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2013-11-04
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If you read my earlier writing on Knockbox when it is still in Sheung Wan, you know that Knockbox is one of my favorite cafes in Hong Kong; the other café is Rabbithole Coffee Roaster. I regarded this duo as once a one two punch to Hong Kong coffee scene that helped raise the bar of the coffee several notches higher. While I would like this duo to maintain its role and remain the same, the only sure thing in this world is change. What's news? - Food and beer!Knockbox now serves food, real food t
What's news? - Food and beer!
Knockbox now serves food, real food that you can really have it as a meal here and feel full, not those dainty and cutesy stuff just to complete the coffee. Among those typical fair like all day breakfast and the like, these two items worth talking about.
This is the much talked about food item at Knockbox, fish and chip. Nevertheless, the fish is oily you can see it on the surface from the picture. The fish inside seems to be a good stuff but feels like it is kinda overwhelmed by all the oil used to fry it. It is as if the oil is not hot enough. The fries under the fish is rather lukewarm at best and wilted but tastes ok even after all that; this is the best part of the dish. Still, I will give a benefit of the doubt on this fish and chip as one of those days and possibly try it again.
I was told by several they won’t pay for this dish and suggested me to better go to the nearby 18 Grams in Mong Kok for the same kind of dish. I didn’t have a chance for a bite but my companion, which is quite a picky eater, has no complaint about it at all. Guess it is good enough now.What's the glory? - roast work and green bean selection.
In the old day, Knockbox was where one can get to drink coffees from Indie roasters all over the world be it good or bad. A trip to Knockbox was like a journey every week into an unknown land of coffee. Fascinating and exciting, particularly for coffee enthusiast with curiosity on how coffees from places taste like. Coffee enthusiasts from beginner to advanced drank coffee late into the night or early morning and we all had a great time. Some even had a role in recommending and/or bringing coffee back to Knockbox so we could all enjoy the coffee together and exchange points of view. Whether we agree, it's not a problem as it's all amicable and coffee focus kinda things. It was not just drinking coffee; it’s a ‘culture', a place of happening on coffee at Knockbox late into the night.
These days, Knockbox took almost a 180 degree turn, offering mostly in house roast work of selected green coffee bean. These green are not of garden varieties but those with cachet like green bean from Cup of Excellence (CoE)'s winning farm that Knockbox’s management flew directly from Hong Kong to the sources in Central America and Africa to cup, taste, score these coffees with renowned coffee folks from all over the world in order to vett winning farms and take part in providing a test notes which are used by coffee professional worldwide. Knockbox also concludes the process by participating in the auction to bring such great coffees back to us enthusiasts in Hong Kong. To me, the idea was novel and noble for the Hong Kong market and should give Knockbox a competitive advantage in the long run akin to those great indie coffee roasters worldwide that source coffee themselves on a regular basis.
In addition, Knockbox supplements its already outstanding coffee program with the crème de la crème of green coffee bean from Ninety Plus, a producer of rare, exclusive and pricey coffee of Africa and Panama origin. Furthermore, there are direct trade coffees from farms in Central America with connection forged during its CoE trips and a small portion of selected green from reputable coffee brokers in its repertoire.
Excellent green beans won't matter if the roast work is not up to snuff. Knockbox is also the first among Asia ex-Taiwan coffee roasters to achieve a high score of 94 points from coffeereview, a renowned coffee ranking website. Such a high score is specially classified by coffeereview as 'outstanding' level, a mark of approval from one of the international coffee gurus. As such, it’s no accident Knockbox’s roasted coffee performs very well; in addition, the coffee will shine through when you brew these coffee at home. In addition, it gets better. The price of Knockbox’s roasted coffee is now within reach. It was $180/200g or more but these days quite a few coffee beans have a starting price of $110/200g, definitely not cheap but more affordable. In addition, it is so convenient to get coffee from Knockbox as Knockbox offers delivery services within Hong Kong right to your door you don’t have to cross the tunnel and wade through the crowd in Mong Kok to get a bag of coffee. The one I like recently is its offering from Colombia which tastes sweet, clean and has almost no hint of nuts as if it is my favorite coffee from Central America.
What goes up, …? - brew skill
While the focus is razor sharp on tje roasted coffee business, the brew quality at Knockbox was not where it was in the past. The symptom started with the move from Sheung Wan to Mong Kok and the big change of guard where the major players in its barista team left Knockbox. Any café that can survive such a turnover is a miracle and, to me, Knockbox suffered the same fate. Gone were the days the great brew skills were a given no matter which barista was at the helm and all customers had in mind is on the coffee itself and how good/bad the bean is.
There were times when Friday Night Coffee Premier at Knockbox was more of a mere social gathering function than any meaningful get-together to focus on the coffee itself. Quite often, the coffee either roasted in house or imported by Knockbox was brewed so bad it was neither recognizable nor drinkable. Even worst, I can't recognize bags of coffee I brought along with me for Knockbox’s barista to brew in hope for another aspect/interpretation of my coffee by the pro at Knockbox. It wasn’t a pretty sight and experience. Yes, I still dwelled in Sheung Wan past when I thought of great cups of coffee at Knockbox. Why not, the past is so sweet, the focus is on the coffee served in front of each customer one cup at a time. But, unfortunately, the present is the only thing that we have.
Nevertheless, luck is still on customer's side. One good thing is that the brew skill keeps on improving by days and the current team, the third generation of barista team at Knockbox, shows signs of promising that may one day lead Knockbox back to its glorious past like cups of coffee Knockbox’s customers typically got when Knockbox was still in Sheung Wan. At the moment, I had a better luck on a regular coffee session, ie coffee brewed by the cup per order during its regular buisness hours, than on the renowned Friday Night Coffee Premier. Still I can’t say it is consistent as I haven’t visited much on its regular coffee session. Also, I can't guarantee that there won't be another change like a fourth, fifth, sixth, etc generation of barista as barista jobs are currently in high demand with cafes opening the doors left and right.
To me, the first year at Knockbox is the year of great brew skill and well curated imported coffee. Nobody has come close to that level including the current Knockbox itself. The second year was quite rocky with the move across the harbor but it still manages to bring out the best on its coffee offering, making it hard for any other coffee shop to follow on this path. Unfortunately, to me, the tradeoff seemed to be at the expense of the brew skill. This year, the third in its operation, I wish the focus were the return to the great brew skill, a focus on winning a customer one cup at a time, bringing all the glory from Knockbox's first year back to where it belongs, in front of each customer on each cup at the current Knockbox. I still heard such conversation of "back in Sheung Wan" even recently. The roasted bean is now top notch but the brew can still be improved. I'm looking forward to hearing such a return to glorious past at Knockbox, hopefully sooner than later.
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