MILAN – Speciality coffee is also being drunk in Hong Kong: it is a fact by now, that the culture of quality coffee is also spreading in China, thanks not only to a clientele open to international offerings, but also to some entrepreneurs who have become passionate and wanted to ride the Third Wave by opening several coffee shops. We spoke with two of them, the founders of Fragile Coffee Beans: a special(ity) place not only where you can drink very good coffee, but where you can live a full experience of a different culture and culture around the cup.
When did the Fragile Coffee project start and what exactly does it consist of? What is the concept behind it?
“Fragile Coffee starts from an online retail platform by myself, Garf and my partner (plus teacher), Cherase. So we are passionate about coffee a lot and we have been getting involved in the coffee industry for around 8-10 years. And, we enjoy discovering the possibility of coffee, and we are amazed by coffee from Hong Kong and we start falling in love with trying different coffee around the world.
So we decided to provide a platform for everyone to try out what we love and what amazes us in terms of coffee. Fragile Coffeehouse is sort of like a concept shop where people can try out our brewings, share coffee knowledge and a place to try out any experiments on coffee, also beans retail and coffee experience are available in the shop too.”
China is traditionally linked to another drink, tea: why did you decide to focus on coffee? And on the specialty in particular?
“Hong Kong is an international city where we are more into western culture, also HongKongers enjoy travelling a lot, like me and Cherase. So, everytime we go travelling, we must visit different coffee shops and roasters. Sort of like a habit, I would say. And also we have been working in the coffee industry so we would like to improve ourselves on the career aspects too. But, we enjoy having tea sometimes, just not experts on it. Plus, we are into wine and sake recently, as Cherase just completed his SI International Kikisake-shi certificate.”
How far does your network extend and how did you build it?
“Mostly we are doing online platforms, like Instagram, Facebook and Shoptify (website). We aim to provide the easiest and most convenient way for customers to shop their coffee beans as HongKongers have a tense and tight working schedule, so we provide delivery service on beans retail via our website. In the meantime, our concept coffee shop opens 6 days per week till late, so people can drop by and get their purchase anytime.”
What is your target market? How is coffee drunk in China (espresso, filter, with lots of milk, light roast?)?
“Our target market, I would say, speciality coffee lovers and home brewers, as I started brewing coffee at home before, so I know what they are going through and this is the time I start enjoying brewing coffee haha. But, we are extending our service to coffee shops for wholesale too.
Coffee Culture in Hong Kong is mostly light roasted, like few years before (5-8 years before) Hongkongers do not consume coffee much and they do not really have a high standard on coffee as caffeine is the main chasing on coffee for them, mostly go for black coffee or milk coffee.
As the hit of Third Wave Coffee starts, coffee shops in Hong Kong focus on increasing the coffee quality, we start chasing for the sweetness, complexity, and distinctiveness in our brews. And, the consumption of filter coffee is getting higher in Hong Kong, as they can experience different brewing methods, an understanding of the importance of production and processing, and more by themselves.”
How many roasters are you currently in contact with? Do you also have direct contact with farmers or do you plan to establish direct contact with farmers?
“I would say more than 10 roasters that we are currently in contact with. And we do have a long-term relationship with certain coffee roasters, as their coffee is just too good to resist, like Friedhats, Mame, Dak, Ou.bai.tou.ri etc. They are always our favourites!! We are planning to have direct contact with farmers in the future, like doing Zoom or live on Instagram with farmers to get more in depth on their coffee and concepts on producing those coffee, as we have online chatting with them recently.”
What equipment do you use?
Espresso Machine: La Marzocco GS3 MP
Grinder 1: Mahlkoenig E65s GbW
Grinder 2: Mahlkoenig EK43ST
Kettle: Bonavita
Dripper: Hario V60
Cups: Loveramics
What are your next plans, also considering the Chinese market, which is of great interest to many international players?
“Our focus is discovering any possibility of coffee and flavors, so we will keep discovering different coffee and roasters all around the world. We would like to travel around and to visit our roasters to do more collaborations and chats with them, or maybe visit farms in the future. And, we hope our passion for coffee can influence HongKongers, or i would say everyone to love coffee and enjoy it like us do, because it is such a broad, fun and creative knowledge and world to learn and study.”
