New cafe bars in Hong Kong serving coffee-infused cocktails make their mark on the city’s drinking scene
- The rise of the coffee shop-bar hybrid is being seen as a way for creatives from both worlds to share ideas and develop new, complex flavours for their patrons
- Cocktails like Urban Coffee Roaster’s ‘Red Velvet’, a whisky- and coffee-based cocktail infusing beetroot juice and lemon, show the evolution of the sector
Getting buzzed from morning to night is no longer the domain of delinquents, but an increasingly acceptable direction for many of Hong Kong’s newest cafes.
Offering alcoholic libations in addition to coffee and tea is nothing new – early examples of the coffee shop turned cocktail bar include Fineprint and Winston’s, both of which opened in 2015 and have various locations on Hong Kong Island – but the last two years have seen a marked evolution of the trend.
“It wasn’t until 2019 to 2020 when we saw places like [cocktail and coffee bar] Rest Coffee Gin, [natural wine bar and cafe] Interval and [whisky and coffee shop] Coffee Analog open that things really became more coherent.”
Chan identifies a few elements contributing to the new wave of cafes becoming more interested in the synergy between coffee and alcohol, one of which is the presence of more Hong Kong baristas making it to the World Coffee in Good Spirits Championship.