15 great cafes serving serious specialty coffee in Singapore
For those times when nothing but a piping hot cup of joe will do, here's where to find the best coffee in town.
12 years ago
40 Hands
The coffee at this cool hole-in-the-wall venture by Australian Harry Grover and the Spa Esprit Group has always been the main attraction, and they're at least partly responsible for making Tiong Bahru one of the hippest neighborhoods around Singapore. But it's not just the coffees that are worth the trip, the food's good too. The sarnies, cakes and baos all make for great company with a flat white or a long black.
CAD Cafe
This place is run by designer Chad Samson and business partner David Ahier. On the menu are coffees like espresso ($3.50), Americano ($3.50) and iced coffee ($5.50). To go along with the drinks, order up pastries from The Bread Project such as pain au chocolate ($4) and apricot danish ($4.50). There’s also a food menu featuring toasties ($5) like mature cheddar and pickled asparagus, as well as mozzarella, red pepper and walnut pesto.
Chye Seng Huat Hardware
From the Papa Palheta folk comes this spot located in an Art Deco shophouse that's retained its original hardware store decor with a 360-degree coffee bar, The Roastery and The Annex, where you can learn and sample more unusual beans. Try the bottled cold brew coffee, served with milk and syrup on the side for you to doctor to your taste.
Coffeesmith at Collyer Quay
Department of Caffeine Singapore
Department of Caffeine
At this cozy cafe, coffees (from Australian roasters Five Senses) start at $4, and teas ($7) from local blenders Tea Bone Zen Mind are also available. To eat, there are bites like the mushroom sandwich with thyme and brie ($12) as well as fresh salads (from $9) such as beetroot with plum, and soba with wakame. On weekends, there’s also brunch, with items including French toast stuffed with maple syrup bananas ($15).
Jimmy Monkey
Michael Ryan has kitted out this character-ful old barracks space next door to Mediapolis with the city’s first Slayer espresso machine (he helped build the $29,000 beast himself) and feeds it with a weekly rotation of high-end beans and blends including the proprietary Ironbark. “The Slayer allows you to play a fantastic song”, he says. “I don’t know what that song is yet, but I’m building the melody with the right ingredients.” Every shot is an obsessively calibrated double ristretto; and it’s probably the most intense pull you’ll find in the city.
Jewel Coffee in Shenton Way
Jewel
It might be in the CBD but don’t expect any watering-down for the corporate crowd; all espresso-based drinks here are double shots (“You just get a better extraction,” explains director Adrian Khong “so I’m prepared to live with a smaller margin”), and there’s no blends, only single-origin beans, roasted no more than a couple of weeks prior. Try the house special Gibraltar ($5.50), a kind of bastard child of the latte and macchiato, served in a special panelled glass.
Maison Ikkoku
A hip 4,000 sq. ft. café/fashion boutique around Arab Street, set up by a pair of husband-and-wife owners Thomas Ho/Janice Ong and Franz Chua/Shanie Teoh, that boasts Brazilian and Ethiopian beans roasted in-house on a weekly basis by baristas trained by Japanese celebrity barista Hiroshi Sawada. Aside from espresso-based cuppas, you can also expect brewing methods like pour over, French press, woodneck (for precision-brewed drip coffee) and syphon (vacuum technology first popularized in the mid-nineteenth century and now enjoying a resurgence).
Nylon Coffee Roasters
Nylon Coffee Roasters
This place is a must for serious coffee lovers. Primarily a coffee roaster, this small joint is best for a quickie takeaway for a cup of joe ($2.50-$5.00) before you proceed to check out the rest of the area. Reminiscent of Papa Palheta and Chye Seng Huat (proprietors Lee Jia Min and Dennis Tang were former partners at the two joints), this is a quaint, scaled-down neighbourhood version specializing in sourcing and roasting beans from different origins.
Open Door Policy in Tiong Bahru
Open Door Policy
A collaboration between Tippling Club, Spa Esprit and 40 Hands’ Harry Grover (it’s on the opposite side of the street), this place is pitched as a gourmet destination minus the pretence and high prices (hence the name). But it’s the coffee bar that really makes it distinctive. Grover wants to make your post-meal coffee “the icing on the cake,” not the “brown water” you find in even the best restaurants. So he’s brought in the best equipment and has top baristas (including Filipino Champion Lanz Mirondo of 40 Hands) manning it. On the menu (under the heading “The Black Stuff”) are espresso-based drinks made from a seasonal blend of single origins, as well as guest micro-lots prepared as filter or cold drip (the latter brewed for up to 12 hours) and served black only.
Paddy Hills
A cafe by day and fusion tapas bar at night, this airy space, with a bronze bar, wooden furniture and blue-tinged touches, serves up creative brunchy favorites. Plus, the coffee is from Tiong Hoe Specialty Coffee and they've got cold v60 and Aeropress brews, too.
Rokeby
The establishment serves artisanal coffee (from $3.50) complete with latte art, as well as a decent selection of starters (from $6.90), Western mains such as prawn risotto ($18.90) and kurobuta pork collar ($23.90).
Ronin
The folks behind The Plain and The Bravery bring you Ronin, a hidden gem along Hongkong Street. No signage, no email address, no phone number, just walk on in for your brunch and coffee fix. For the java, all choices are espresso-based and crafted from Genovese coffee beans imported from Melbourne. Special drinks include Wicked ($5.50), mint-infused mocha, and Matchatone ($5.50), Ronin's take on the ever-popular green tea latte.
Toby's Estate in Robertson Quay
Toby’s Estate
This Aussie is located in a gorgeous old go-down on the Robertson waterfront and is home to a state-of-the art smokeless roaster, which spirals up toward the ceiling and draws admiring stares and pointed iPhones. The counter is split between a “fast” espresso bar, and a “slow” bar serving black coffee made with the likes of Chemex and Clover equipment, and staffed by what There’s also direct-sourced beans, coffee-making kit and appreciation classes on the horizon. Best of all? It’s open from 7am (with extended evening opening hours to come).
Yahava KoffeeWorks in Upper Thomson
Yahava KoffeeWorks
This 15 year-old Australian brand is now tucked away from the hustle and bustle of town in Upper Thomson. The folks here know their stuff and stock award-winning goods (such as Ethopian Sidamo and Romeo No. 5, even fair trade Mexican Chiapas and PNG Sigri), do their own roasting (but of course) and conduct tasting sessions daily.
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