Coffee, like wine and cheese, tends to foster a passion that borders on the religious among its acolytes, and few people in Hong Kong are as zealous in their worship of the bean as Spencer Douglass. The business development manager for design and marketing consultancy Fluid, and the driving force behind popular Sheung Wan coffee spot Graze, is an encyclopedia of coffee knowledge, and waxes long and lyrical on the subject at the drop of a spoon, particularly when he’s had a few cups. Douglass attributes coffee’s ability to infatuate to its aroma, intensity, complexity, and versatility, while he rates First Cup Coffee as his top drop in Hong Kong, thanks to its “laidback hangout feel, knowledgeable staff, and the excellent selection of beans and blends”. He also gives props to Café Corridor, Café Little, Epoch and the Sumiyaki siphon brewed coffee, drunk black, at UCC.

Douglass still remembers vividly his first ever taste of the black liquid that would begin a lifelong obsession. Arriving in Italy for the first time, Douglass watched his father enjoying a doppio (double espresso) at the airport’s espresso bar before demanding his own cup. Needless to say it went down a treat. He was eight.

Since that watershed moment, Douglass has endeavoured to sample coffee wherever he has travelled, and while he rates the Hotel Sacher in Vienna as his favourite coffee spot in the world, he insists the best cup of Joe he’s ever had was from a mobile hawker stand in Vientiane, Laos. “Tasting the incredibly thick, strong, rich brew and then mixing it with the layer of sweet sticky condensed milk filled me with joy as I realised that this coffee was exactly like me, a foreigner transplanted from his culture, now changed and influenced by the habits and preferences of his new home while maintaining the best of his past.” Now try and get an epiphany like that from a cup of instant.

Paul Kay

Top coffee spots by district:
Central
Sheung Wan
Causeway Bay & Wan Chai
Tsim Sha Tsui

Profiles:
The Obsessive: Spencer Douglass
The Educator: Sanjay Ponnapa
The Indie Owner: Felix Wong
The Mechanic: Paul Pratt