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Where to drink the best coffee in Hong Kong: 7 cafes where the brew, not the Instagram photo-op, is why you go

Independent coffee shops are opening all over Hong Kong, and nowhere more than in Sham Shui Po. Coffee connoisseurs guide us to seven of its best brew spots

Café Sausalito, one of the district’s original cafes, is a micro-roastery, Saloon does an ‘amazing pour-over’ and The Soulroom serves drinks with a side of Zen

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Which coffee shops in Hong Kong are truly serious about their roasted beans? We run the rule over seven in Sham Shui Po, including Saloon (pictured), that come highly recommended by coffee connoisseurs. Photo: Instagram/@saloon_hongkong

Published: 11:15am, 1 Oct 2022Updated: 8:54pm, 1 Oct 2022

Cafes, cafes everywhere, but not a drop (of decent coffee) to drink?

Fret not – while the sudden proliferation of coffee shops in almost every district in Hong Kong over the past few years can make it feel that way, high-quality cups do exist and are brewed by exacting caffeine geeks who know their Joe. More often than not, the Instagrammable interiors are simply a bonus.

Sham Shui Po, in Kowloon, is a hotspot for the intrepid cafe explorer, with new spaces seemingly popping up every week. Concentrated mainly within the grid flanked by Nam Cheong Street, Cheung Sha Wan Road, Boundary Street and Lai Chi Kok Road, most of the cafes have sprang up on two main arteries: Ki Lung Street and Tai Nan Street.

And no, Sham Shui Po is not the new Brooklyn – it is in a class of its own, riding the tension between old and new, gentrification and decay, with its own charms and contradictions.

If you want to get serious about coffee, then this is certainly one of the most intriguing places to get a caffeine high – and some excellent pig liver noodles afterwards.