Boncafe Expresso

The Coffee Concierge took a stroll around the Food & Hotel Asia 2008 Exhibition at Singapore Expo last week. Naturally the Coffee Concierge sampled some of the coffee being handed out by the various coffee companies. This was of course taken strictly as an educational trip (other than the odd dollop of absolutely yummy gelato which in no way could one politely refuse).

The Coffee Concierge began to learn a little more about coffee. As it turned out, Boncafe has a sizeable pavilion and had two baristas hard at work turning out mainly cappucinos with magnificent examples of latte art (cf later post). However, the Coffee Concierge, mindful of his duties, stuck to asking for an expresso which he regards as the acid test (pun intended) of a coffee house.

The expresso had a nice strong, dark aroma. The crema was a beautiful golden brown and it stayed put for a good few minutes. The coffee had some body to it but it was not particularly full bodied. The taste itself was smoky, slightly sour down the sides of the mouth. There was some bitterness but not unpleasantly so. There was little complexity of flavour. Overall, while it was freshly ground and made, it was not that great.



Price: not applicable since these were trade samples
Flavour: **
Aroma: **

Da Paolo Gastronomia

The Coffee Concierge took a stroll down the posh-ish neighbourhood of Chip Bee Gardens today and popped in at Da Paolo's Gastronomia this afternoon. The cakes and pastries looked awfully tempting as always but sticking to his mission, he ordered just an expresso and a slice of cocoa pound cake and carried both gingerly back to a workloft nearby to sample.

Along the way, the aroma was strong and full bodied and later the taste was to match. There was plenty of flavour: a little sweet in the middle with only the slightest hint of bitterness at the end. However when swilled to the sides of the mouth, a certain sourness was in evidence which decreased when the coffee was cool. Overall, a coffee blend which would please most. The crema duly stayed put a good few minutes as can be seen in the photo taken approximately ten minutes after it was made. For caffeine lovers however, there seemed to be less of that so presumably it was dark roasted with the consequent loss in caffiene content though not flavour.

Overall rating:
Cost: S$3
Taste: 3 beans

Ya Kun at Holland Village

I have the perfect excuse for hanging out in cafes, drinking coffee and watching the world go by: work. Yes, now that I have to do market research on coffee serving cafes, their service and the quality of baristas, I'm happily spending time with my papers from work, reading and drinking coffee.

I have to say i really like Ya Kun's coffee. It's the local kopi-tiam kopi and I usually take mine kopi-c-kosong which for those of you unacquainted with the lingo here, it means coffee with milk without sugar. It comes in a little teacup of thick porcelain with a saucer to match and a tiny chinese spoon. I also had mine with two slices of their thin crisp brown bread toasted and spread with butter and kaya. Yum. I couldn't resist dipping my kaya toast into the kopi and I have to say it's actually rather good that way as long as I don't dip too much of it that i lose the crispness of the toast entirely.

The coffee? it's good. Thick and strong in flavour. It's very possibly from beans roasted with margarine or butter as it has that richness in it. Maybe corn? Not sure. But overall, the taste is excellent. The milk is rather strong as they usually use evaporated milk but the coffee taste still stands up well to the milk. It's way stronger in flavour than many a cuppa I've had in the expensive western style cafes. At S$1.50 it's also a lot cheaper but of course doesn't have the piped music etc but does have airconditioning and a fairly decent place to sit down even if not sofas.

Service levels were generally good. I've noticed that I'm usually served quickly and promptly and got pretty geniune smiles out of them when they served me and when I left the cafe. I've noticed the service at this particular cafe in Holland Village near my office tends to be quite consistently good so kudos to the staff there.

Dome at Dempsey

The Coffee Concierge visited the Dome cafe at Dempsey and ordered an expresso. The expresso was nicely poured into a little white expresso cup served with a thin crisp slice of biscotti on the side and came promptly by attentive staff. The coffee concierge chose to sit outside in the veranda for the natural daylight.

The crema was a little thin and dissipated within one to two minutes. The expresso itself while hot was sour at the start and in the middle with a bitter after tinge. After it cooled, the taste came through more clearly and it was slightly less sour with a more full bodied taste in the middle. It would undoubtedly stand up well to milk. The Coffee Concierge has usually liked their milk based drinks particularly their cappucinos and lattes. However as an expresso, this was disappointing.

The service however was good and tried hard to please however the manager did not know what the mix of beans for the expresso. He said it was a mix of Arabica beans from four places but of the four he was only able to name Columbia and Brazil.

The orange carrot muffin however was delectable and the camera seemed to know automatically the best item to focus on.

Rating:
Cost: $$
Service: ***
Coffee Quality: **

Coffee Cupping Glossary

To those of you who are beginners like me in the art of tasting coffee, otherwise known as cupping, here's a brief glossary. I'll be adding to this list from time to time as I learn more about coffee.

• Acidity: The tanginess on the tongue, along with its tart fruit flavors. This is not to be confused with sourness. Acidity is more of a tingling sensation on the tongue.
  
• Aroma: The smell of the brewed coffee.
• Body: The mouthfeel of the coffee as it coats the tongue. It can be oily, watery, or grainy.
• Balance: The degree to which the bitter and sour flavorings in the coffee are balanced by sweetness.
• Complexity: The combination of aroma, taste and finish
  
• Flavour: The sweet, sour, bitter or salty tastes in the coffee and its aroma
  
• Finish: The aftertaste
  
• Transparency: for judging aroma, taste, and finish: this is the degree to which the flavors are clear, well defined, and not masked by dull bitterness

Raison d'Etre

The Coffee Concierge was born when a group of friends came together and united by a common love (or shall we say obsessive passion) for coffee decided that we should try and figure out a list of decent coffee houses in Singapore. Our taste in coffee does range a bit from the die hard local kopi fans to the posh pure coffee served in the fancier cafes and restaurants. We have a lot to learn and this is a blog of our learning journey into coffee.

We will be covering either neighbourhood kopitiams or fancy upstarts that have emerged on Singapore's scene since the 1990s, or restaurants. And to those of you who are curious, Coffee Club's outlet in Holland Village rather than the inevitable Starbucks invasion marked the first western style coffeeshop in Singapore. At any rate, we'll do the detailed history lesson another time.

Suffice it to say, this is a blog meant to share our collective experiences in exploring the coffee scene in Singapore. May you find it useful and hopefully a little entertaining as well. Do feel free to leave comments and suggestions particularly for cafes/kopi tiams to visit.