boblam Senior Member Joined: 13 Mar 2011 Posts: 59
Posted Mon Sep 5, 2011, 7:01am Subject: Re: Places for Coffee in HK, Pearl River Delta
Some mistake happen to this post... Would appreciate moderator to delete this particular post as it's the same as the one on the first page of this thread.
boblam Senior Member Joined: 13 Mar 2011 Posts: 59
Posted Wed Sep 7, 2011, 9:02am Subject: Re: Places for Coffee in HK, Pearl River Delta
The result of the 1st Hong Kong Barista Championship, 2011 (World Barista Championship representative from Hong Kong) September, 7, 2011
Sum, Chan Chak Sum of 18 Grams Gala Place in Mong Kok, Kowloon, Hong Kong - 582.5 points
Chiu, Derek (Independent) - 563.5 points
Lam, Ben of Cafe Golden, Sham Shui Po, Kowloon, Hong Kong - 521.0 points
Leung, Yanbi, also from 18 Grams Gala Place in Mong Kok, Kowloon, Hong Kong - 509.5 points
Chris, Yeung So Fan, previously of McCafe - 471.5 points
Rachel, Lai King Sum of McCafe - 457.5 points
Congratulation to you all!!!
18 Grams in Mong Kok has been my new favorite since its opening couple months ago and the place I have been suggesting people to visit if they are in Hong Kong. I think this helps substantiate more why it's so good with only a short period of time after its opening... :)
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 Wed Sep 7, 2011, 5:21pm Subject: Re: Places for Coffee in HK, Pearl River Delta
boblam Said:
The result of the 1st Hong Kong Barista Championship, 2011 (World Barista Championship representative from Hong Kong) September, 7, 2011
Sum, Chan Chak Sum of 18 Grams Gala Place in Mong Kok, Kowloon, Hong Kong - 582.5 points Chiu, Derek (Independent) - 563.5 points Lam, Ben of Cafe Golden, Sham Shui Po, Kowloon, Hong Kong - 521.0 points Leung, Yanbi, also from 18 Grams Gala Place in Mong Kok, Kowloon, Hong Kong - 509.5 points Chris, Yeung So Fan, previously of McCafe - 471.5 points Rachel, Lai King Sum of McCafe - 457.5 points
Congratulation to you all!!!
18 Grams in Mong Kok has been my new favorite since its opening couple months ago and the place I have been suggesting people to visit if they are in Hong Kong. I think this helps substantiate more why it's so good with only a short period of time after its opening... :)
Excellent! Thanks for posting this, Bob. I was interested to see the results. I know Chris and Rachel and glad to see that they also placed well. Is there a website where I can read more about this year's HK Barista Championship? Thanks.
boblam Senior Member Joined: 13 Mar 2011 Posts: 59
Posted Wed Sep 7, 2011, 7:59pm Subject: Re: Places for Coffee in HK, Pearl River Delta
Hi, try facebook of Hong Kong Professional Ciffee Assoc for some more info. Today is the World Siphonist Championship which you are supposed to be one of the contestants but you decide to leave us... :)
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 Thu Sep 8, 2011, 6:29am Subject: Re: Places for Coffee in HK, Pearl River Delta
Hahaha! I was actually on my way to Hong Kong, but my siphon broke on the plane so I flew back home :) Keep us posted on the winner of the siphon competition.
tahoejoe Senior Member Joined: 9 Sep 2003 Posts: 557 Location: San Diego/ Incline Village Nv. Expertise: I live coffee
Grinder: Solis Maestro Drip: Behmor Brazen Brew System Roaster: Behmor 1600
Posted Thu Sep 8, 2011, 7:04am Subject: Re: Places for Coffee in HK, Pearl River Delta
I was just in Hong Kong and as has been the pattern since first meeting them got to see Jason and his soon to be bride Gloria (owners of 18 Grams and Glory coffee). While there we watched the prelims August 20th then later that day after the competition was completed went to the roastery for mach's, turkish coffees and lessons on extraction.
This couple besides just being all around wonderful people are perhaps two of most most passionate people I've ever met when it comes to coffee so it's good to see their staff did well..
Congrats to all and thanks to Jason, Gloria and all their staff for making my trips to Asia memorable.
REMINDER: Never leave the roaster unattended when in use !! And remember to use our Rosetta Stone tip PART V PARAGRAPH 3.. it works !!!
boblam Senior Member Joined: 13 Mar 2011 Posts: 59
Posted Thu Sep 8, 2011, 9:10am Subject: Re: Places for Coffee in HK, Pearl River Delta
The result of World Siphonist Championship 2011 Hong Kong Region is as follow (Via Dixon Ip, Xen Coffee, Quarry Bay, Hong Kong)
Vincent Hung (Hung Ka Wai) - The Specialty Coffee Limited, SCAA Certified Lab & Test Center
Tsuyoshi Mok (Mok Wai Kin) - Accro Coffee, Long Ping
Candy Tong (Tong Wai Ching) - KC Coffee, Kowloon Bay
Hermione Au (Au Yin Man) - Coffee Assembly, Kwun Tong
Vincent will represent Hong Kong in the World Siphonist Championship 2011 Finals in Tokyo on September 30, 2011. http://worldsiphonistchampionship.org/wsc2011/index.html I've never been to these cafes/places except Coffee Assembly but I don't think I have its Vac Pot coffee before or only one time so no comment on all these places.
boblam Senior Member Joined: 13 Mar 2011 Posts: 59
Posted Fri Oct 14, 2011, 5:11pm Subject: Re: Places for Coffee in HK, Pearl River Delta
Knockbox Coffee Company
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 Coffee Company is run by Frances and Patrick, coffee enthusiasts, who seemed to find a coffee epiphany from drinking coffees from Gwilym Davies until they realized that one day Mr. Davies disappeared from his shop and both were told Mr. Davies went to World Barista Championship in Atlanta, GA, USA. Of course, the rest is history; Davies was crowned World Barista Champion in April 2009. As for their coffee journey, they visit lots of about cafe in London and opened the shop in Hong Kong. Patrick himself is on his way to become a Q-grader... (expected by the end of this year) :)
On its menu, the coffee “grand slam” is highly recommended by me; the grand slam offers three cups of coffee that you can mix and match to your heart desire, ie one coffee three brewing methods, three different coffee on one brewing method and any other combination you could think of within three cups. I find this is great way to explore coffee in a friendly environment with no rush. Beside, you are encouraged to have an interaction with barista as much as you like, be it talking coffee like a friend, brew the coffee yourself with a variety of method they offer or just simply asking for advices/opinion or sit there quietly and let the coffee in the cups entertain you. A variety of brewing apparatuses includes pressure profile modded Expobar espresso machine, French press, Eva Solo, Chemex, V60, Coava KONE Version 2, Aeropress, Coava/ABLE DISK, Siphon via halogen lamp, ice drip coffee, etc... It seems you name it they have it... :)
Apart from a variety of coffee from local and international roasters they have on hand (last night offerings were 89pt Taiwan's Coffee Artigiano and one roaster I couldn't remember the name from Australia and, in the past, Square Mile Coffee and Hasbean from the UK), Patrick also roasts the bean himself sourced both locally and renowned green bean sellers in the US ranging from generic to CoE grade via Gene Cafe. The roaster will soon be replaced by a 1kg Probat roaster!
The no rush/friendly/coffee talk is not to be missed here and I wish there could be more of this kind of place in Hong Kong.
The hours are a bit tricky as it seems to be in a soft opening stage, ie Saturday and Sunday late morning and the whole afternoon and Friday night though this works out very well with me.
The location is a bit of a stretch for me as there is no easy access via subway (known as MTR in Hong Kong). Though after climbing up the stone paved Ladder Street, I can only say it's worth all the troubles. Of course, Taxi and bus are there but rush hours and traffic killed my initial plan on bus and cab.
Knockbox Coffee Company Shop B, 14 Tai Ping Shan Street, Central District, Hong Kong Hours: Friday night and weekend late morning and afternoon Knockbox facebook:http://www.facebook.com/Knockboxcoffee knockbox Twitter:http://twitter.com/#!/knockbox_coffee Email: knockboxcoffee@gmail.com
I put some of my note on Knockbox up here for further information and pictures on how the place looks like and what's available there: Click Here (freshcoffeentea.no-ip.info)
boblam Senior Member Joined: 13 Mar 2011 Posts: 59
Posted Tue Nov 29, 2011, 5:10am Subject: Re: Places for Coffee in HK, Pearl River Delta
A short note on Coco Espresso
I was more and more impressed with Coco Espresso as they finally settle with their new 2 paddle group LM Linea which gives a more consistent and transparent cup of coffee.
In addition, its siphon offering was surprisingly decent. With Coco Espresso's trade mark of ease and simplicity, it's easy to get nuances of siphon coffee of both regular offering from Square Mile monthly subscription coffee and coffee from local roasters Coco plans to add to the line up.
Coco has been through a long history than most other cafes. It has its ups and downs in the past. Nevertheless, if you haven't visited Coco lately, I suggest you reacquaint yourself with this lovely cafe once again and see things in the new light there.
boblam Senior Member Joined: 13 Mar 2011 Posts: 59
Posted Wed Nov 30, 2011, 6:58am Subject: Re: Places for Coffee in HK, Pearl River Delta
A bit more update on local cafe scene that I know of
New cafes: One of the cafes I’ve been waiting for is at the south side, sporting a Synesso Hydra, the first Synesso in a café setting in Hong Kong. I have a very high hope on this café as I am a fan of Synesso and can only hope they pick the right blend, not too wild/exotic/showy for the sake of ego of its roaster. Synesso is an excellent machine; it will reveal nuances in coffee easily. Just don’t ruin it with super duper high detail that delivered ‘violence’ in the mouth than just a nice good detail coffee. Soon, we’ll know. The expected date is, at this point in time, the first half of December 2011... Also, more interesting/new concept cafes are expected to open its door next years. Will update as I have more info.
Competition: From my point of view, the competition in Hong Kong's cafe scene seems to pick up considerably and I even feel its negative effect on a customer like myself. In the old days, once a café opens, other cafes will help tout/promote each other and create a good synergy to the industry as a whole, ie increasing the size of the pie. I know this kind of cheerful/nice guy practice will end one day but I didn’t expect it to come this fast. In a consumer eye, each café has its pluses and minuses. Also, economic hardship is right around the corner… :(
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