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The woman helping fuel Hong Kong’s passion for coffee wants customers to learn more about the trade as she expands her empireCenturies of wine-drinking have helped create a sophisticated culture of bouquets, blends and body, Now it’s coffee’s turn, and Jennifer Liu Wai-fun is at the forefront.迷你倉出租She is the woman behind Sir Hudson International, a company that runs Habitu, Coffee Academics and Suzuki Caf� – 23 outlets in all.The wine tasters of the coffee world are called Q graders. They rate the quality of coffee beans on a scale from 0 to 10 in a process called “cupping”, she explains.They work in teams of four testing freshly brewed black coffee but do not confer with each other as they rate aroma, flavour, aftertaste, acidity and body among other factors. A score of six means good quality while nine stands for outstanding.“One day before cupping, they should stick to plain food, such as bread. Other days, they should also cut down on smoking and consumption of spice and alcohol.”The taste buds of these professionals are highly valuable assets. Coffee taster Gennaro Pelliccia, who samples products for Costa Coffee, has had his tongue insured for £10 million (HK$118 million), according to newspaper reports. The sum beat that of Bordeaux winemaker Ilja Gort, who took out a £3.9 million policy to protect his nose.The Q graders originally used to help coffee farmers test the quality of their beans so that they got the right price from large corporations. Now they also assist coffee shops on quality control.Although cupping assessments have been carried out by Habitu and other chains for quite a while, they have usually been carried out behind closed doors. Now Liu, 41, wants to demystify the process, so customers get a sense of how the coffee trade operates.A new branch of Coffee Academics set to open in Wan Chai will feature a cupping table where the Q graders will work. Enthusiasts can also join classes on the fundamentals of cupping.Liu, the third generation of the family behind Chong Hing Bank, has overseen a gradual evolution in her business – from simply serving customers to “the leader of local coffee culture”.Her aim is to provide professional training, elevate standards of roasting and brewing, and educate the public.Her ambition has developed during 10 years in the industry. At the start, she had only one simple wish: to be able to get a good cup of coffee for her own enjoyment.“I prefer European-style coffee, but no one was doing that. So I opened a shop so that I would have something to drink,” she says.To compete with the city’s dominant American-style coffee chains Starbucks and Pacific Coffee, she aims for quality in both coffee and food, dismissing the notion that microwave-heated buns are universal caf� fare.In 2003, a harsh year for businesses as the SARS pandemic gloomed over the city, she opened Habitu Ristorante in Causeway Bay. The chefs went on to develop the menu for the brand’s caf�, whose number grows to 15 since 2006.Following the expansion of business, maintaining the standard of coffee quality among different baristas becomes a more pressing issue. To do that, she established the Coffee Academy last year, an institute 儲存倉hich trains the baristas that work for her company as well as offering courses to the public.Every three months, her baristas return for five to six hours extra training and testing. Those who excel are chosen as instructors for the academy’s courses.Producing an above-average cappuccino was just the beginning of the story. As the number of cafes mushroomed, including many independent outlets, Liu moved up into niche and specialised coffees by opening Coffee Academics.She believes there is an increasing demand for these kind of specialised products as Hongkongers begin to think more highly of the drink.“Coke is made by a secret formula and its taste has remained the same over the years. The coffee bean is an agricultural product, and its flavour changes according to soil and weather conditions. The harvest of crops, transportation, roasting, blending and brewing all affect a coffee’s flavour. It is ever-changing.”The chain recently bid for a coffee bean called “orange honey geisha” from Panama, which was given the highest cupping score by a group of top judges in 2004.The bean has never before been available in Hong Kong. It is said to have floral notes with an aroma of caramel and chocolate.The special consignment has only enough beans to make 1,000 cups of coffee – with a cost of more than HK$100 per cup.Liu hasn’t decided what to do with the beans yet, but Geisha coffee is highly unlikely to be listed on the menu. It could be an exclusive event for special customers, she says.Despite soaring shop rents, she had no fears about establishing Coffee Academics first foothold on Yiu Wa Street just behind Times Square in Causeway Bay.For shops in tourist hotspots, rents can account for more than half of costs. However, landlords are under pressure from growing concerns over lack of conservation and shops being turfed out of sites they have occupied for many years, making tenants’ lives a bit easier, Liu says.Liu is now looking further afield, beyond Hong Kong’s borders. She plans to open two Habitu cafes in Shanghai. Her company is also in talks with Eslite, Taiwan’s famous chain of book shops, to open in-store cafes. within its properties.The new cafes will not be adapted for the new markets to push the Hong Kong element of the shop.“I won’t be making something like ‘egg tart coffee’ and call it a representation of Hong Kong,” she says.Nor will they be making Chinese-style coffee. Rather, it is the cosmopolitan spirit and cultural diversity of Hong Kong that Liu intends her cafes to convey.“Coffee is a global language. What I’m trying to do is to bring in cosmopolitan tastes, establish the local coffee trade’s international standing, and to train local professionals.”Jennifer LiuEDUCATION1997 Graduated from Cornell University in New York with a Bachelor of Architecture degreeMILESTONES2003 Opened Habitu Ristorante in Causeway Bay2006 Opened Caffe Habitu2012 Started Coffee Academy training institute2013 Started new caf� brand, the Coffee Academics. It will have two outlets by the end of this month. Habitu will open two outlets in Shanghai.Her company runs 15 Caffe Habitu outlets, four Suzuki caf�s, Habitu Ristorante and Harakan Japanese Dining Room迷你倉沙田