Caffeine Rush: Knockbox Coffee Company

Note: Knockbox Coffee has now moved to G/F, 21 Hak Po Street, Mong Kok – the location might be different, but the coffee is still just as good!

Quirkiness in Hong Kong is in short supply – but its epicentre is certainly in Sheung Wan, and the King of Queen of Quirk have to be Frances Lam and Patrick Tam of Knockbox Coffee Company. These two coffee aficionados have set up their own teeny tiny and delightfully surreal coffee shop in a space shared with evening gown designer Cerise Yip. They grind their own beans (and roast them sometimes as well), and serve a little menu of purist favourites (I wouldn’t ask for a Vanilla Frappucino in here sweetie!) for super-reasonable prices.

The raison d’etre for Knockbox is really to sell coffee and cofee equipment directly to serious bean-heads. They stock a range of mystifying devices (nothing with a plug) all designed to give you the absolute best caffeine experience at home. Each week they “feature” a different coffee which owner Frances can talk you through a tasting of as if it were a fine wine. I tasted a few little sips of something absolutely delicious and was shocked at how gentle and delicate the coffee tasted – we’re so used to tasting coffee that has been burned to death by Starbucks that our tastebuds expect coffee to be a harsh experience. They’re open lunchtimes, evenings and weekends and host shows by young artists in their gallery space.

Oh, and I couldn’t resist asking Frances for a snap of her awesome loafers which apparently are from Zara years ago. The girl doesn’t just have great taste in coffee!

Knockbox Coffee Company Shop B, 14 Tai Ping Shan Street, Central
www.facebook.com/Knockboxcoffee

Opening Hours: Lunchtimes, Evenings & Weekends