This is the 2nd part of my Asia Coffee Tour blog - Hong Kong.
It's a small dot you can barely find on the world map, a tiny "People's Republic of China" city (once a part of British colonies) now with 7+Mill people resided and the No.4 ranked global financial centre with the HK$23,500 median monthly domestic household income (2014). Its extraordinary high population density will give the first time visitor a heart attack and feeling breathless; the tensity in the air can be easily detected when taking the public transportation at rush hours, especially in their MTR system. Even so, they are being very trained in manner and orderly fashion. And hardly see any elbow fight or cutting in-line act (not like in China).
Although they talk, walk and live in light-speed pace, but they still know how to manage enjoying life. In earlier decades, they would follow the British culture to have 'High Tea' or afternoon tea break. Therefore, Hong Kong style cafes are in every corner. Now, being americanized and invaded by coffee culture, there are the Starbucks and coffee roasters all over the city, including the airport terminals. Due to their expensive real estates, every cafe I went was all in "atomic-size". I am sure there are some exceptions but I didn't get my chance to exploring furthermore. Another unfortunate was I didn't find any shop roasted their own coffee beans, which could be due to the very same reason, the expensive leasing and property pricing. Those I visited and talked to have their beans purchased locally or imported from nowhere but Taiwan. How interesting?!
Among all visited cafes, People Book Cafe left me the deepest impression. It hid in the 2nd floor of an old residential building inside the concrete jungle of Causeway Bay, a popular shopping district. What stood out the most was its red-colored "People's Recreation Community (in Chinese)" billboard. Since Hong Kong has returned to China, any political topic becomes very sensitive. And this dare devil got my curiosity to pay them a visit. Once open their door, I was welcomed by a series of China's banned publications, like "How Stock Market Will Crush Xi JinPing, the President of China" and books about the corruption of China's current top executive leaders. My first impression is what trouble I got myself into because I don't want to be jailed or detained by any secret cop (There was an incident that 3 bookstore owners vanished and secretly transported back to China for questioning). Besides that, there were also forbidden souvenirs like Mao's pins, the Communists' "little red book" and so forth. I spent quite some times reviewed their book collections and felt fascinated. I also sat down and ordered a cup of latte and cheesecake, which was surprisedly good. It's an interested memorable coffee stop I attained.
And I'll add a separate post abt my experience in Starbucks Reserve later.
Thanks for reading and wish everyone a joyful 2017!
People Book Cafe (People's Recreation Community)
Products Score: 80 Service Score: 80 Store Score: 85
Final {verdict}: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4/5
Founded and served by a couple, husband as the barista and wife as the chef.
Products Score: 85 Service Score: 85 Store Score: 85
Final {verdict}: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4/5
Brewings by a young couple. According to them, business is very competitive in Hong Kong.
Products Score: 75 Service Score: 85 Store Score: 80
Final {verdict}: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4/5
Holly Brown Coffee Roasters (International Commerce Centre, Kowloon)
Products Score: 80 Service Score: 80 Store Score: 75
Final {verdict}: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4/5
Products Score: 75 Service Score: 75 Store Score: 70
Final {verdict}: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ 3/5