interior, this café has a two island setup which is a nice change to any other café with a long counter enclosing all things be it food or coffee. A person I respect on the Indy café operation did mention that this is not a good and efficient use of space, cost and manpower.But for a consumer like me I welcomed a change like this like a breath of a fresh air to the same old same old thing forced upon us by the regulation, operating efficiency or whatever. You can really see and smell things while they cook. Unfortunately, I wasn't really there for food on that day though I will try it next time.Long time no see French Press in an obvious display for Indy cafes as French press seemed to fall out of fashion with Indy due to its rather 'murky' cup which seemed to reduce the clarity the third wavers these days crave for.Also, on the décor side, the trend comes fast. I saw Hario used V60 funnel as a lamp shade at SCAJ World Specialty Coffee Conference and Exhibition 2014 toward the end of September this year. Artisan seems to play homage, accidentally or intentionally, by using siphons as a lamp shade. Very creative and nice indeed.My first order is my usual milk drink, cappuccino. The drink came at a right temp per my request i.e. not scalding hot like most served to fit the local requirement. For the cup itself, the milk was neither luxurious nor bad.The coffee base of the Capp feels good but is mostly basic generic genre for espresso that is caramel sweet with hint of exotic nose and acidity, not those brighter coffee that seemed to be the "IT" thing these days.Some weakness of the coffee base is a bit roasty tone at the back. The roasty back get worse in the milk when it cooled down further but, luckily, it is not that much of a distraction I can still enjoy the coffee.Espresso tastes like a very basic blend with a hint of darkness trying to punch through milk on a rather traditional/classic note closed to what I tastes years back in Hong Kong. Again, it is neither good nor bad i.e. more or less a hint of dirty back but not much to bother me. I considered myself lucky after I talked to more folks that tried coffee at Artisan as I was told it's bitter and the cup felt like grinder wasn't set right. Still this is a given for a cafe just in operation not too long ago though some manage to outdo this like the first two week at the Cupping Room when it was still in Stanley.  And you know how far the Cupping Room has come now!This type of lemon water did damage to my tastebud in Singapore at Chye Seng Huat Hardware so that you can't really get a good taste of coffee itself. I need to get my own bottle water to visit this type of cafés but I forgot. I ended up asking for a water from the filtered faucet right beside the espresso machine. I can taste coffee much better with any regular water than this spiked water. If you think coffee served was real bad, drink this lemon water right after you finish the coffee, it will save your day and allow you to be fairer to other cafes if you plan to drop by right after the one that serves horrible coffee. Otherwise it will twist your tongue further away from how the coffee really tastes like and it will be a shame if that café happens to serve good coffee with a good pull. Also, Artisan used pancake syrup as you can see from the bottle in the picture, not the real maple syrup! Just FYI if you are after the real thing.My drip coffee is coming and the dripper seemed to show a decent move so far but the proof is in the cup, isn't it? The drip coffee of Brazil, the barista and the owner's recommendation, was ok vs other drip in town but this cup can still be improved significantly. I got the taste profile of some acidity and caramel but was rather blurred/not clean and clear. One can partly claim it is due to Fuji Royal grinder's easy cup profile. At that time, I'm sure once it cooled down the cup will be undrinkable. And as expected over brewed tea are dominant when it cools down with unpalatable "chocolate."After I dropped by this cafe, all the negative comments ensued and seemed to flood in both on openrice and from all the people I drank coffee with. Typically I would just say Artisan had bad days but as I was there to witness the service myself, I could help sympathize with all those complaints and wonder how much worse they get vs. what my treatment I received. Even after a nice café like Artisan opened in a conspicuous location vs others in the area, when I walked pass by the area, Silly Boo is almost always full to the seam they needed to turn customers away at times and I heard Espresso Alchemy has a relatively good business. Artisan, however, is typically relatively less busy most time I wonder why people need to wait and wait at Silly Boo. I know the answer after I drop by; it's not difficult to see once you are at Artisan.Still, all in all this is still the beginning/early days as the cafe opened a week or two so one needs to give the place some time to settle. In addition to the décor, the owner seems to be very enthusiast but not overly which is a nice. Also, I feel like I cannot put the finger on this café on the direction it will go in the future. It’s in a ‘transition’ phase and there is almost an equal chance for the place to go up or down on quality.I consider myself lucky on coffee beverages I had which is just OK vs. others that I haven't heard any good word at all on the coffee.  The service needs significant improvement so it's a crying face.  Overall, ok cup, bad service and just opening at the time I just placed it barely OK.For now, you can enjoy the decor and ambience at Artisan with owners that are more of an enthusiast than businessmen which can't be bad for enthusiasts, IMHO.  We'll see how the cafe turns out to be in six months time.  I can only hope Artisan improves by then but what I heard so far has not been encouraging at all.…查看更多

Freshness Coffee is not a new coffee shop to me.  The owner and I were among coffee lovers drinking and brewing coffee for the enthusiast crowd at hkcoffee in North Point for so long when we were still coffee lovers. Of course, he brewed and I drank, definitely not the other way round; otherwise nobody will be able to enjoy the coffee. Yes, I'm still the same old customer, going out to drink good coffee at various cafés out there while he moved on to pursue his dream.  As such, Freshness is quite new and green in running a cafe but the brew skill is not.  Far from it, to me, the cup of drip coffee delivered to you will undoubtedly be right up there with the best Hong Kong has to offer.As the barista is good at hand drip, let start it with the thing he does best and what I really recommend anybody to have at Freshness, pour over coffee. The coffee was soft and nice with sweet fruit and a cracker. The cup felt very balanced with super clean from start to finish and all the tasting notes can be easily identified and the coffee was so clean and clear, a hallmark of great brew skill.  Some may say it’s a bit ‘watery’ but to me as long as there is no off taste (All those dirty murky indescribable stuff which is easy to find in hand drip in most places) and you can get all the good and comfortable tastes, not those acrid bitter kinda thing, with ease it is a good brew skill on the back of the good raw material, coffee roasted by one of the Big Three of Indie coffee roasters in the US, Counter Culture Coffee.Another pour over of Mexico Chiapas Triunfo which was roasted by Blue Bottle, a famous west coast coffee establishment that spreads its wings to the east coast now. Usually people will overlook this ‘base’ coffee but I find it interesting when roasters push base coffee like Colombia, Brazil and Mexico to the forefront which implies the quality of the bean.   I’m not disappointed with the coffee bean. It is sweet which is a good character to begin with following by green apple but then it warped into somewhat dirty finish at the back. I ended up chewing the coffee bean to see how it is like and whether it's Freshness who couldn't manage it.  Drip coffee needs a lot of skill; it's not just pouring water on the coffee ground and it's quite hard to get it right but very rewarding if you can.No, Freshness did not drop the ball; it’s more likely the roaster who did. Freshness just delivers the cup the way it is and probably helps the coffee a bit by accentuating the sweetness in the cup. I don’t have much luck with Blue Bottle in the past so I’m not surprised with this bag. Still the coffee is enjoyable overall; the brew skill saved the day. Only if the bean is better so that it can showcase Freshness’ good brew skill.During the brew, I did what I shouldn’t do, talking and asking about the way he brewed coffee.   The right thing is not to interrupt barista when they do the job as a lot of concentration is needed. However, Freshness does not mind sharing the tip, recipe and how he went along to get a nice cup of coffee. In a way, I wish he opened a workshop so that brew coffee lovers can learn a thing or two from one of the good hands in drip coffee in the Hong Kong market, discussing and sharing brewed coffee among enthusiasts with a focus on good coffee is always a great thing for coffee lovers, IMHO.Let move on to coffee brewed under pressure and I started with Cappuccino. The drink delivered to me was on a hot side but apart from that I can’t find much to complain about. The milk is still sweet and no sour note that I get more often with this kind of drink which ruined the cup badly. The texture of the milk is reasonable, still not luxurious and velvety as the best in town but it’s quite nice in the mouth. The overall cup has a hint of chocolate milk to me, a unique roast signature of hkcoffee, a roaster Freshness typically uses, when mixed the coffee with milk. Initially, I thought about stopping myself just a few sip of Capp to see how it is as Freshness is actually more about pour over coffee. Turn out, I can’t stop myself and kept on drinking the cup ahead of my coffee quota at the time.  It’s a nice Cappuccino indeed. The base coffee is Mexico Single Origin espresso after all but it delivers a good enough sweetness with some caramel note in the cup that can be easily considered amazing for such a base coffee like this.I am so curious about how good this Mexican SO is and the espresso told me why. This Mexican is not simply just another base coffee; it wowed me big time. Nice sweet fruit with a bit of caramel at the back and sweet all the way.  This coffee is really delicious both black and in milk and this basic bean seemed to outperform Blue Bottle's, implying the importance of the skill of the roaster, hkcoffee, and the skill in selecting the coffee to use as a default espresso at Freshness by the owner and roaster.  Unless one gets a really top notch roasters from abroad like Counter Culture or the like, typically a good local roaster should beat imported on freshness and the interaction/cooperation between roasters and barista to come up with great coffee.  And it shows at Freshness.Overall, after six months in business, Freshness shows how far it comes along from just a good place to have drip coffee to a place to have good coffee, period.  I was impressed with the level of hospitality which was also shared and witnessed by other customers on that day.  Freshness Coffee is the coffee shop that serves good coffee, from coffee lovers to coffee lovers.…查看更多

If you read my earlier writing on Knockbox when it is still in Sheung Wan, you know that Knockbox is one of my favorite cafes in Hong Kong; the other café is Rabbithole Coffee Roaster. I regarded this duo as once a one two punch to Hong Kong coffee scene that helped raise the bar of the coffee several notches higher. While I would like this duo to maintain its role and remain the same, the only sure thing in this world is change. What's news? - Food and beer!Knockbox now serves food, real food that you can really have it as a meal here and feel full, not those dainty and cutesy stuff just to complete the coffee.  Among those typical fair like all day breakfast and the like, these two items worth talking about.This is the much talked about food item at Knockbox, fish and chip. Nevertheless, the fish is oily you can see it on the surface from the picture.  The fish inside seems to be a good stuff but feels like it is kinda overwhelmed by all the oil used to fry it. It is as if the oil is not hot enough. The fries under the fish is rather lukewarm at best and wilted but tastes ok even after all that; this is the best part of the dish. Still, I will give a benefit of the doubt on this fish and chip as one of those days and possibly try it again.I was told by several they won’t pay for this dish and suggested me to better go to the nearby 18 Grams in Mong Kok for the same kind of dish. I didn’t have a chance for a bite but my companion, which is quite a picky eater, has no complaint about it at all. Guess it is good enough now.What's the glory? - roast work and green bean selection.In the old day, Knockbox was where one can get to drink coffees from Indie roasters all over the world be it good or bad. A trip to Knockbox was like a journey every week into an unknown land of coffee. Fascinating and exciting, particularly for coffee enthusiast with curiosity on how coffees from places taste like. Coffee enthusiasts from beginner to advanced drank coffee late into the night or early morning and we all had a great time. Some even had a role in recommending and/or bringing coffee back to Knockbox so we could all enjoy the coffee together and exchange points of view.  Whether we agree, it's not a problem as it's all amicable and coffee focus kinda things. It was not just drinking coffee; it’s a ‘culture', a place of happening on coffee at Knockbox late into the night.These days, Knockbox took almost a 180 degree turn, offering mostly in house roast work of selected green coffee bean. These green are not of garden varieties but those with cachet like green bean from Cup of Excellence (CoE)'s winning farm that Knockbox’s management flew directly from Hong Kong to the sources in Central America and Africa to cup, taste, score these coffees with renowned coffee folks from all over the world in order to vett winning farms and take part in providing a test notes which are used by coffee professional worldwide.  Knockbox also concludes the process by participating in the auction to bring such great coffees back to us enthusiasts in Hong Kong. To me, the idea was novel and noble for the Hong Kong market and should give Knockbox a competitive advantage in the long run akin to those great indie coffee roasters worldwide that source coffee themselves on a regular basis.In addition, Knockbox supplements its already outstanding coffee program with the crème de la crème of green coffee bean from Ninety Plus, a producer of rare, exclusive and pricey coffee of Africa and Panama origin. Furthermore, there are direct trade coffees from farms in Central America with connection forged during its CoE trips and a small portion of selected green from reputable coffee brokers in its repertoire.Excellent green beans won't matter if the roast work is not up to snuff. Knockbox is also the first among Asia ex-Taiwan coffee roasters to achieve a high score of 94 points from coffeereview, a renowned coffee ranking website. Such a high score is specially classified by coffeereview as 'outstanding' level, a mark of approval from one of the international coffee gurus. As such, it’s no accident Knockbox’s roasted coffee performs very well; in addition, the coffee will shine through when you brew these coffee at home.  In addition, it gets better. The price of Knockbox’s roasted coffee is now within reach. It was $180/200g or more but these days quite a few coffee beans have a starting price of $110/200g, definitely not cheap but more affordable. In addition, it is so convenient to get coffee from Knockbox as Knockbox offers delivery services within Hong Kong right to your door you don’t have to cross the tunnel and wade through the crowd in Mong Kok to get a bag of coffee. The one I like recently is its offering from Colombia which tastes sweet, clean and has almost no hint of nuts as if it is my favorite coffee from Central America.What goes up, …? - brew skillWhile the focus is razor sharp on tje roasted coffee business, the brew quality at Knockbox was not where it was in the past. The symptom started with the move from Sheung Wan to Mong Kok and the big change of guard where the major players in its barista team left Knockbox. Any café that can survive such a turnover is a miracle and, to me, Knockbox suffered the same fate. Gone were the days the great brew skills were a given no matter which barista was at the helm and all customers had in mind is on the coffee itself and how good/bad the bean is.There were times when Friday Night Coffee Premier at Knockbox was more of a mere social gathering function than any meaningful get-together to focus on the coffee itself. Quite often, the coffee either roasted in house or imported by Knockbox was brewed so bad it was neither recognizable nor drinkable. Even worst, I can't recognize bags of coffee I brought along with me for Knockbox’s barista to brew in hope for another aspect/interpretation of my coffee by the pro at Knockbox. It wasn’t a pretty sight and experience.  Yes, I still dwelled in Sheung Wan past when I thought of great cups of coffee at Knockbox. Why not, the past is so sweet, the focus is on the coffee served in front of each customer one cup at a time. But, unfortunately, the present is the only thing that we have. :( Nevertheless, luck is still on customer's side.  One good thing is that the brew skill keeps on improving by days and the current team, the third generation of barista team at Knockbox, shows signs of promising that may one day lead Knockbox back to its glorious past like cups of coffee Knockbox’s customers typically got when Knockbox was still in Sheung Wan. At the moment, I had a better luck on a regular coffee session, ie coffee brewed by the cup per order during its regular buisness hours, than on the renowned Friday Night Coffee Premier. Still I can’t say it is consistent as I haven’t visited much on its regular coffee session. Also, I can't guarantee that there won't be another change like a fourth, fifth, sixth, etc generation of barista as barista jobs are currently in high demand with cafes opening the doors left and right.To me, the first year at Knockbox is the year of great brew skill and well curated imported coffee.  Nobody has come close to that level including the current Knockbox itself.  The second year was quite rocky with the move across the harbor but it still manages to bring out the best on its coffee offering, making it hard for any other coffee shop to follow on this path.  Unfortunately, to me, the tradeoff seemed to be at the expense of the brew skill. This year, the third in its operation, I wish the focus were the return to the great brew skill, a focus on winning a customer one cup at a time, bringing all the glory from Knockbox's first year back to where it belongs, in front of each customer on each cup at the current Knockbox.  I still heard such conversation of "back in Sheung Wan" even recently.  The roasted bean is now top notch but the brew can still be improved. I'm looking forward to hearing such a return to glorious past at Knockbox, hopefully sooner than later.…查看更多

The first time I heard about the name I was taken aback why someone wants to name a cafe like that.  I talk to the barista and I don't quite get it on the reason.  Nevertheless, this is a good way to get notice with this kind of catchy name to begin with but it miscommunicates what this cafe is all about.  Contrary to its name, NOT serves a specialty grade coffee.  NOT uses selected coffees both single origin and espresso blend from CENG, a local coffee roaster and trainer based in Kwun Tong.  In addition, NOT is run by an experienced barista with a background from one of the better known cafe in Hong Kong.  The shop is more than qualified to be called a cafe that serves specialty grade coffee.Contrast to my early expectation of a rather quiet place, the pace of the business is amazing.  Almost two hours I sat there customers come in and out all the time.  I think one of the greatest strengths and charms at NOT is its barista/owner who seems to know customers by name, call out drinks as customers come in and is more than willing to answer questions from customers regarding the drink and his recommendation.  The soft skill likes this was hard to come by these days in cafes in Hong Kong where you won't be surprised to see lots of personnel in established cafes from the boss to the crew act up.  The effort to place an emphasis on each customer, pure and simple, is what makes a great cafe, putting one's heart into serving one customer at a time.  To me, it's not those grand visions but a rather simple focus on one cup at a time for each customer that counts for a customer like me.Let start with my usual order, Cappuccino.  The drink is on a hot side toward the high end of my preferred temperature range.  Nevertheless, the drink is nice even when it is still hot with some texture though I sense some overextraction, but not that distracting, bit of the base coffee in the cup.  When cold, the milk has the milk powder undertone and the coffee base feels a bit roasty that stays with me for a long while.  Luckily this is not those kinds of chocolate aftertaste that felt dirty in the mouth for so long cups of water can't help and only soda can.   So, in a way, the cup is drinkable in its own style.My next order is espresso.  The cup feels really harsh, particularly on the first sip, and it feels like the layer of taste does not separate well.  Nevertheless, the major highlight is the ending which is dominated by Sumatra!  I get earthiness from Sumatra in the cup and expect the worst, only to end up happy with a nice velvety mouthfeel, particularly on the aftertaste where earthiness was not particularly distracting.  It's a big surprise for me who is not really in to Sumatra.  This is a major achievement indeed by the roaster CENG and the barista himself at NOT.  It is not easy to tame Sumatra to this drinkable level and I'm glad that they did.  Considering that the shop has been opened for only about a month or so and managed to serve this kind of cup, particularly making Sumatra in espresso not that offending, you know the skill level and I can only expect better cups to come.All in all, this is still an early days for this cafe and I don't think it is fair to expect a perfect cup from any visit this early.  Sure, each cup of coffee has its weakness but at the same time there are positive angle in the cup to compensate for it.  To me, the coffee here is drinkable no doubt about it and it's not easy to achieve this point, particularly from the start.  I expect some finetuning is in store along the way and, to me, I expect a further improvement as time passes from NOT.  I suggest you to try NOT now and see how this cafe develops.…查看更多

Accro is quite an intriguing café for me with two award winning barista at the helm but mostly meh or neutral comments I got from coffee enthusiasts I talked to on coffee. While I want to try this shop for so long myself, its distance does not work well for me so I grabbed the chance when I was in the area. The experience was quite interesting.Once I stepped in, I was greeted with not only the full house I was getting in. Customers at the shop talked about coffee that they drank enthusiastically much more than lots of coffee places right in the business district, describing nuances, aftertaste and etc. in the cup to friends. I'm impressed!The blackboard presents special coffees with an emphasis on tasting note but severely scrimps of details on coffee available on that day which makes it quite hard for me to pick the coffee itself. Luckily, the barista kinda made the decision for me after talking to me on what kind of taste I like and don't.Nevertheless, it would be better to provide more detail of the coffee ie which area/farm/type and roast level so it helps customers more and shows how meticulous Accro is in to good coffee. Also, English would be a nice addition to menu for me. :)The first cup that I had was from Ninety Plus Estates and that’s all the detail I got for the cup but if I have to guess, the coffee is from Ethiopia. The cup is very decent even for this high quality level of 90+ coffee. I got a rather expected complex tasting notes, intertwined layers of enzymatic and acidity plus some sweetness in the cup. However, for the siphon brew at the competition level at Accro Coffee, the cup is way too smooth vs my expectation of a more analytical type and more clarity in the cup, the hallmark of good siphon I got at Knockbox in the past.Still, the cup is good, no doubt, and I like it a bit more than KC coffee's siphon but not much more though as the cup wasn't opened up much with distinct notes. As an aside, I would be happy with this kind of cup years ago but now I prefer more distinct tasting notes/clean and crisp cup to just simply a smooth cup of coffee.The second cup I had is Kenya AA Thika which was recommended by the barista. Kenya it is with clear lemony note in the cup. Again I had a smooth cup overall which seemed to be a signature of this barista vs a more analytical as I should expect from siphon brew. The cup is again an easy cup which should appeal to most coffee drinkers and this can be considered a good job in this sense. Again, nothing is bad in the cup though I expect much more distinct note from this brewing method with longer and clearer aftertaste.Off the menu item: a dry processed Nicaragua: I was told my first choice El Salvador was roasted quite dark and might not suit me well so I was offered another Central which is this Nicaragua. The bean looks lightly roasted but the cup was far from an ideal Central that I typically like. Not the processing but the cup lacked acidity. The coffee had a strong smoky dark tone with prominent peanut tasting notes, the worst of both worlds for me. The peanut lasted so long and lingered in my mouth which made me feel very dirty. The good brewing turned out to be a punishment as it didn't hide all those tasting notes.I had a chance to drip iced coffee which seemed to be a cold/iced drip coffee. I'm not really in to this kind of brew. I guess it is passable but that all I can say. Also, I had a second visit at night about a month later and the barista was different. Only the first cup was reasonable but the rest I had that night was not what I expected from café of this high caliber. I considered it an off day. Well, sometimes, things happen.One thing I couldn’t quite put my hand on is that I felt torn with its cups. Lots of tasting notes can be easily found in the cup and the coffee delivered should be able to light up the scorecard like a Christmas tree so I have no doubt why both barista were well recognized and awarded. However, I felt the cup missed something and it is not what I called delicious but more of an interesting take. All those various tasting notes just showed up and went separate ways they weren’t coherent enough to make the cup whole. It likes listening to music in the digital format like CD which shows lots of details but the analog format such as those from vinyl gives much more joy and make whole for the experience. One can attribute this to a ‘style’ that the shop delivered. If that’s the case, which I don’t quite agree though, I have to say this is not my coffee style then. This kinda answered my curiosity on comments from enthusiasts I talked to which is either meh or neutral.Still this is a very interesting café to drop by if you happened to be in the area. I myself will visit the café again if I happened to be in the area and can recommend anybody to do so. The vibe of the café and the cup itself will show you how good this place is. Most coffee there are darker roasted to fit its customer’s preference; so for enthusiasts, ask the barista for the recommendation and the lighter roast that they may have on hand.…查看更多

When I first heard about Amical, I wasn't really thrilled about this place. Not because it wasn't good, but I expect this is more likely to be a darker roast style, judging from what I had at Cafe Corridor/Coffee Assembly who I initially heard run this place. Turn out I was totally wrong, wrong and wrong and that's a good thing!!! :)While the setting of Amical in Pacific Place area is more like a cafe, Amical itself does something more than that. The coffee operations was via Coffee Assembly who provides barista and filtered coffee service.Not only that, Amical plans to have coffee from its own farm in Cameroon available for sale in Hong Kong in the future, a step ahead of almost of all cafes in Hong Kong and I admire the effort.Apart from nice outdoor seatings, I love the artwork on the wall. My usual seat, however, is at the counter which, to me, is the best seat of the house. You see the barista busy preparing my coffee in the background. Expect one of the best cup here! :)Brazil bourbon hand drip: What was I thinking having brazil hand drip! Actually, the bean chew wasn't that bad, sweet with some acidic touch. When brewed, it's more of typical "coffee" taste, caramel sweetness but with tiny hint of acidity you need to look to get it. The barista's brew skill is good, a bit on the overextracted side but there was nothing much to complain about and I'm very ok with the cup. This is a good start! :)Ethiopia Sidamo G2 hand drip: It is like a long lost friend come back. But before that, let talk about the brewing a bit. Seemed some said the hand drip will be the 'future' of coffee going forward. To me, it is at best the current trend while the future lies in something else. When I look at the barista's brew style, it reminds me of how the barista at CENG in Causeway Bay brew his coffee, ie one continuous pour fill the funnel up high and let the gravity work its way down all the way. No stop and pour thing. It gave a rather consistent cup with a bit of an overextraction but one can get all the nuances. I consider CENG the best hand drip in Causeway Bay :) Nice orangey/citrus tone both in dry fragrance and wet aroma unmistakably Sidamo. In the cup it's sweet and floral. A bit over in the cup but not bad at all. With this level of coffee and cups delivered, I'll be back for sure.Back to the coffee that is unique here, Cameroon. This is a Cameroon single origin espresso and this is the only coffee at Amical which is roasted in house by a co-owner; the rest of the coffee at Amical are roasted by Coffee Assembly/Cafe Corridor group. I got caramel brown sugar beginning following by nice acidity with an expense on body but I'm fine with that. I actually order two shot on the day and I saw the barista threw away a few. Rarely I see this happen and it does imply her attention to the shot, not just "consistent" operation kinda thing ie push button, time it and get it done robotic barista you see at most cafes out there.I took with me a coffee from one of the famous roasters from the US west coast on that day for the barista to brew. You can sense her enthusiasm on the coffee once I show the bag and this is quite hard to get from most barista these days no matter what level of cafes you visit. Bringing in the bean and paid for the cup in full, yes, that's me. If you want the cafe you go to remain there to serve you, do your part to support the business; otherwise, they will disappear. Back to the coffee, I got lots of brown sugar with a hint of sparkling acidity and fainted grass vs. a sweeter cup overall but more subdued vs. what I had of the same coffee at Rabbithole a week earlier. Still the coffee is very balanced and reserved. Good enough.To me, Amical is an oasis of good coffee among the coffee deprived desert in Admiralty, a must stop by if you are in the area. Apart from a modern take on the coffee offered there and the pleasant ambiance/design/seating, I am most impressed with the barista and her passion on the coffee which makes the night and day to the cup quality and my experience visiting coffee places, a big plus to any cafe to have this kind of barista which is always very hard to come by these days.…查看更多

To me, KC Coffee is a very interesting cafe. I remembered I visited this place in early April, only to find out that it's closed due to public holiday. After letting others know of my disappointment the shop closed on my visit, lots told me that I didn't miss much or I was lucky that the place was closed... Some even suggested me to go to other cafes in the area as a better bet than KC Coffee... This made me even more curious how a cafe can garner this much negative recommendation not only from coffee crowd but also those who loves to try new places too. This is my first time I receive so many negatives/againsts on a single cafe even those very low on my current cafe list have never attracted this much negative attention. Is KC Coffee "that" bad? Some told me that there were only limited coffee on the offering at KC and those on offer did not sound that interesting. However, I found quite a nice list of coffee when I was there. Judging from these words, the shop might have quite a few "kinks" earlier. To me, from the outside of the shop on that day, the coffee offering was interesting. KC Coffee served imported coffee from Honey Coffee which, from the internet, seemed to be one of the more famous coffee roasters in Japan. It is a part of the Maruyama buying group, a well known figure in the renowned Cup of Excellence program as a major buyer. Honey Coffee's main shop in Fukuoka, Kyushu, Japan also sports $$$ one-cup brewing machine, Clover Brewing System. In a way, I have a high hope on the quality of the green bean. Let start with an espresso first. Yes, espresso blend is from Japan by Honey Coffee and this blend is actually made of Brazil, Guatemala and El Salvador. The espresso shot looked extremely short and tight to me vs. my espresso order. I had orange/acidic notes in the cup with dark somewhat bitter tone at the back which remind me more of 18 grams but not as dark and powerful. The body eerily reminded me of cups I typically get from La Marzocco GB5 which is on the thin/lean side so no surprise here (KC uses LM GB5). To me, the eureka grinder makes this even more clear that it's LM GB5 cup i had. Later, I felt the dark tone at the back quite dirty toward the end and feel it is more from the roast profile of this particular roaster. In all, this coffee was OK and probably close to cups I loved and fell hard on in the distant past but now this kind of cup can't catch up with more of the current trend of longer shot with a more comprehensive tasting note from the beginning to the aftertaste and nothing short on that on cups that I typically had at Rabbithole and Knockbox Coffee Company. You can find my notes elsewhere on this website on these two extraordinary coffee places in Hong Kong Before I talk about KC's filtered coffee, let talk about the shop's own suggestion first. I was quite surprised that the shop suggested French press to me for this $$$ coffee which could easily cover up the delicate tasting note of the expensive coffee. However, I ignored the shop's suggestion and asked to have a siphon coffee. I was lucky as I learned later that the barista at the shop won awards on siphon brewing competition too. This was quite strange or maybe it is quite close to the shop closing hour at 5pm. I chose Nicaragua Los Congos, 2011 Cup of Excellence winner #2, the most expensive coffee on that day. I got the citrusy, fleshy fruit note with hint of caramel and toasty note at the back. The aftertaste wasn't that clean but not too distracting which to me it seemed to come from roaster's roast profile/style To me, the cup is of older style, ie underextracted/updosed a bit and can be better but I was happy with the cup I get. Though this is not the best, I can live with this coffee if I happen to be stuck in the area and need a cup. I went back for a milk drink two months ago which was happened to be one of the day of Hong Kong Barista Competition. My cappuccino had a velvety smooth texture with hint of sweetness but had a bit of milk powder kinda taste to me. The coffee base itself was somewhat strange almost dirty but not (this is the common theme of coffee at KC Coffee and I suspect it's the roaster than the barista themselves). It is hard to put the finger on why the coffee shows good trait but I am not very impressed on this milk drink. I prefer espresso more even though it's very tight but, tastewise, is ok. Later I learned/saw from lots of coffee lovers who visited Japan for coffee that the coffee they had over there were quite short so this may be the style from Honey Coffee itself. In all, on its own, KC Coffee exceeds my expectation for cafe in the area. It has its own appeal and comfy to sit so it's good if you are in the area and want cups of coffee. However, KC Coffee is much more appealed as a group for a cafe crawl including KC Coffee, Coffee Break and The Blend of Danes. To this end, KC Coffee is a borderline smiley face to me but I bumped it up to a full level smiley face as it is better to treat as a group from the cafe crawl in the area.Kowloon Bay boasted lots of cafes with interesting characters. The enthusiasm of cafe owners is second to none but the cup quality was mostly capped by the clientele in the area unlike the audience in Sheung Wan and Quarry Bay. To me, Coffee Break is a mini version of Coco Espresso - warm, comfy and brimming with enthusiasm toward coffee while the Blend of Danes runs by a roaster from Australia and will at least fit for those who missed the taste of home and provide a good contrast to a more local enthusiast kinda style offered by KC Coffee and Coffee Break. Tell the owners/barista when you visited these cafes that you are interested in good coffees and you might be in for a good and memorable surprise!…查看更多

This Yokohama noodle shop is mostly known for its noodle. However, I always spot a Japanese clientele having this omelet set and the chef, the Japanese himself, always sit there talking to Japanese client. One of the criteria I was told from my Japanese colleague is to spot the Japanese chef for Japanese food so you can have the real Japanese food. I took chance and this seemed to work out well... Most of the time I see Japanese clients, it's this omelet set so I like to try it out. Surprisingly, or I should say unsurprisingly, it tastes very good. $50 is not a bargain for food court but the taste is real nice, better than the nearby Japanese 'style' shop and Pokka Cafe on ground floor. I suggest this shop for items on the menu that said, Japanese taste!The omelet itself looks quite dry too and nothing is special from the look. However, when you cut into it, the rice look Japanese to me. The omelet was quite moist and soft with eggy taste too.The proportion of the rice, carrot and chicken was just right and gave enough texture and taste to each bite. The fried rice inside was quite tasty too. The combination work well.The set come with a small dish, a soup and a crisp and citrusy iced tea with enough ice to round up the dish quite well. Again, nice and nothing to complain about$46 for Japanese fried rice -Japanese taste by Japanese chef.. Not bad at allI would suggest you look for the menu that Japanese taste. Also be prepared to wait a bit longer as the chef will start cooking when you order. I say it's worth the wait.. :)…查看更多

When I started to get serious about coffee five years back, my regular haunt is Fresh/hkcoffee in North Point. Not only I get the freshly and locally roasted coffee bean, a gold standard for coffee enthusiasts, I meet lots of coffee lovers over there which allows me to explore various aspects of coffee, be it green coffee from exotic locales, roasted coffee from various parts of the world at its prime condition, ie less than 1 month after roast date and various coffee gears. The problem is that hkcoffee is a roaster so it's not very convenient for most to participate. Besides, as a roaster, they only do it when they have time as the roasting comes first, making it difficult to recommend other coffee enthusiasts to try it there though I have been visiting hkcoffee for most of my coffee until these days and I still recommend most enthusiast and newbie to do so. I've been wishing hkcoffee diversify into doing cafe and such; however, they are quite content and happy to do whatever they are doing.This brings me to coffee places which were inspired by hkcoffee and everybody can drop by these places for everything coffee. The concept of hkcoffee.com is broad that I think it can be diversified into various cafes/outlet that takes different parts out of hkcoffee.com playbook. I know two of them so far; one of them is Knockbox Coffee Company in Sheung Wan which picks up and further improves on the coffee beans side of hkcoffee.com, ie coffee tasting, from all over the world all the time with transparency you know the beans on offering before any visit, at least saving your time and energy on cafe choices, and this one that I want to talk about for so long but really have no time to put it into words until today, Rabbithole Coffee & Roaster in Central. Rabbithole took up the machine and roaster part of hkcoffee.com and makes it much more accessible than what hkcoffee.com left out and preferred to keep a low profile on the issue.An experience at Rabbithole is what I call "machine tasting". No, they won't invite you to chew, gnarl and taste it literally but they offer a combination of machines and grinders for you to experience and figure it out how each set performs by yourself. No other cafe in Hong Kong has ever gone this far before, IMHO, with a prime location, bean and machine quality. Through four espresso machines and three grinders, you can have twelve different styles of coffee in one go if you feel like it. There are always people saying that one can adjust each machine setup to fit each coffee style. However, to me, time passed from those kinds of thinking. This is the age of origin appreciation, everything progressive roasters will do to preserve the nature of its selected beans, the lighter roast of the current coffee from Indie cafe, those that is much talk about and in the news about the renaissance of good coffee. All these current trends make each set of machine shines in a different way so much so that one may like one set more than another, an unthinkable for coffee drinkers a while back. And, as a consumer, not an operator, you should try it to see how it works; don't let others talk you into "this is the best setup as I try lots of it" as it's now possible at Rabbithole.Starting with the basic home espresso machine setup, Gee machine (a basis for the famous Crossland CC1 in the US) + Eureka Mignon grinder. With the Yirghacheffe Full City roast for all setups below, the cup had a noted acidity and jammy sweetness with spicy tones but quite flat. I will be very happy if any home barista can achieve this kind of profile with this entry-level setup. However, the cup got more of the same tasting note but more distinct when moving up the ladder with Expobar Markus and Anfim Super Caimano which I consider representing the setup at most cafes in Hong Kong, i.e. basic commercial machine. Not bad and tastier cup with the same profile, i.e. round and subdued/easy to drink. But when one lands themselves into the high-end realm of Synesso, one can easily get a super clear cup from the same coffee and the somewhat subtle wine note that were there with the two previous setups was 'unveiled' with this setup, thanks to the rock solid temperature Synesso was renowned for. I changed the grinder from Anfim to the $$$ Eureka KR conical; I get an even clearer cup, not thin, with a very strong spice note which is not for the faint of heart. Delicious and interesting for experienced drinkers though newbie might be better off staying away from this setup unless curiosity gets the best out of you then be my guest. The last one is via the current "IT" thing in Single Origin espresso, the pressure profile enabled machine. The resulting cup is similar to Synesso + Eureka KR, i.e. very clear tasting note but it was much more balanced in taste that can be drunk with ease. Mind you this is not the typical rounded and easy cup one gets from lever machines out there that share the same concept as the modern pressure profiled machines that is available at Rabbithole for your hands-on experience. You gotta try this to appreciate how pressure profile is much talked about. Best of all, get a group of friends to run through various combinations.The machine tasting won't be completed without choice coffee beans, aka "Rabbithole Army". Its coffee is roasted in house at its own roasting facility with the roast profile created specifically for Rabbithole by hkcoffee.com. The "so-called" high temperature profile that was designated for Rabbithole was aimed to make an easier to drink cup with a clear nuance. For Mocca Harar, you sense its trademark "blueberry" tasting note which is well documented worldwide both in human tasting and scientific papers for coffee from this area, following by floral notes and sweetness. For Yirghacheffe, this year it does taste closer to last year's Sidama with nice jammy sweetness and ending spice. Those who enjoys mostly mouthfeel/big body from the coffee will have these tasting notes as a bonus as the roast profile was catered to these types of coffee lovers too which is unlike the high resolution/nuance/revealing coffee much talked about on the current renaissance trend and is available if you order coffee directly from hkcoffee.com which does 'low temperature profile' for its roasting. Both roast profiles are different in the cup and very good in its own way. I suggest you try both to see which one fits you.Also, don't look down on "locally roasted beans". Rabbithole's roasted coffee was at time available at selected cafes including Coming Soon Coffee at Barbican in London, UK. Recently Rabbithole's coffee was featured at the London Coffee Festival 2012 at Curator Coffee that Coming Soon Coffee matched Rabbithole coffee beans with the high-end espresso machine La Marzocco Strada and Eureka Conical via a manual pressure profiling for all cups. The setup on Strada and Rabbithole coffee was within hours or a day but the response was positive customers even followed to Coming Soon after the festival was over. For those who continued to import coffee from your country/hometown, give locally roasted coffee in general a try and you can start your journey at Rabbithole before moving up the steps to hkcoffee. With all this complicating matter one would have thought this is the place catered specifically for 'coffeegeeks'. On the contrary, as earlier reviews before mine can attain, Rabbithole does take any level of coffee drinkers in mind too. You can easily google good words from write-up via experienced and newbs on their experiences at Rabbithole, either in blogs, comment on the internet, etc. If you want to know more about coffee, Rabbithole also offered coffee classes. These days, classes at café in Hong Kong are almost a dime a dozen but these classes can be very expensive, particularly teaching by a not so capable person. The simple tip I like to suggest is to just drink the coffee from the café. No matter qualification the guy claimed, if the coffee does not fit/taste good, just toss that class no matter what qualifications the guy has as the cup proved those are just a piece of paper. Unlike lots of café out there that opted for a ‘hired gun’ as an instructor, staff at Rabbithole runs the class themselves so you are sure to get the cup and hospitality exactly what you have on a regular basis. Mind you that the class that runs in “cooperation” was not that bad but more complicated to choose from vs. cafes that taught the class themselves like Knockbox and Rabbithole. You gotta taste the coffee that served by that trainer/trainers first or at least cafés that that trainer helps set up to see whether it holds water at all. I believe the better way to describe what Rabbithole did is that Rabbithole takes the coffee as far as you want to go. You can go machine tasting which is a unique for Rabbithole or just sit down, relax and order a cup of your favorite coffee, being espresso, latte, or filtered coffee and the staff there are more than happy to talk you through various coffee beans from different origins on offering that moment or just leave it to barista's hands. If you are regular there, ask your preferred barista to prepare the drink for you. Also, you might get a chance to try new drinks you would never order for yourself. Quite a few times, some will ask you whether you want a sip or two of the coffee he or she orders. Served in the small carafe, anyone can pour out a little coffee for you to have a try. One can easily compare a tasting note to each other on that particular coffee and, to me, that's a great learning experience not many cafe out there can offer. You might get to comment on a set of a machine some people wants to buy by getting a sip or two of that coffee. Isn't it nice potential buyers and regular coffee can share an opinion with no bias/commercial basis and that's what Rabbithole is trying to be, a fully immersed coffee experience.With lots of possibilities at Rabbithole, it's quite easy to get confused what this coffee place really is. I said just go with the flow at this place and you will have fun with great coffee too. You sit and mingle with people in the table in the middle of the room and may possibly get some drink to try. You see barista brew coffee almost every position available and the cups I drank (I would tell you I went this place a lot before this writing) have no significantly different cups from cups I had from any other cafe with fixed positions, as much good and not so good cups on average any time. If you were to move around or took a look at the shop, just tell the barista you want to do so so that they arrange to make sure you got your seat back when you finished. If you love more privacy, there's more space at the back both in and outdoor for you to sit and talk. Lots of possibilities and great coffee at Rabbithole I've been visiting over the past four months and it is going strong so much so I called Rabbithole and Knockbox extraordinary concept cafes one must visit when they are in Hong Kong no matter where they are.To me, I consider Rabbithole and Knockbox a one-two punch to the cafe scene in Hong Kong. The varieties both cafes offer should make you look at your regular haunt in a new light. One can easily appreciate why the regular place chooses the coffee the way it is and why the machine is what it is and whether it can be better adjusted or tuned or that's the way the owner of that cafe want it to be/taste like. For a traditional cafe out there, both Rabbithole and Knockbox helps boost a general public to another level of the coffee appreciate and both Rabbithole and Knockbox allow customers to venture out of those try and true recipes which could be a dream for those cafes in the past but now is likely to be more acceptable once the consumer opens up more with experiences at these two extraordinary concept cafes. I see overall improvement, not competition, with the entry of these two coffee places to Hong Kong's coffee scene.To sum it up, Rabbithole is a one of a kind coffee place coffee drinkers both new and experience should drop by and get a new thing or two no matter what background they are from. Rabbithole takes coffee as far as you like to go so why wait! Rabbithole Coffee & Roaster -- Highly recommended and a must stop by no matter where you are in Hong Kong!…查看更多

I heard about Barista Caffe after its barista, who was relatively new to the field, snatched a top rank in the competition, beating out all those contestants who were mostly experienced barista. Then I heard about the proprietor, who is well known in local coffee scene and media, opened up a shop in Quarry Bay but then it's low profile I heard practically nothing and I'm not sure how things go... Thus, before I made a visit, I don't expect much. I was prepared to go in there, drank some coffee and saw what the fuss about this place, left and never to go back. Turn out I was quite wrong on this one. The shop situates among those steel metal working and fresh market community so, in a way, it's an eyesore for the location. Still the decor is really nice and I felt quite comfortable once inside the shop.Looking at the counter I saw the first Orchestrale in the real cafe in Hong Kong, the one that is really a workhorse in a cafe, not a show piece. I had one experience with this machine in Thailand but nothing's memorable. On its right hand side, there's a Bezzera Spring Lever (thanks to one of the coffee aficionado that told me about this machine) which was not in use on the day I visited. I'm not really a fan of lever espresso machine; most I get is a round and easy cup though, with the increasing popular of pressure profiling, this could be "the beauty of the imperfection", getting into pressure profiling on the cheap vs. US$20,000 for the modern machine La Marzocco Strada delivers.Let start with my usual, cappuccino. This cup, however, was a disappointment. The drink was quite hot vs. the request for warm temperature. The texture just wasn't there while the milk sweetness was virtually non existent on top of the milky taste in the drink. In all, this milky, not so sweet, no texture reminded me of milk drink from McCafe that used semi auto in Hong Kong. The coffee base was not very forward though I can sense some spice toward the end. Coffee base itself was not a deal breaker but bits of things made this cup a 'turn off' for me. If this milk drink is its benchmark, it needed an overhaul on how they do the milk. Also, had I stopped here, I would have missed the gem the shop has, its black coffeeNow, this is an interesting cup and the star of that day, espresso. The crema was quite thin on the top but crema's crema... Let dive into the cup. Making by the same barista who made cappuccino for me, my first sip told me that this is not a bad coffee at all. The roast was light enough to let its nice tasting notes shine through. I got a chock full of nut after my first sip so much so I thought I had peanut butter in the cup. It was surprisingly not that offending as it was quite creamy. One shouldn't take it lightly on this note as I am usually against nutty note in the coffee. The fact I can take this kind of blend, to me, really speaks volume to the coffee offered at Pregio.The nutty note was followed by a nice acidity that the lighter roast coffee usually has and it's real nice. This 'nut attack' and acidity implied lots of light roast Brazil in the blend if I have to guess. And that was that, not much of a mouth feel or anything, kinda like the profile of the third waver roaster that I typically like. A moment later, some dark dirty funky note raised its ugly head up but this is much milder than anything I had from 18 grams in Causeway Bay and Cafe Corridor which roasted their coffee toward the dark side. So my first time with Orchestrale wasn't too bad but this is nothing comparing to spectacular machines like Synesso, Slayer and Strada for sure. If I were to improve this espresso, the intensity of all tasting note is where it was short of. Mind you the cup was good but can be better, much better.While I won't rate the blend the best, even though the proprietor told me it was used in the competition that won its barista the top title, I think it's a very bold move for Pregio to use this kind of light roast profile in the neighborhood. Look at the success of Xen Coffee and the relatively darker iteration Cook Light used when it was in business there, one would have thought the neighborhood embraced a darker roast profile and the lighter roast may not see the light of the day. For lighter roast to shine in a milk drink which should be a more common order, it has to be meticulously prepared at the lower end of the temp while local seemed to like hotter than hot which will shock the taste bud, eliminating all the nuances in the coffee. I am not sure how long Pregio will be able to maintain this roast profile. I can only prey they will as this is the kind of coffee I can drink and suggest others to try it out. As of this point, I really admire Pregio's bravery in choosing the profile which is closer to the current Indie trend that jumped start the whole seriously good coffee and the enthusiasm toward good coffee these days.My siphon coffee was prepared by the proprietor himself which I learned about later after I paid the bill. I was offered three choice of Colombia, Brazil and Uganda. All of them, to me, are yawning offering. I asked for what the barista thinks the best/he likes. I got a Brazil... Brazil from a siphon, you gotta be kidding right. I was, again, wrong on this. The cup was not bad after all. We talk about Brazil here so we are talking about nuttiness in the cup, hardly my liking but it did the job. The light roast level of this estate Brazil really saved the day with acidity in the cup that I didn't expect to enjoy but I really did today. Mind you the cup was served piping hot and, to me, the best way to drink the coffee is to cool it down to closer to your body temp. I asked for an empty water cup, spooning in about 2 tablespoons of coffee and swirl to reduce the temp... It works out better this way and I get those tasting note via this method vs. right off the cup which is way too hot and one didn't get much thing from it.Of note was the cup felt somewhat watery. It showed that the coffee is good but the tasting note are front and center, fading fast and lacking a bit in the middle, coming back toward the end with some nutty note, kinda like a two humped graph. Mind you I'm nit picking here and this tasting profile is quite common for almost all cafes, maybe a bit stronger on the tasting note for some. The one that rarely does this two humped curve that comes to my mind is Knockbox Coffee Company, the place that one can get mostly a slowly dissipating almost linear tasting note which allows the overlapping of layers over layers if the coffee is good enough from their brew coffee program. To me, this declining curve is the holy grail of brewing program; not easy to achieve for sure but you can get one if you look hard enough.Still, I need to point out that the coffee is very decent and drinkable I could see myself enjoy drinking this cup anytime.In all, this is a good find on the Quarry Bay area I wonder why it did not get much publicity for what they offer which is quite good. I was told Sunday is when they are focusing more on coffee lovers and less on food as the proprietor himself will be there to do the job. Guess I will show up there more often and see how things go.If you are in the area and wants espresso, Pregio by Barista Caffe is the place I recommend. If you like lighter roast coffee, it's Pregio; darker roast, try Xen Coffee.…查看更多

I typically don't visit a cafe right after its opening. I believe each operation needs some fine-tuning say at least a month or so before they settle in. One needs to give some time for it to mature and this is what I agree with words I got from one of the world-renowned coffee luminaries who is based in Hong Kong. Nevertheless, the first Synesso in Hong Kong and the award winning barista are temptations that drew me there today. So I decided to make a pilgrimage to the other side of the island, surviving the winding road and jerky motion that usually make me throw up and, finally, was glad I made this visit.Showing the true color of serious coffee people even at its entrance, the cupping room is well stocked with goodies for coffee enthusiasts on the shelf, be it the popular consumer grinder Baratza Maestro Plus, Aeropress, Hario Vac Pot, Chemex, some beans though I wonder why some "pre packaged pre ground coffee" is there ... This is one of the main reasons I wanna drop by the cafe early in its operation. Let me tell you upfront that I am a fan of Synesso and have been waiting for a cafe in Hong Kong to install this high-end machine in a real cafe setting for so long. Finally, my dream comes true so I can't wait.While some will say that they can adjust any machine to deliver the coffee in any certain taste profile, my experience with Synesso has been consistent across the board whether the machine is in Taipei, Toronto, Hong Kong and Bangkok with an unmistakably superb clarity like one lifted the veil up from espresso you tastes from any other machine. And cups from The Cupping Room definitely showed this exact same trait. I can’t say of all coffee machines in this world but as far as my experience goes, this is an excellent trait one should watch out for cups from Synesso. BE careful, this cup clarity is really addictive One may wonder how come it takes so long for Hong Kong to get its first Synesso! AFAIK, Synesso is relatively new to this part of the world; Synesso only appointed its agent in both Thailand and Hong Kong in 2009. In addition, the current operation and aftersales service of Synesso's major competitor, La Marzocco, is second to none in Hong Kong. For any cafe operator, the downtime of the machine is what they scare the most. While Synesso itself was renowned for its 'built like a tank' and ease of maintenance, which are major goals in Synesso's machine, to have a great and knowledgeable support makes all the different and easy for cafe operators to pick up a comparable machine and run its business knowing there is a helping hand around the corner if there is a need. However, on the other side of the coin, I admire the cafe that is willing to take some risks like The Cupping Room on the back of the pursuit for the great and unique cup quality. Besides, lots are willing to operate Synesso elsewhere despite the support, showing a degree of trust and belief ont he reliability Synesso machine has been demonstrating since it came to the market in 2004. Another sign that you are likely to get a good cup of coffee here. The Hong Kong Barista Championship (HKBC) is a big league event of which the winner will represent Hong Kong for the first time in this heavyweight circuit competing against barista all over the world and, in case the winner can’t make it, it will be the barista at The Cupping Room who will represent Hong Kong. With this in mind, I actually consider the top three in the 1st HKBC to be equally capable of making a great cup of coffee. On top of that the barista here was qualified, ie pass the test, to become a member of a Specialty Coffee Association of America.That’s the basic background and now it’s the thing I was there for, coffee.I like how the bean looked in the hopper as it’s relatively dry indicated a lighter roast of the bean which allows the origin of the bean to shine vs. those darker and more oily bean, a sign of darker roast which not only suppresses the origin taste with roasty tone of the roast but also increases the risk of the bean turning rancid due the reaction of the oil on the surface of the bean with the air. You see them everywhere with imports coffee done by most cafes, particularly the Italian ones and you can estimate how much care they put into their coffee... :(The roaster is Fahrenheit Five-Hundred (F500) which may be a new kid on the block in this part of the world but brought with him experiences in roasting coffee elsewhere including from the land down under.I was not told whether this blend is off the shelf from F500 or a blend tailored just for The Cupping Room though coffees inside are a blend of Brazil, Guatemala and El Salvador. I’m already ok with the blend just looking at the component; at least there is no Sumatra, a darling bean among local coffee drinkers as it gives a big body and "strong" coffee whatever they want to call at the expense of the earthy aftertaste with, sometimes, funky off-note that is not a thing for some coffee lovers including me.Let start with my usual which I have not had it for a long time as I haven't visited new cafes for long I almost forgot how to address/focus in the cup when I drank it. One good thing about The Cupping Room is that it does not employ any chocolate powder or things to do the cover up job for its milk drink in case something goes wrong with the drink. This gives an undivided attention to how well its barista prepares the drink, froths the milk and the real taste of well froth milk with coffee to shine.The cup came very close the highest level of my acceptable temperature range. While I prefer the temp lower than this level but this was acceptable. The texture of the milk drink was reasonable, not as luxurious and velvety as Crema Coffee in TST East for sure though this is not a light cup or fragile foam one gets from chained café, ie good but not impressive. The cup has a very strong coffee overtone and, apart from the coffee itself, chocolate tone is pretty much what is in the cup, so much so that it drown out other tasting notes that might be there. On the thing that I don’t really like, this strong coffee tone pretty much killed any milk sweetness that might be in there and is very common for the level of milk coffee delivered to me by any award winning barista I know of, be it on regional league like Grand Barista Championship or other top ranked barista from HKBC.Nevertheless, this is not quite a fair comparison as The Cupping Room is only into its second week. You need to give some time for any operation to settle, even those opened by an experience one. The Cupping Room is no exception. With this in mind, the cup was really good and, to me, will likely to improve further with a bit of a fine-tuning. The important thing is I can recommend people to drink this coffee and that's not what I do all the time for any café out there.As a black coffee, the house blend in an espresso form is very 'regular' vs. my initial expectation of 'wow' in the cup I have been getting from coffees out of Synesso elsewhere. The cup has some acidity with relatively low in body and I would rather have this cup a bit sweeter than what it was served. Nevertheless, this cup reminded me of the tone of those house blends by Barista Jam, ie more of a front and center though they are much clearer in the taste likely due to the signature taste from Synesso. To me, the coffee was good but had a feeling of almost there, ie it can be further improved. Still I get a very nice layer of acidity and very clear cup profile while I love its aftertaste of spice. Not bad at all.As an aside, I have a sip of this coffee which was via manual drip brew and served to the other customer. I was told the coffee is a Cup of Excellence (COE) level. Nevertheless, I was totally shocked with what I got in the cup for the level of coffee I was told. The overall cup was very subdued unlike other COEs I have had and I wouldn't know if nobody tell me this is COE which should be easy for coffee drinkers to detect the clean and complex tasting notes. I happened to have the similar kind of coffee from a Toronto based roaster with me which is Social Coffee Company Costa Rica La Montana 2011 COE#16. I asked the barista to brew a cup for me and it was a night and day with ton of bright acidity/passion fruit/stone fruit forward, a prized possession of this COE coffee. I have no answer for this but it is less likely to be a problem of its barista.I jumped back to espresso and asked for any special offering that the Cupping Room happened to carry. I was lucky this was the coffee the barista used in the HKBC that landed him the second place. The coffee was roasted by Mojo Coffee, the renowned roaster in Taiwan and was very peachy/stone fruit forward, very intense with a very sweet finish. Again, the body is on a thin side, not as thin as the cup I got from Barista Jam in the past but probably the thinnest one among all the cups I had via Synesso. It is very interesting coffee but more of a hit and go with not much of the charm left in the cup for me. Still, I would drink this coffee anytime if it's on the offering.I asked for his filtered coffee and this is what was recommended. It is as if all the professional people loves something very forward and strong in taste I think most of them loves Kenya. However, I don't. Nevertheless, I will drink it if anybody recommends it. To avoid one, one will miss an important chance to open one's eye.... Before the coffee, let touch a bit about its filtered coffee program. At the moment, the way the Cupping Room approaches the program, IMHO, seemed to be inspired by what Barista Jam started, ie offering quite a few decent coffee choices via various brewing methods, including French press, Aeropress and V60 manual paper drip, that fit such coffee. For my visit, there were four coffees offering at the time. The Cupping Room's customers can choose any which brewing method they like or they can just leave the choice in the hand of the barista which should know how best each coffee bean will perform in the cup which is what I did for my coffee. Though the program does not have the same breath like what is offering at Knockbox Coffee Company, this provides a good way to educate consumers in that particularly area which, I was told, remains relatively new to the world of good coffee but definitely has a wherewithal and purchasing power to pick up anything to their heart's desire if they begin to appreciate such offerings. This is a good combination of nice crowd and nice cafe offering, credited the idea to the owner of the Cupping Room, IMHO.The cup is very Kenyan, a strong note of lemon all over the place but with some complexity that does not seem to match the high score it shows. Nevertheless, I think Kenya lovers will be happy with this cup but you know Kenya and me... :(One can easily sense the care and love of coffee the owner puts into this café. These cups were from his own collection and, to me, this tiny detail made visiting a café even more interesting.In all, the Cupping Room is definitely a highlight for coffee lovers who plan to visit that part of the town. As the operation is only in its second week as of this writing, some rough edges remain to be worked out, particularly the bean choices and the cooperation between roasters and the barista to bring the cup to another level. I was told that feature beans going forward will be from F500 and Mojo Coffee though I’m sure this was not set in stone considering the duration the café is in business. With time, I have no doubt this café will improve considerably on the back of its superb equipment choice and the professionalism and enthusiasm of the operator shown to me during my visit.…查看更多

This is the type of café I wish I found at the time I started to be seriously interested in good coffee a long while back.Knockbox is the place that really caters to coffee lovers. Unlike almost all cafés in Hong Kong that call for high turnover/more drink served as fast as possible in a limited time span, Knockbox is run more like a friend get together to talk coffee with one another when they have spared time. This is great for those who just started in coffee as one can talk freely and is more likely to find out what one likes, how each coffee/brewing methods contribute, etc. Of course, any customer is more than welcomed there to just sit, relax and enjoy coffee by oneself.I recommend its tasting menu “Coffee Grand Slam” for three cups of coffee, any style. This can be one coffee, three brewing techniques to show the effect of how coffee brewing has on coffee. Or you can check it out how three bean from different origin tastes like by get beans from three major regions in one brewing method. Among various brewing method I had over there, siphon came out top. The clean and clear cup makes it much easier to detect and enjoy nuances in the coffee, particularly if you have fruity and clean cup like those from Central American, my favorite coffee.I tastes in-house roasted Ethipia Yirghacheffe from Chemex, my first time with this coffee brewing system. The cup is very clean and a winey tone cannot be mistaken though bitter dark chocolate was clear in my mouth, particularly when it further cooled down. While I like my coffee much lighter roast than this level, the good thing is that I didn’t get any ashy tone or anything bad, like dark roasted coffee I had outside even from local Indie’s roasters.From Coava KONE steel filter version two with the same Yirgh, there were lots more sludge in this cup than Chemex but I ended up with much tastier coffee with clearer floral and tea like notes, a character of the steel filter that lets the aromatic coffee oil go through the filter into the cup vs. the paper filter that absorbs most of such nuances on to itself. Despite the lower brew temperature at 81 degree Celsius for KONE vs. 85 degree for Chemex, acidity is quite hard to detect, a character of quite a dark roast itself.Apart from brewing methods above, Knockbox offers a pressure profile modified espresso machines, the “IT” thing to tame the hip and happening single origin espresso these days on top of French press and Eva Solo brewing, the latter my first time in a café setting in Hong Kong. And the barista there knows how to brew and talk coffee as they are also coffee enthusiasts that is more than willing to talk coffee with any customer who has any interest be it those who just curious to coffeegeeks.In all, I haven’t fun visiting cafés for so long and Knockbox’s hospitality and enthusiast makes this one my favorite stop for coffee these days. After the ‘refreshing’ course of various coffee and brewing methods, I’m sure one can easily go back to your favorite café and see things in different light.I highly recommended this place for both newbies and experienced to ‘refresh’ their tasting buds. The no rush/friendly/coffee talk is not to be missed and I can only hope Hong Kong has more of this kind of place. Highly recommended!!!Knockbox's hour is still somewhat restricted; the hour is, for now, Friday night and late morning and afternoon on weekend. However, this works great for me!!!…查看更多

This is a new branch of 18 Grams and Glory Coffee in Hong Kong in Mong Kok on Kowloon side which is in one of the busiest shopping districts. You can reach this place via Mong Kok MTR exit E2 or Yau Ma Tei MTR exit A2, the latter, I believe, is closer.The entrance of the shop is a bit of a mystery for those who are not frequent in the area like me. One needs to walk a bit further from the Gala Place main entrance to find an escalator that goes down to its basement. Being in the mall, the opening hour late into the morning, 11ish, makes having coffee and breakfast there somewhat off. Nevertheless, Egg Benedict was much touted there by its head barista so that is my target next time.For food, I had a basic spaghetti meat sauce. It was good. The dish had a rich, meaty and gluey sauce though I would prefer spaghetti a bit more al dente. The dish also carried a ‘fusion’ tone, more western of a Chinese style western dish (Confused.. ). Still, it works fine and I like it.This is a cafe so let start with the coffee. What's so special about it is the return of the "Three Little Pig" blend to 18 Grams after a six month hiatus.Three Little Pig blend is Mexican, Guatemala and Nicaraguan and one get the clean, citrusy sweetness in the cup that works very well with milk and black coffees. The blend may not be outstanding in term of the body and aftertaste and carries a bit of the roasty and peanut tone that I don't really like but it is a signature of Glory Coffee. However, what's in the cup more than makes up of all the weaknesses and what it does not have. Ristretto below is even more interesting. It has a flowery fragrance note, followed by acidity (citrusy to be more exact) Nevertheless, the body could be much better but it's a nitpicking here. I prefer espresso as my default drink at 18 grams. Even in the empty cup, the honey and citrusy fragrance of its black coffee were so salient I kept on smelling the empty cup for a long while.This time, the TLP seemed a bit darker in the milk vs. my last encounter with this blend six months later. The temp of the drink was perfect but please always ask for warm drink to be on the safe side in this part of the world. IIRC, Capp here is top with chocolate powder so ask the barista to hold the chocolate/cocoa powder too.!!! I got a very nice chocolate tasting note and very sweet milk drink I haven't had for a while. This is a great for Aussie style though it's still way behind in term of velvety texture Crema Coffee in TST East offered. Still, this is a highly recommended place for milk drink, aided by its superb blend, TLPs.The Picolo latte, complimentary from the head barista, was very tasty but I don't like some smoky note in the cup so I suggest you get Cappuccino here instead.If your root is from North American where the drip coffee is a standard drink, you can move in with ease with this TLP which is very clean, sweet and acidic. Also, this is closer to what the third wave coffee made famous, ie less stress on body and complexity which is very ‘old world’ style. While some local may think this coffee is not ‘strong enough’ (唔夠硬) and not too long ago lots couldn’t imagine the clean and bright acidity cup will fit local taste profile of roasty/toasty note, 18 Grams at Gala Place is a living proof local knows how to appreciate good, hip and happening tasting note coffee all central American blend contributes. This is a kind of coffee coffee lover asked others to get a bag when one of them visited North America as you could happily drink this coffee without invoking something else to make it more ‘palatable’ like tradition such coffee comes from or romanticizing Italian things to make drinking the coffee 'bearable'.***One won't get this blend from its first shop in Causeway Bay so this new branch of 18 Grams is really worth a visit if one happens to be in Hong Kong and wants a good cup*** 18 Grams and Glory Coffee were so adamant that they want each shop to have its character and they don’t want to run a chained café. As such, you can only get TLP at its Mong Kok shop. I was also told that the blend might be roasted lighter which could further accentuate the origin tastes, a la third wave style. I consider this blend one of the best in Hong Kong and highly suggested you drop by for a hip and happening cup at 18 Grams in Mong Kok which I prefer to the one in Causeway Bay due to its coffee blend.…查看更多

This is one of the difficult notes I put up on cafe in Hong Kong. The main reason is I had a very high hope on cafes that has both well thought decoration and good coffee; it doesn't have to be that one is less likely to enjoy a nice cup of coffee in a decently decorated place. However, this is still my rule of thumb so far and Holly Brown was no exceptionMy first encounter with Holly Brown was when it opened the door to the public in early July 2010 with much fanfare. Experienced and award winning barista and a Italian descent roaster lured away from Australia join a team to open some phenomenon cafe in Hong Kong with no expense spare, sort of. I got from its default blend at the time a sort of citrus/flowery ending, making me think of Illy when I had the drink and I think to myself this may be how Illy should taste like 3 days after roasting. Only a month later, things turned south for coffee enthusiasts. The cup grew darker with ashy undertone coffee lovers talked among others if you want an ashy cup, go to Holly Brown. The blend profile stays pretty much more or less the same until these days I keep on asking myself why they won't return to its glory start.Things continued to go downhill for me at Holly Brown. I once had a cup of espresso with a "black hole" in its crema. I was once told that they hadn't adjusted the grinder and would like to serve me a new cup after I raised an issue of an acrid/undrinkable cup. I had a barista froth its milk drink with its steamer so loud so fast like a turbo boost of a hot rod car started to kick in when one revved up an engine to pass other cars but, hey, this is milk frothing, not a car racing. I had a barista continue to grind the bean into the doser that was totally full of coffee ground while wiped the old ground into the portafilter to brew espresso for me; not sure whether this is what barista does to trick its customer that it grinds the bean "on demand" which is the practice among the good Indie cafe. All these were done by recent award winning baristas.I was very painful when I wrote this note, thinking that if I kept it to myself, nobody gets hurt. Nevertheless, Holly Brown will sink into oblivion for coffee enthusiast nobody will care and recommend having coffee at Holly Brown any more like what most coffee enthusiasts that I trust told me these days. I am actually on the verge of giving up on Holly Brown for good coffee though I'll try to visit the place to check whether they improve. So far, it's the same. The saving grace for this cafe is its freshly roasted coffee which continues to provide some nuances amidst the dark/ashy tone that has no charm at all. Mind you that my comment is pertaining to the one in Central only as I have a good experience with its K11 branch in Tsim Sha Shui though I like to try out more before I wrote about the place.At the current state, the OK signal was given on a relative basis to those horrible cup I get from cafe that use imported bean but considering its pedigree and things, this is more or less pushing the limit I almost want to give it a crying face. I may not get a decent treatment there anymore if I drop by after writing this comments in the future. However, I would rather they know and change than they become just another cafe with a nice decoration. At least their K11 branch can give us some hope on Holly Brown. At least most of the experienced barista that joined Holly Brown with a fanfare at its opening is still there. To this end, I can only pray its K11 branch won't deteriorate like the Central branch and the Central branch improves soon. :(…查看更多

The new and improved Coco Espresso!!!The newly decorated shop was more open/airy with all the poster on the window taken down it looks much more tidy and welcome vs. the old homey style... Both are comfortable but this new one is like brushing up a bit so it looks kinda 'refreshing'... That seemed to fit with Coco Espresso's spirit that seemed to brighten up and talked more. Apart from the decoration, what goes into the cup was also received a lot of attention too while the opening hour was extended to 6PM... This is a nice moveThe Cappuccino I had was better than what I had before on the texture. Richer and more velvety. The temp, what are you talking about? This is Coco Espresso's milk drink so we don't need to worry about it at all... The secret is lower temp and the temp last longer with cup's choice... Look normal/mundane but this is a finer detail lots of cafe over look with all those super duper fancy cup and forget to have a decent thick enough cup to keep the temperature of the liquid last longer, making super duper hot drink unnecessary and one could enjoy the goodies in the milk at the temp was kept at the optimal point.. Way to go Coco Espresso!!!However, the coffee base was not what it was and what I like. I was taken aback with a strong and forward roasty and chocolate tone in the cup with a very clear hint of sumatra in the cup, ie bolder big body than what it was... Not a good one for me as it seemed to interfere the sweetness and distract me from the sublime velvety body in milk... Too good of a thing?With a new grinder, I can easily get a layer of taste in each sip as if I have almost a different cup with each sip. The syrupy body ending was like a nice kiss goodbye teasing me toward the end of the cup and making me wanting more. Coco's new grinder happened to be conical burr Eureka very similar to Barista Jam. Apart from that, the loan unit of La Marzocco Linea which has a lot of history in there offers a nice and round cup which I like and seemed to be typical signature from Linea. There is no 'digital' feel, ie all the tasting note stick out like a sore thumb like when Coco just changed its grinder to Eureka. This is an overall improvement vs the old Coco and I can't wait for the new machine to arrive which will be the new Linea machine. Meanwhile, I expect barista at Coco Espresso to be very familiar with its new espresso machine when the new Linea is installed.…查看更多