Travel: Cafe Corridor

Specialy Coffee became a thing in Hong Kong about 10 years ago. It is safe to say Café Corridor, who started its operation in 2001 is one of the oldest specialty coffee shops in Hong Kong.

Located opposite to Time Square, in the busiest street in Causeway Bay, there is a tiny entrance to a very old Hong Kong building. Bravely step inside this long and hidden corridor, through interesting ads and flyers, you will arrive at the cafe. Café Corridor briefly left this location for a short 3 years before reopening in the same location and has been here since 2008.

Felix Wong, the founding owner of Café Corridor, is a veteran in the coffee world. Before he decided to step into the coffee world, Felix works in a bank. Because of long hours in a bank building, he developed a strong interest in coffee. Felix moved to Sydney and learnt all sorts of things about coffee in his 3-month stay in Australia.

Once he got back to Hong Kong, he started his own coffee shop here. At that time, there was not many coffee shops to learn from, so he basically built the industry and the business model himself. A decade after, Café Corridor is still serving great coffee, and he has his own roastery, and being heavily involved in 2 other brands in OVO Café and N1.

In 2004, when Corridor briefly left its current location, Felix put all his focus on roasting. He distributes his beans through Caffe Essenza, his very own beans brand, supplying to various restaurants and cafes in Hong Kong and China. Felix names the 4 major blends of Caffe Essenza as Earth, Wind, Water and Fire , representing dark roaste, natural process and washed process with beans from India. Café Corridor currently brew in fire, a dark roast espresso blend on brown tulip cups, with Café Corridor proudly written across.

Café Corridor has a group of loyal customers. There are lots of ads and fashion offices around Time Square, and it becomes a great homey sneak out for the creative minds. Apart from espresso based coffee, it provides a pretty big menu, from all day breaks cakes to dripped single origins. It is lots of skills for the baristas to deliver such a large variety of food and drinks.

In Hong Kong, where everything is fast, Café Corridor provides a slowed down pace which is quite unique. They don't offer wifi, old and new customers seem to find peace here. Its been a quick 16 years, let’s see if it will become a 100 year old classic one day.

#Loveramics and share your story.