Showing posts with label organic_stores. Show all posts
Showing posts with label organic_stores. Show all posts

Sunday, June 9, 2013

Buying Taiwanese Coffee in Taipei

Taiwan-coffee-tin-1960s

I figured I'm on a coffee roll so I may as well put up one more post about it. A lot of people - even ones living in Taiwan - don't realize that Taiwan does grow coffee. It's not famous, it's not exported as far as I know, and it varies in quality, but when grown and roasted right, it's delicious and absolutely a delight to drink. But because it's mostly very locally produced and not always easy to track down, it tends to be expensive.

The thing about Taiwanese coffee is that it makes a great gift - if your loved ones are sick of tea or are not tea drinkers, and you've given them all the Chinesey tchotchkes they can take, a bag of Taiwanese coffee is a unique and often surprising gift from the country you've chosen to call home (forever or for now).

This post will need to be updated as I double-check cafes I've been to that sell Taiwanese coffee in bean or drink form, but I figured I'd do my best for now.

Information on all of these places can be found in more detail in this post, or this one.

You can read more about Taiwanese coffee here and here.

Fong-Da
#42 Chengdu Road, MRT Ximen
成都路42號

You can get a good cup of Taiwanese coffee here for about NT150 (it may be a bit more), and I am pretty sure in their large selection of whole bean coffees there is at least one Taiwanese coffee.

Shake House
Wenzhou St. Lane 86 (Xinsheng S. Road, almost to Roosevelt, take the lane across from NTU between the Family Mart and the Truth Lutheran Church)

No Taiwanese coffee on the menu here, but you can get very high-end own-roasted Taiwanese coffee, I believe from Nantou, in whole-bean form. It costs about NT$600-800/package (prices vary based on market fluctuations). Makes a great gift, brews very well, and you'll know you're getting quality.

Naruwan Indigenous People's Market
Guangzhou and Huanhe Rd. Intersection, at the far end of the Guangzhou St. Night Market
MRT Longshan Temple

This market has a coffee stall that will brew you a cup of Taiwanese coffee that is flavorful and delicious. They'll also sell you the beans, but they're not cheap - up to NT$1100 for a bag.

Booday Cafe
Nanjing W. Road Lane 25 #18-1
南京西路25巷18-1號

This is one I'm going to have to go back and re-check. I have a memory, though, of a cup of Taiwanese coffee being on the menu. Don't take my word for it, though. I'll update this at a future date.

Leezen ((里仁) Organic Stores 
They're all over Taipei, but the one we went to is near Gongguan/Taipower Building. Near So Free Pizza, on Roosevelt Road Sec. 3, Lane 283 and across from Wenzhou Park.
羅斯福路三段283巷溫州公園旁

You can buy organic coffee from Kaohsiung here. The bags are small, but also less expensive (in the NT$350 range). It's not as good as Shake House's more expensive roast. but it is quite nice and perfectly drinkable.