The city bustles in an ordered chaos. Everyone finds a place in this city and so does every kind of food, coffee, tea and cocktails!

Hong Kong possesses an air of wisdom especially when it comes to what they eat or drink. They are tolerant to all the global notions of food and beverages. But they have a deep seated knowledge of what makes the best! The queues that throng the tiniest of shops and street vendors are a testimony. There is visible patience in the eyes of people who wait for their favorite flavors and definitive pride in the artisans on the other side. A little too much pride perhaps, as the most sought after food joints open even as late as 1 pm and close as early as 5 pm!

Similar was the case when we laboriously made our way to Hong Kong Peak, somewhere half way through the steep roads and stairs, to buy coffee from Fragile Coffee Beans. But the coffee shop was shut! They closed early, it seemed.

I was not sure if it was the the frustration I faced or the incline I climbed but I fumed and breathed heavily, unable to move away from the facade of the tiny shop. As we stood in disappointment a man walked past us and inquired if we were there for Fragile Coffee Beans. We mumbled yes and said that they closed early, apparently. We thought he was another customer like us. But voila, this person had the keys to the shop and he led us in saying he had to close the shop early that day.

We followed him and walked into Fragile Coffee Beans whose coffee, vastly popular, are but brewed in a space that is hardly a 200 Sq.ft enclosure of coffee, chairs, and all brewing things nice! On the walls were placed coffee from across the world- Ecuador, Guatemala, Ethiopia, Amsterdam and much more!

As amateurs in coffee, we did not know what to choose from as they were too many options and we wanted to try them all! That’s when the conversations began; coffee lovers will always have something to talk about! The sheer complexity of coffee, be it growing the beans, roasting them, brewing them or having them, individually and collectively, are topics of endless possibilities and discussions!

It was in Fragile Coffee Beans that we discussed and became aware about the lesser known facts of coffee. We talked about the different roasts; how light roasts may be acidic, about different brewing methods; how French Press may extract oil from the coffee beans and how long is too long after roasting to brewing!

As a goodbye note, we got tips on brewing methods, ton loads of coffee and an incredible coffee mug whose uneven contours lets you taste coffee differently in every sip!

We came back to India with many Dak Coffees and it was definitely the time to up the game and do a V60 brewing for these specialty coffee beans that hid notes of Cinnamon, Pistachio, Vanilla, Blackberry and much more.

Research commenced and after days of looking up everywhere for information on V60 brewing we went ahead and purchased Hario V60 dripper, coffee server, filter papers and the kitchen was all set for experiments!

And so it began! In a couple of days we lost count of the number of times we tried V60 pour over to extract that perfect cup of coffee and we had also lost our mind!!

The coffee turned out to be sour every single time!! It was then that we decided to turn to coffee experts in Bengaluru. We headed to Ajji House by Subko for a season 2! From some serious discussions and a lot many coffee, the baristas there offered tips for us to fine tune our grind size, assess water temperature and purchase bleached filter papers.

Patience is a virtue, something Hong Kong reiterated to us!

On the next try or so, we got the nearly perfect coffee that smelled something like heaven! A perfect cup of coffee is still in making and we wait in patience..

My V60 Pour Over:

Break off at 2mins 30 seconds in total.

Hit me up if you have questions or want to talk more on Pour Over!