Visiting Cafes in Taiwan, Part I

I have been back in Taiwan for 3 weeks. Although it is good to hang out with my family and friends, I also miss the feeling of being able to make and drink espresso. Too bad I don't have any equipments at home to pull shots for myself... As the second option I decide to visit some cafes in Taiwan. From Internet I know that there has been a movement of speciality coffee in Taiwan in recent years. More and more Taiwanese have come to realize that fresh beans are very important when making coffee, especially espresso. Therefore, more and more cafes in Taiwan roast their own beans instead of importing big names such as Illy for use at store. Personally I feel this is a good thing for the customers since they have more opportunities to taste different coffee or blends roasted by different roasters. Roasting its own coffee beans also allows a cafe or roaster to differentiate itself from others and this may help to raise the overall quality of coffee drinks in Taiwan.

I am thus very excited about visiting different cafes. However, it has been noted over and over again that fresh beans, although important, do not guarantee the taste in the cup. How does the espresso taste in Taiwan, at least judged by my personal preference? I have visited some cafes so far and I have a mixed feeling....

The first cafe I visited is Shake House. I heard of it before but didn't have a chance to try it until this time. The barista, the shp owner, used a triple basket and after a long pull (almost 45 secs) I got a sweet ristretto with a heavy body and only a little bit bitter aftertaste. He admitted that the shot could have been softer if the pull was faster but anyway I like it. I didn't confirm with him but I suspect that blend has a fair amount of Indos in it.

Several days later I went to Shake House again on a Saturday afternoon in the hope that I could get another good shot. This time another barista pulled the shot for me. What surprised me is that although the pull looked similar the taste was very different. The shot still had a good body but the sweetness was totally absent. The bitter aftertaste was still there and I also noticed some saltiness at the bottom of the cup. It would be interesting to know what accounts for the huge difference between two shots I got at Shake House but it seems that they need to work on consistency.

The second cafe I visited is La Crema. Actually I visited this cafe regularly before leaving for the United States. La Crema has been very famous among coffee lovers since my college days. The owner of La Crema is an espresso geek and made every cup of coffee for the customers everytime I was there so I think the quality is pretty consistent. Once I even believe that La Crema is the best cafe in Taipei. However, now I have to change my mind. The shot I got at La Crema, although creamy, was not sweet at all. I did get some citrus notes and they tasted fine. But what makes me like the shot least is that I got huge saltiness when the shot got colder. I actually had to drink a lot of water in order to get rid of the unpleasant salty aftertaste. When I visited La Crema last December I already got this impression of salty aftertaste. This time I am pretty sure that I don't like a shot that has a taste profile along this direction...

The third cafe I stopped by is E61: the coffee place. Same as La Crema I have visited this cafe before. They use a Faema E61 Legend at store so the name of the cafe. There was a line of customers waiting for the drinks when I arrived and the barista, also the shop owner, pulled the shots quite fluently. I never saw a line of customers at a speciality coffee shop in Taiwan before so I figured this cafe has become very popular in its local area.

I actually had three shots when I was there (two were free!). The first shot, as the photo above seems to indicate, has a very light body. I told the barista I prefer the ristretto so the shot seems a little bit watery to me. He laughed and made me a ristretto. Well.... I didn't actually taste more body but I did get more sweetness in the cup. The barista then explained to me the blend consists mostly of African beans and under a light roast the body might be sacrificed a little. I did get some citrus notes and liked the sweetness in the ristretto but I still think the first shot at Shake House was the best one among these three cafes.