Posted Sun Dec 7, 2008, 11:47pm Subject: Update on HK Coffee Scene
Arriving in HK a few months ago, I used this forum as a guide for where to find decent coffee. There were 3 cafes mentioned prominently in posts (from memory):
Crema Coffee Cafe Zambra 1st Cup Coffee
Crema is good, if a little hard to find. From memory, I think you're best getting off at East Tsim Sha Tsui station and making your way to Mody Square from Mody Road. Mody Square is a kind of T-shaped road. Make your way to the top right corner of the T and you will find Crema in a walkway between Mody Square and Centenial Garden. Ristretto was slightly longer than I am used to, but not bad. Milk based coffees were great.
Cafe Zambra is in Wan Chai. 239 Jaffe Road. Shots were more to my liking. Milk based coffees were also good. Cafe Zambra was my choice for coffee bean purchases.
1st Cup Coffee - I spent an hour or more over 2 visits trying to find this place. I have since found out it no longer exists. It might have moved - I have no idea.
I received an email a month or two ago about a place called Cafe Corridor. I ignored it, but was flicking through a HK magazine and saw it mentioned again. I was in the area, so gave it a go. Cool little space, on Russell St (26A Russell St), directly opposite Times Square. Very convenient location! Small space - feels like a Melbourne cafe. I was a bit hesitant at first as the coffee machine looked a little underused... I ordered a ristretto and was very happy. I went back the following week and had a double ristretto and a strong flat white - shot was great again, but milk was a bit dodgy on the flat white. I have since seen them serving flat whites to other customers and they look to have the milk spot on (visually), so maybe mine was just a once off. I bought some beans and took them back to Macau. A little too fresh, perhaps, at first but after a few days I was making great coffee (plunger) from their beans. I have since been back 3 times and have not been disappointed - a great sign for the HK coffee scene!
Anyone else have any tips for HK? Any news on the coffee scene?
Epic76 Senior Member Joined: 13 Aug 2006 Posts: 115 Location: Hong Kong Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: LaScala L1 Butterfly Grinder: Macap MC4 Stepless & a... Vac Pot: Eva Solo (not vac) Drip: Braun hand-me-down Roaster: Hottop P
Posted Tue Dec 9, 2008, 12:14am Subject: Re: Update on HK Coffee Scene
Hi Anthony, There's another for you to try now. Fuel Espresso in IFC; up the escalators, two floors above Macca's. The right staff, right equipment & right attitude. Beans are roasted in NZ and sent up to HKG though :(
Only had a Macchiato's and Flat Whites so far but all ok to great standard. Sandwiches are expensive but brilliant (Kiwi/Aussie style).
Posted Tue Dec 9, 2008, 2:14am Subject: Re: Update on HK Coffee Scene
Thanks mate. Fuel had slipped my mind when I wrote that post. Unfortunately my expeience at Fuel was not like yours.
Cool looking cafe in a prime position. Good machinery. I won't go into too much detail, but I was very disappointed with the coffee and customer service. Hopefully it was just a once off. I didn't intend to go back but if you rate them so highly, I will give it another go if I am nearby.
Chang94598 Senior Member Joined: 24 Oct 2007 Posts: 209 Location: SF Bay Area
Posted Sun Dec 21, 2008, 8:50pm Subject: Re: Update on HK Coffee Scene
Recently went to HK for a two-week vacation.
In addition to the Wan Chai main store, Zambra has a stand inside a supermarket called "city'super" at Harbor City Shopping Center, level 3, in Tsim Sha Tsui, near the ferry and Tsim Sha Tsui MTR station. The barista was using LM machine and Mazzer Mini E. It was a pleasant surprise, considering it is also inside a supermarket.
Because we were leaving HK soon, the roaster roasted 200g of her Dark Chocolate blend and met me at the MTR station. All within 45 minutes! She told me she roasts in a Taiwanese gas drum roaster, mini500.
I tried the blend in espresso daily from day 4 post roast. Today on day 9 the flavor peaked.
Both Landy's and Zambra are excellent coffee from HK; subjectively on par with Intelligensia, Barefoot, and Four Barrel.
santunoo Senior Member Joined: 5 Mar 2008 Posts: 63 Location: Hong Kong and Ithaca, NY Expertise: I love coffee
Grinder: Anfim Milano and Hario Mini... Vac Pot: Hario TCA-2 Drip: Nel-Drip
Posted Mon Aug 3, 2009, 5:57pm Subject: Re: Update on HK Coffee Scene
Hi All,
Am about to leave HK after being here for quite a while. Just wanted to provide a brief list of places, in order of personal preference, for great places to go for coffee and coffee related supplies:
Coco Espresso G/F, 197 Queen's Road, Central, Hong Kong tel: 2542 2228 Mon-Fri 8am to 5pm Sat: 8am to 4pm Sun: closed The barista, Johnson Ko, is a wonderfully nice guy who loves talking about coffee with his customers. http://hk.myblog.yahoo.com/jw!BkvQEIKYHx8QTw_nciJArzWJ
cafe corridor G/F, 26A Russell Street, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong. 12-11pm http://www.cafecorridor.com/ http://www.coffeeassembly.com/ The owner of both these places, Felix Wong, is also a great guy who was really patient as I talked his ear off about all things coffee. Coffee Assembly provides evening coffee workshops.
Both Johnson and Felix are considered to be the better baristas in HK by the local coffee enthusiasts.
Cafe Zambra 239 Jaffe Road, Wan Chai, Hong Kong 7.30am-10pm
Cafe Crema G36 Peninsula Centre, 67 Mody Road kowloon Mon - Sat: 7:30 am - 10:00 pm
It is a small place, but the owners, Ms. Landy and her partner, Mr. Sing, are SERIOUS about coffee and will provide free demonstrations on how to use anything related to brewing coffee. They are known in coffee circles as " The Maestros". They helped me so much with my Hario V60 brewing technique that I also began calling them "si-fu" (Chinese for maestro). They are also masters at roasting beans. A good place to hang out to meet other local HK coffee lovers.
Another good alternative to Landy Coffee is: Kitamura Coffee Company Limited 2/F, No.4 Shing Ping Street, Happy Valley, Hong Kong. http://www.kitamuracoffee.com/index.htm
You can also pick up this new book "My Coffee Guide" (http://hk.myblog.yahoo.com/mc-hall) available in most bookstores. The author, TV celebrity Moses Chan, traveled around HK writing about the best coffee shops.
TravelBuddy Senior Member Joined: 10 Feb 2010 Posts: 2 Location: Shanghai Expertise: I love coffee
Posted Wed Feb 10, 2010, 10:17pm Subject: Re: Update on HK Coffee Scene
Hey all,
I just spent a couple of days checking out as many of the places mentioned as possible. Thanks for all the tips; I drank enough coffee to almost see me through the next few weeks in the coffee desert that is Shanghai.
Anyway, one problem I had was not knowing where any of the cafes were; the addresses alone didn't help, as I don't (or didn't) know my Sheung Wan from my Central.
So I've started a Google Map marking the best spots, and posted it to the Chinatravel.net forum here: Click Here (www.chinatravel.net) Hope it's helpful.
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