N.O.T. Specialty Coffee

This is a small coffee shop near my office. I passed by and didn't really consider trying because of the small size and the very modest glass wall decoration. I saw a post from instagram by the owner of a Hong Kong coffee app giving nearly all full marks for the coffee. So I came  at lunch time to have my first sip of N.O.T. Specialty coffee.

N.O.T. Specialty Coffee

You now this is summertime now in Hong Kong. It is very hot and so when I walked to the shop from my office, I really needed a cup of cold coffee. After a brief browsing of menu hung on the wall. I found iced latte and shaken iced latte. I asked the barista the differences between. She told me if I was taking away the coffee, she recommended shaken iced latte. The ice would be taken away once the shaking was completed and the mixing of milk with coffee would be very thorough. I bought this idea and had one.

Shaken Iced Latte by N.O.T. Specialty Coffee

The coffee surprised me when it reached my tongue. The body of the coffee was very smooth and very blended with the coffee. This reminded me the "latte" I made using microwave oven milk as the base for coffee powders when I was young. The milk was sweet and just thick enough. The taste of coffee was not covered. And it would not be diluted by the melting ice in sunny day.

I went back to N.O.T. Specialty the day after to have lunch and try hot latte there. I asked about the roasting level and the beans in the blend they used. The barista appeared to be not very open to talk with customers. Maybe, there were too many customers asking the same questions over and over again and they felt so tired repeating similar answers. But still, they told me they used the medium roasting level beans and did roasting themselves. And they also told me that the hot latte served in the shop is more delicious than the take-away shaken iced latte. He even referred their shaken iced latte not good at all. I was surprised by their honesty. However, I thought their shaken iced latte was really good.


PS: the iced latte served at the shop is very interesting and the barista urges the customers to drink the coffee ASAP. There are two layers of liquid in the cup, milk and coffee. Milk is cooler than coffee. So if you drink the latte right away when it reaches your table, you will experience the mixed feelings of cold and hot.