#011, coco espresso, 290110

company: Sh
conversation: MLIT (oh, humanity), magazines and Christmas.

After lunch, we decided to walk around before heading over to the coffee shop. Sh was a little dubious after the last time I bought her to S Square Cafe but I had my fingers crossed about this! Afterall, "My Coffee Guide" had written about it, so maybe I'm just biased. Oops.

Whilst we were walking, Sh was on the phone as I counted the building numbers. It's a good thing I was looking carefully or else we would have missed it. The door frame of the store was almost identical in colour with the surrounding stores and it was easy to miss.

I realise that when I find a store I have this sense of glee and excitement and as lame as it sounds, a sense of accomplishment for being able to find it. Yes, there are more important things in life than being able to find a coffee shop. But it's also important to be able to enjoy the simpler things in life... Like a good cup of coffee, or a yummy piece of cheese cake. After all that has happened, in the world, even just this afternoon in Hong Kong, life is precious and I think Ferris Bueller said it pretty well: "Life moves pretty fast. You don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."


When we first entered, there were a lot of people in the store. Fortunately, three people sitting on bar stools left a little after we entered and this freed up a lot more space. Seating approximately 17 people, the store is very small but considerably cosy with a tiny but well-equipped kitchen. Framed photos lined the sides of the walls giving the store character, and a general feeling of home is created.

Although we reached the store not even 5 minutes after walking from Soho, the location was a little out of our way and looking around, I noticed many other coffee shops, thus competition is relatively high.


I had a cappuccino, regular, HKD$24. She had a caramel latte, regular, HKD$27.

The coffees did not take a very long time to make, we sat down for maybe 10 minutes and our coffees were ready and delivered. I wasn't able to observe the barista frothing the milk, but the final product spoke heaps.

My foam was thick and creamy and the proportions of the cappuccino were perfect. Once the drinks were set down, a pleasant waft of espresso aroma floated to our noses and we dug in (after I took photos, of course). My first impression was that it was very strong and although bitter, it was tolerable. The chocolate powder scattered on the foam was a nice touch and allowed little hints of sweetness.

Talking to barista Johnson, I learnt (or rather my thought process was reinforced) that the foam on top of any coffee should not be completely white even though it creates a perfect drawing board. The crema or espresso should also be mixed in with parts of the foam so that when taking your first sip, you will also taste the sweet bitterness (oxymoron!) of the espresso rather than just a huge gulp of foam. Free pouring allows this mixing to occur in comparison to using a spoon to scoop the foam out (ahh, this is what I do) and plop it on top of the espresso.

The smell of caramel from Sh's latte was very strong but did not overpower the coffee. Although I could smell and taste the caramel, I did think that it did was not sweet enough (sweet tooth talking?) and neither did Sh. This was the first latte that used a glass instead of a ceramic cup. I'll make an assumption and say that it is to help waiters and baristas distinguish between cappuccinos... At least most of the time that's what helps me!

As you can see, the foam on a latte is approximately a centimeter thick whilst the rest is coffee. All espresso based beverages are basically a variation in the proportions of espresso, milk and foam.

Coco Espresso is a nice little cafe to drop by if you are in the neighbourhood. Barista Johnson did admit that whilst traffic flow was minimal and relatively slow, (explaining why they close at 5pm on weekdays and have a 4pm close on Saturdays (not open on Sunday)) the quality of coffee was well appreciated as some customers regularly make the walk from Soho or mid-levels to visit his cafe to drink his coffee.

I found that this store was the only one so far that made flat whites. Flat whites are very similar to a latte but with just enough foam to cover the surface but not have much depth, thus being stronger. From reading My Coffee Guide, I found out that the barista had actually trained and worked in Australia, where I first learnt about the flat white (which I thought was a drink made with white chocolate. Fail.)

During our conversation, it was obvious that Barista Johnson is talented, experienced and definitely passionate enough to make such consistently good coffee. With sandwiches (HKD$28-$40), all-day breakfast (HKD$40-$58) and cakes available, if it's not busy, it would be a nice place to have lunch.

address: G/F, 197 Queens Road Central, Sheung Wan (close to Exit E2).
phone: 2542 2228