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2009-10-25
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I ventured out of my way today for a cup of filtered coffee as I typically will make it myself if the coffee is not espresso. The choice is obvious, Xen Coffee for a Vac Pot brewThe overall experience was great, particularly the hospitality from both of its proprietor. They even recognize the cups I had last time there.. Also, I like to thank him for giving me a meaningful souvenir from his trip to events organized by Specialty Coffee Association of Japan (SCAJ) which, under the influence of t
The overall experience was great, particularly the hospitality from both of its proprietor. They even recognize the cups I had last time there..
Also, I like to thank him for giving me a meaningful souvenir from his trip to events organized by Specialty Coffee Association of Japan (SCAJ) which, under the influence of too many caffeine today, I forgot to take it back…
Back to what’s in the cup, I was actually surprised that I can hardly distinguish the character of Nicaragua and Guatemala. Only after Guat cooled down a while (5 minutes, I guess, after it was served), I can finally sense the famous smoky flavor Guat was typically associated with. Neither was the fruit juice tone of Nicaragua from the beginning to the last drop.
IMHO, this is mostly due to its darker roast profile that most third wave roasters avoid in order to showcase its origin flavor. Nevertheless, it seemed to go better with the food offering there than if you just want to drink the coffee by itself.
Also, almost no acidity in its coffee due to darker roast profile. It was dawn on me why Xen chose to roast it coffee that way after I attended a seminar/tasting session organized by hkcoffee.com on Saturday. At the meeting, one of the participant said the coffee he had was too “sour” and just average. My take on the same coffee was that it’s good but not great vs. the great days at famous cafés in HK. Being an "acid freak", I would actually like to have more acidity in that cup. Such a diverse opinion should be the reason while Xen wants to play it safe by roasting darker. Only if someone would showcase the “better” side of acidity to coffee drinkers in Hong Kong.
The Earl Grey Crème Brûlée/mousse cake I had was not my cup of tea but it served well to reduce the effect of caffeine on my stomach (it’s the second and third cup of day within 15 minutes after I had a cappuccino expertly prepared by the 1st HK GBC Tracy Kwok which was good as usual).
Of course, a café can’t be everything for everyone and I respect Xen's decision. While it’s not up to 100% of my expectation, I would say that Xen is definitely a place to drop by if you want to have a decent cup of filtered coffee and don’t mind its price tag.
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