A City Caffeinated

Hong Kong may be steeped in tea culture, but recent years have seen speciality coffee and stylishly appointed drinking destinations proliferating across the city. We explore how café culture has taken hold over the past decade

- Charmaine Mok

When the Tatler Dining team first came up with the challenge of writing a weekly round-up of new cafess, it was unclear how long it could be sustained. It was midway through 2020, a year defined by the pandemic, yet despite restaurant closures, bag bans, and an uncertain future for hospitality, we noticed a curious trend emerging: the rise of the humble coffee shop was quickly starting to represent pockets of normality in a time that was—and continues to be—anything but ordinary. At weekends, flocks of coffee geeks and influencers vie to be among the first to capture and post about the latest cafeÌconcept, offering their two cents on everything from the quality of the cakes to the complexity of their coffee menu, and swapping tips on the best times to arrive to snag that most photogenic corner or an off-menu drink to immortalize on their feed.

Coffee is big business right now, even as imports fell in 2020. Restaurant operator JIA Group launched Between, its first cafes concept, in late 2020, while Hysan Place, Taikoo Place, and IFC Mall have all hosted coffee festivals and events this year, giving a boost to local roasters and cafesbrands. And as life in Hong Kong slowly returns to something akin to pre-pandemic regularity, venues continue to pop up across the city, from Central and Western District to bucolic New Territories neighborhoods.