Leading Hong Kong’s ever growing coffee culture, The Coffee Academïcs, with the best baristas and a dedication to training the city’s own coffee talents, now brings its premium coffee to a new Wan Chai location on Johnston Road from August.
“Hong Kong’s coffee culture is developing to an international standard. What I’m trying to do is to help Hong Kong establish coffee culture with its own characters and international standing. Training local professionals and creating a coffee ambience in town are the key factors to achieve this,” said Miss Jennifer Liu, the founder of The Coffee Academïcs
Being the pioneer in local coffee culture, The Coffee Academïcs is introducing an even higher standard of coffee at its new location, with the world’s most expensive coffee beans, the best espresso machine and brewing utensils, the first street-level coffee cupping workshop, and a servicecrew that is composed of only baristas, from behind the bar to the service floor. The Coffee Academïcs Johnston Road is undoubtedly the dream destination for a coffee lovers’ pilgrimage, and brings Hong Kong’s coffee culture to a new level.
The Coffee Academïcs on Johnston Road brings the world’s most exclusive coffee - Guatemala Santa Felisa Orange Honey Geisha. Known as “drinkable gold”, it is produced by the prestigious coffee farm Santa Felisa in Guatamela and has won a record-high score of 89.92. This precious coffee is a legend in itself. It was first discovered in Ethiopia in the 1930s, but disappeared from Africa. In the 1960s, it was rediscovered a thousand miles away across the Atlantic in Panama. In 2006, it won the accolade of the world, where it scored the highest in the most stringent cupping competition. In Santa Felisa, farmers adapt the highest standard in which only manual picking of the coffee cherries are allowed. The handpicked coffee cherries are soaked in water for a night and then pulped and dried.
The Orange Honey Geisha begins with the classic floral notes of the typical Geisha coffee, filled with caramel and chocolate aroma. Sipping this coffee reminds you of a sweet plum, carrying jasmine flavor, sweet spices and sweet caramel notes. Balancing the sweetness are the bright notes of apple and ripe grapefruits acidity. The Orange Honey Geisha is absolutely stunning - a coffee so thirst-quenching like an iced fruit punch disguised as a coffee. The Orange Honey Geisha has a scarce annual production of 100 pounds, and coffee lovers from around the world bid on it by auction. This year, the entire production was purchased by The Coffee Academïcs. Now Hong Kong coffee lovers have a chance to taste this premium coffee at the Cupping Workshop atThe Coffee Academïcs.
The Coffee Academïcs also introduces an international standard Cupping Room. Cupping is a method for coffee professionals to assess the quality of coffee beans. Five specially-designed cupping bowls are set on a 1.1-metre high table where freshly ground coffee in the same harvest is put inside the bowls. Five bowls are used to ensure consistency in quality in the same lot of coffee beans. During cupping, assessors lean forward and take a deep breath of the aroma and then use a spoon to taste the coffee.
This follows on from the Roasting Studio at The Coffee Academïc’s Yiu Wa Street location, where The Coffee Academïcs purchased the best coffee machine - the custom-made 3-group Slayer Espresso Machine, which costs HK$250,000 and is the only one in Hong Kong. Three-group Slayer Espresso Machine can control the temperature and water flow more precisely than any other espresso machine. This ensures that the overall mouthfeel is intensified, giving coffee a syrupy and silky texture. The wood handles are hand-carved by local craftsmen in Seattle. Its design and technology are timeless, which makes it an art piece.
The best hardware is not perfect without talented baristas. Being a patron in nurturing local coffee talents, The Coffee Academïcs Johnston Road is deployed with an all-barista crew in order to answer all customer enquiries and share a coffee experience with professional coffee knowledge.
