Cafés & coffee culture

Hong Kong runs two coffee cultures side by side: a fast-growing specialty coffee scene, and the much older tradition of milk tea and instant coffee served at cha chaan teng.

Specialty coffee

A growing number of independent roasters and cafés, concentrated in Sheung Wan, Wan Chai and parts of Kowloon, now hold their own against any international coffee capital — look past the chains for these.

The older tradition

Milk tea, made by straining strong black tea through a cloth bag into evaporated or condensed milk, remains the more distinctly Hong Kong drink — and worth trying even if you don't normally take tea with milk.

Yuenyeung

A genuinely Hong Kong invention: milk tea mixed with coffee in the same cup, found at almost any cha chaan teng.