Hong Kong's 12 Best Coffee Shops
The past year has seen a wellspring of quality coffee shops emerge, to our overcaffeinated delight. Here are a few great new finds along with some long-time favorites.
Knockbox Your Socks Off
Having since retired from its Sheung Wan digs in 2011, Knockbox Coffee has become one of the standing fixtures of the Mong Kok hipster enclave on Hak Po Street. This place takes its coffee seriously: what you get is an artisanal cup of top-grade coffee—and friendly, knowledgeable service. Knockbox serves single-origin grounds traceable down to the lot and estate, which they roast in-store every week. Coffee geeks will be pleased to find a full arsenal of artisan brewing tools: so pick your poison from Aeropress to pourover to syphon techniques. They’re also one of the only coffee shops that serves Cascara—a light, refreshing tea made from leftover coffee cherries, often steeped with spices. Pay a visit on Friday nights from 6-10pm to taste-test unlimited specialty coffee with a shot glass in hand ($80 per head, open to all).
Cost of a cuppa: long black $28; iced drip $40.
G/F, 21 Hak Po St., Mong Kok, 2781-0363, knockboxcoffee.hk.
Filter it Out
Walking into Filters Lane is a little intimidating: there are all kinds of contraptions straight out of some kind of steampunk exhibition, and the coffee is equally as complicated. It’s certainly not your average café, taking extra care with its hand-poured coffee—with some that taste more like delicate, floral teas than your usual bitter, dark roast. The milk-based drinks are especially notable, as the baristas here don’t use any syrups: the mocha is made with real chocolate, and the green tea latte uses matcha powder.
Cost of a cuppa: filter coffee $55; mocha $48.
111 Caine Rd., Mid-Levels, 2517-1868.
Get in the Filter Lane