Nylon Coffee, Singapore

Nylon Coffee Roasters, Everton Park, Singapore

I have a love / hate relationship with coffee franchise chains. I appreciate that they have helped to make coffee culture much more popular than it was previously, and it is now possible to get an espresso of known quality and consistency in most parts of the world. Some chains are certainly better than others, however there are still some examples where stale, over roasted beans are the norm, and where quantity takes precendence over quality. The skill set of the barista - the experience of tamping and pulling shots, of learning to assess the correct grind size for beans - is sadly reduced to the ability to press a button. Even worse, customers come out of franchise chains thinking that espresso shots are supposed to taste bitter, almost acrid.  

Fortunately, there is a large (and increasing) number of independent cafes and roasteries where the opposite applies, and which serve as test beds for new and innovative blends and brewing methods.The entire point of this blog is to highlight cafes where the owners committment to good coffee is evident. Nylon is one such example, where some superb single origin, third wave coffees can be found in a quiet residental corner of Outram Park. 

Nylon's house blend - El Primero - is a mixture of 60% Brazilian and 40% Nicaraguan beans. This results in an espresso with a medium dark crema, and a distinct flavour with citrus elements. I'm struck by the initial taste of the shot - it's not bitterness, it's a combination of a medium bodied espresso with distinct citrus flavours, and it's certainly something that I have not seen in most cafes. El Primero (along with Papa Palheta's PNG Peberry) is unique. Both are products of long hours spent working out pairings of beans to blend together, of coming up with roasting profiles for each blend, and experimenting with different ratios of beans. The time and effort that has gone into crafting each blend is obvious - this is the antithesis of every over roasted, over extracted coffee where any flavour or uniqueness was drowned in a sea of milk, whipped cream and caramel!

Nylon's 5oz coffee (below) is smooth with a nice subtle flavour, the latte art was beautiful. Aeropress and pour over coffees are also available, as well as occasional cold brews. I noticed that a digital scale was used for measurements, just as it was in Highlander. This is always a good indicator of quality coffee, as it suggests that the baristas have put thought and effort into the process. It also implies that a specific ratio of beans to water has been tailored to the house blend.

There is an interesting approach to the menu also. Rather than having conventional lattes and cappuccinos, there are 3oz, 5oz and 7oz sizes available. This is a clever idea - while some franchise chains serve what are essentially bowls of caffeinated warm milk, the owners of Nylon have ensured that a broad variety of preferences are catered for, while never losing the underlying coffee taste - coffee is always the most fundamental component of each drink. Furthermore, as milk is steamed, lactose becomes more soluble (coffeegeek.com has more information on this process), which imparts sweetness to the drink. Coffee which has been prepared correctly should not need sugar - this is one of the many things that are not merely done correctly at Nylon, but are done very, very well. Once again, Dennis and Jia Min's passion for coffee is evident throughout.

Sugar is typically not served at Nylon (although it is available if requested). This ensures that the underlying flavour of each coffee blend is not lost, and also has the welcome effect of exposing customers to the different flavours, acidity and balance of beans from different regions. This is something that I love to see happening - customers are subtly being educated with each cup! It also makes customers think about what they are drinking, which should only be encouraged.

A selection of coffee beans and accessories are available to purchase also - but rather than the usual selection of accessories that are available, Nylon have focused on more unique, hand made items. Kalita wave drippers sit alongside custom Japanese hand grinders, and a quirky wooden coffee scoop which doubles as a bag seal. It's a nice touch - an independent cafe that supports other independent businesses.  

Since opening a few months ago, Nylon has become one of my favourite coffee places, with consistently good coffee, and owners committed to making the best shots possible. This is definitely worth trying - don't waste good money on bad coffee at a franchise, when some superb shots are being pulled at Nylon!

Highlander Coffee, Singapore

Highlander Coffee, Singapore

 

Outram Park in Singapore has become a mini coffee hub recently, with at least 4 cafes (Nylon, Highlander, Oriole and Strangers Reunion) serving artisan coffee. Highlander was one of the first (if not the first) third wave cafes to open in Singapore, and is still roasting and serving interesting blends of coffee on Kampong Bahru road.   

 

 

 

 

Highlander is also a coffee academy, which holds regular barista workshops, as well as coffee appreciation sessions. One session was finishing as I stopped by, which gives me an idea for my next day off... 

 

 

So, how did the theory translate into practice? Are the baristas the 'crema' the crop? (Ok, no more puns). The espresso below has a light brown crema, and the volume was spot on - a good single shot should not fill up an espresso mug. It had a interesting acidic taste - not tart, but the right amount of bitterness. The biscuits which come with all coffees in Highlander are sweet, and balance out the acidity.

 

 

 

The house blend in Highlander is a combination of beans from Brazil, Ethiopia and Sumatra, which is a good combination for lattes, cappuccinos etc. The stronger, lasting aftertaste ensures that there is still a definite taste of coffee, and that the steamed milk does not mask any flavour. (I mention this a lot, but it's a fundamental part of a good coffee). Highlander house blend uses a specific ratio of beans from these different countries to ensure a very specific taste. The amount of foam used was slightly more akin to a latte, but it had no impact on taste or texture. Just an observation, not a criticism.

 

I also saw digitial scales lined up beside a French press, with tells me that specific amounts of coffee are being used for different brewing methods. (I have seen this in Nylon and CSHH also - will be reviewing both soon). My inner coffee geek was delighted to see this - it means that thought (and probably experimentation) has gone into the brewing process. The whole point of this blog (in which the title is a reference to the optimum extraction time for an espresso shot) is to highlight cafes which serve good coffee by putting thought and effort into each shot. (Nylon, Papa Palheta, CSHH, Oriole, Jimmy Monkey, Maison Ikkoku and some others all do this, I just haven't posted reviews yet. There is only so much caffeine that I can take in one day!)

 

 

 

Some coffee accessories are available, such as grinders, filters, aeropresses and vacumn packs to store ground beans. Pricing is good - consistent with other cafes, beans are slightly cheaper. My wife recently saw an Aeropress on sale in a shop in Orchard Road for $129 (!), roughly twice what it should be. In contrast, there were no rip off prices here. 6 bean selections are available also, including the house blend that I tried. There are lunch items on sale (sandwiches, pastries and cakes), as well as smoothies and Italian soda's available for non coffee drinkers - so no excuses for not stopping by!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Coffee Alley, Taipei

Coffee Alley, Guanqian Road, Taipei

 

Coffee Alley is a coffee franchise, with at least 4 outlets in Taipei. I visited their cafe on Guanqin road (near Taipei main station) recently. Of all the coffee places that I went to in Taipei, this was definitely the most interesting - the quirky, intelligent design really stood out. This a cafe where a lot of things are done very well - even down to the cutlery and menu design!

 

Design, decor and service are only a portion of the overall experience though - the coffee itself should be the highlight. Fortuntely, the same attention to detail was present here also. The espresso had a dark brown crema, and the correct volume for a shot. It had a sweet, almost syrupy mouthfeel - something I love in my shots. There was no burnt taste, which would suggest that the beans used were stale - in other words, this was a good shot, at the correct volume, with fresh beans - can't ask for more than that. An espresso shot tells you a lot about a cafe - if the crema is a pale colour, then the beans are stale, if the volume of liquid is too high, then the shot is over extracted - Coffee Alley easily passed both of these tests. (Unlike a cafe in Bangkok airport, where an espresso arrived in a full size coffee mug, filled to the brim. I sent it back, untouched....) 

The coffees in Coffee Alley come with 2 biscotti, a nice touch that sets it apart from other cafes. The biscotti was fresh, and the mix of dried fruit running through it added a hint of sweetness. This is another exmple of the attention to detail that I saw here. Also, the cups and cutlery are unique! The espresso cup reminds me of a mobius strip!

I ordered a cappuccino also, which arrived with a topping of caramel. This might be too sweet for some tastes, but I liked it - only a small portion of the carmel sank through the foam, so that it imparted flavour but did not overwhelm the underlying taste of coffee.

 

 

 

Coffee Alley is definitely somewhere that I would recommend, and would go back to. It's slightly more expensive than Fong Da or Nanmay, however they are smaller cafes with more limited menus. Overall, Coffee Alley stood out for it's unique design, and for the attention to detail - this is what a cafe looks like when a series of things are done well!Recommended.

 

Fong Da Coffee, Taipei

Fong Da Coffee, Ximending, Taipei, Taiwan

 

Chengdu Road in Ximending is a mini coffee hub. In the space of 200 metres, there are 3 independent coffee roasteries. Fong Da is probably the oldest, opening in 1956 and pulling shots ever since.



 

Fong Da is a roastery, cafe and retail space. Beans were being roasted during our first visit, and on subsequent visits also. This is not surprising - there are at least twelve different blends available in the retail section, and also on the menu.

  

 

I noticed that the twelve blends available in the retail section were all different shades of light / medium brown. This suggests that different roasting profiles are used for each blend. Only two of the blends were a dark, shiny brown colour - this is interesting, and the opposite of what I have seen in other cafes. It could be that the coffee culture in Taiwan is more established, and a higher proportion of cafes roast their own beans. As a result, consumers are used to different varieties in different cafes, rather than the uniform over roasted style that is used in franchise chains.

 

 

 

The coffee itself was great. The thing that immediately stood out in the shot below was the crema. It's a striking dark brown, typical of freshly roasted beans. The shot had a robust flavour that lingered, although on some days the shot was more intense.

 

The cappuccino was very, very smooth. The foam was perfect - steamed at the correct temperature and for the correct duration. The foam was a dark shade of brown towards the edge of the cup, however the silkly smooth foam acted as the perfect complement to the strong coffee flavour. There was also a good range of syphon coffees available.

I can see exactly why Fong Da has survived for so long - the coffee is great. Fong Da became our regular coffee place during our time in Taipei - I would definitely go back.

Nanmay Cafe, Taipei

Nanmay Coffee, Chengdu Road, Ximending, Taipei

Ximending is the Taipei equivalent of Bugis in Singapore, or Shibuya / Harajuku in Tokyo. It's an interesting mix of older shops that have been in the area for generations, and new shops and stalls set up more recently. Nanmay coffee (and Fong Da coffee) both fall into the first category, sitting side by side on Chengdu road.

 

The espresso shot had a medium, light brown coloured crema - this suggests that the beans used were roasted relatively recently. There was also no burnt or stale, oxidised taste. This was a very light espresso, with no dominant flavour or strong aftertaste. The lack of flavour and the volume of liquid in the cup were consistent with a shot that has been overextracted.



The cappuccino above was topped with cinnamon, but not enough enough to drown out the coffee flavour. A lot of cafes serve cauppuccino's which are essentially warm, caffeinated milk - they cease to be coffee! This is not the case here - I could taste both the coffee and the cinnamon, with the smooth mouthfeel of steamed milk. A double shot might have helped though, as their espresso shots are quite light.   

There were also a selection of drip coffees on the menu, as well as cold brewed coffee.

The retail space is great - very well stocked with beans, machines and accessories. This is one of the better retail spaces that I've seen, with a significant attention to detail. The staff have obviously put some thought into what makes a good cup of coffee, selling everything from coffee grinders to water filters - this is a good place for anyone who makes coffee at home.

There is also a (limited) food menu, with a number of breakfast items.

Overall, it's not bad - I've had worse espresso. It's unfortunate that it's located directly beside Fong Da Coffee, which has been in place since 1956, and attracts a lot of potential customers. Worth a visit if Fong Da is packed, or if you want to pick up some coffee supplies.