Coffee from Roasted Taiwanese Grown Beans (台灣咖啡/台湾咖啡)
Taiwan does grow its own coffee beans, up in the highlands. I suspect, probably of the Robusta vein.
Breakfast @ Fong Da Coffee (蜂大珈琲), seemingly an institution in the City. (It's along busy Chengdu Road [成都路] in Ximending [西門町/西门町]) It is also one of the few places recommended in the 'Lonely Planet' guide that I didn't feel the need to spit in the face of the authors. (I had used the 'Lonely Planet Taiwan' to plan my travels but the places they recommended for food....utterly and disgracefully atrocious! Hooters??!!? Luckily my mate brought the 'Rough Guide' and it was way more decent and respectful)
A cup of coffee brewed from locally grown beans cost me NT$150. Not cheap.
It was a strong ashy hit right at the front, as if volcanoes had plunged ash right on the tip of the tongue. Just when you thought it ended, a second wave of acidic prongs swept through the tongue leaving behind a quivering wake of burnt ambers and scorched earth. Coffee beans extract the essense of the land - they reflect the nature of the land it belongs. This could only means that the soil of Taiwan is acidic and volcanic in nature.
Outside of the burnt rubber type of coffee I have had the misfortune to taste in Japan, this ranked up there in terms of 'wow!' but personally, not of the very pleasant kind. The beans need to be blended, softened and tamed to appeal to a wider audience. A threat to Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee it would not be.
Coffee from Roasted Taiwanese Grown Beans (台灣咖啡/台湾咖啡)
Taiwan does grow its own coffee beans, up in the highlands. I suspect, probably of the Robusta vein.
Breakfast @ Fong Da Coffee (蜂大珈琲), seemingly an institution in the City. (It's along busy Chengdu Road [成都路] in Ximending [西門町/西门町]) It is also one of the few places recommended in the 'Lonely Planet' guide that I didn't feel the need to spit in the face of the authors. (I had used the 'Lonely Planet Taiwan' to plan my travels but the places they recommended for food....utterly and disgracefully atrocious! Hooters??!!? Luckily my mate brought the 'Rough Guide' and it was way more decent and respectful)
A cup of coffee brewed from locally grown beans cost me NT$150. Not cheap.
It was a strong ashy hit right at the front, as if volcanoes had plunged ash right on the tip of the tongue. Just when you thought it ended, a second wave of acidic prongs swept through the tongue leaving behind a quivering wake of burnt ambers and scorched earth. Coffee beans extract the essense of the land - they reflect the nature of the land it belongs. This could only means that the soil of Taiwan is acidic and volcanic in nature.
Outside of the burnt rubber type of coffee I have had the misfortune to taste in Japan, this ranked up there in terms of 'wow!' but personally, not of the very pleasant kind. The beans need to be blended, softened and tamed to appeal to a wider audience. A threat to Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee it would not be.