Hong Kong has always been a curious place. The former British colony on the southern tip of mainland China is a melting pot of cultures with a very unique architectural landscape. Countless pictures have been taken of its highrise apartment towers and its iconic waterfront. But it’s also a known as the home of dim sum, spicy cantonese food and some of the best specialty coffee in greater China.
Earlier this year, we launched our new Global coffee roasters box with the most exciting coffees from the world’s best roasters and Asia has been played a very important role. Not only is it home to various World Barista Champions, it’s also one of the most dynamic and competitve places to operate a specialty coffee business.
One person who knows this very well is Lok Chan, the 2017 World Cup Taster Champion and founder of Craft Coffee Roasters from Hong Kong. When Chan opened his café and roastery in 2013, the idea was to connect coffee lovers with the best coffees that Chan and his team could find at any given moment. Since winning a major global competition in 2017, things have only gotten hotter.
These days, Craft operates two coffee shops in Hong Kong and supplies leading cafés and other businesses in the area and beyond. When I first came across Craft’s Instagram page, I was immediately drawn to the cool metallic packaging and the fine selection of coffees it contained. It didn’t take much convincing to get Chan on board.
Craft has a strong sense of social responsibiliy too and it is fully aware of the fact that the vast majority of hard work happens at origin. Chan regularly travels to places like Ethiopia where he cultivates close relationships with farmers and shares innovative ideas and processed to improve the coffee quality and cup score, aspects that have an immediate effect on the livelihood of the farmers and their employees. Furthermore, Craft organises an annual fundraiser for childrens’ centers in Sidamo.
For their Coffeevine debut, Craft roasted an outstanding washed Kenyan coffee from Kathakwa for our Global coffee roasters box. This is a classic Kenyan coffee consisting of the SL28 & SL34 varieties that result in the typical Kenyan cup profile that we love. The cherries were picked by hand and later checked for ripeness at the mill before being washed and dried. Expect notes of blackberry and a tart kiwi-like sweetness.
Our December 2023 Global Coffeevine box is already sold out. Make sure to visit our shop again after 16.12.2023 to pre-order the January 2024 Global coffee roasters box.
