One reason I chose Hong Kong as a starting point for our Asia trip this time was because of the Hong Kong specialty coffee scene. It is said that Hong Kong is currently experiencing the third or fourth wave of coffee culture.
What is third and fourth-wave coffee culture?
What does this mean? First-wave is generally the presence of coffee in the market, but often, it´s bad coffee, and therefore accompanied by milk. The second wave is when drinking coffee starts to become more commonplace as an everyday beverage and large chains begin to enter the market. The third wave is the refinement of this culture with a focus on high-quality beans and different methods. Hong Kong began to experience the third wave in the 2010s. My first time in Hong Kong was in 2017 and this culture was already widely evident at that time, but not quite as widespread as it is today.
The third wave is characterized by shunning the large chain brands and a rise in caring about the quality and origin of your coffee. It´s about getting to know the regions, similar to how you´d get to know wine regions, and learning what you prefer. It´s also a rise in single-origin coffee and methods such as V60, Chemex, etc.
The first three waves are well-defined, but the fourth wave is still unclear. The fourth wave is about the democratization and scalability of specialty coffee. Since this niche is often unprofitable, it´s about getting enough people to realize its value to make it available and accessible to everyone. Is Hong Kong there? I´m not 100% sure. However, there are a heck of a lot of specialty coffee shops there, and in my opinion, it´s more advanced than 99% of markets I´ve been to in this sense.
For more on this topic, check out the Perfect Daily Grind.
Our Favorite Hong Kong Specialty Coffee Shops
I want to preface that this list is by no means comprehensive, but these were the specialty coffee shops we had the chance to visit over about a five-day period. I will list more at the bottom which we didn´t get a chance to visit but are still probably worth trying.
Kubrick Coffee
Kubrick is a beautiful space located between Jordan and Mong Kok on the Kowloon side of Hong Kong. What we loved about the coffee is that they had single-origin coffee from all over the world, the baristas were extremely knowledgeable, and they had every imaginable method. Not only did they have methods, but they were knowledgeable enough to suggest the best method for each particular cup. My husband is the expert, and he said this was the second-best cup on our trip. The winner was an orange blossom single origin from Colombia at Mother Roaster in Bangkok.
Other highlights are that there is a significant amount of space if you want to work, good food, and an amazing bookstore in the space. If you know Hong Kong, space is at a premium, so this is a great spot. We actually went twice!
Project C
This was a tiny, yet impressive coffee shop. You know they care about what they´re doing because they have multiple-single origin options, various methods, and a clear expertise in coffee. This is a place to go if you really care about origin and method and want an excellent cup of coffee.
Halfway Coffee
Halfway Coffee was another great stop in Hong Kong. They are more focused on espresso-based coffee than methods, so it´s not highly specialized. That said, the spaces are very aesthetic and they use vintage Hong Kong tea cups for all of their drinks which makes it a cool experience. We went to the location in Mong Kok, but they have locations all over the city.
%Arabica
% Arabica is actually a large, almost chain, coffee shop that started in Kyoto. They have beans from all over the world as well as blends. You will find them all over the world. We went to the Monster Mansion location. Again, beans from all over the world, but espresso-based so more of an espresso shot or latte place. They have 10 locations in Hong Kong.
Other Hong Kong Specialty Coffee Shops to Try
There are truly so many coffee shops in Hong Kong to try. We actually tried about three more places in Hong Kong, but I´m not recommending them because we didn´t love them. Here is a list of additional places to try that we didn´t have the chance to!
- Fineprint
- Knockbox Coffee
- Kaffeine
- Winston´s Coffee
- 18 Grams
- Nodi Coffee Brewer
- Koffee Mameya
- Hazel & Hershey
- Apt Coffee
- Melrose Coffee
- Little Cove Espresso
- Milligram Coffee & Kitchen
- Dimanche Artisan Roastery
- Wan Land Cafe
- Deer Coffee
- Africa Coffee & Tea
- Noc Coffee
- N.O.T. Specialty Coffee
- Reaction Coffee Roasters
- Introvert Coffee & Roastery
