I am not a lover of coffee.
Okay maybe once upon a time, but back then, I was probably only drinking coffee from the usual coffeehouse chains like Starbucks and The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf. Other times it was a cold can, or many cans, of Nescafé coffee from my school’s vending machine.
I was in my late teens, and a design student spending continuous late nights finishing up my projects.
Coffee Drinking Comes Full Bean
In the years since my last mainstream coffee adventures, the café culture in Singapore exploded, and suddenly drinking ‘artisanal’ coffee became trendy. The only problem with them is that they tend to be a tad too pricey for what most people would consider as sub-par roasts of coffee.
Don’t you wish that there was a way that you, the coffee aficionado, can good and yet affordable quality coffee that you can drink for weeks on end?
Well, look no further as in this year alone, three startups rose to prominence to offer just that (and more) to satiate your thirst for the best coffees in the world.
While all three of them offer coffee beans that has origins in Africa and South America, each startup offers a unique blend of coffee bean mixes that is freshly roasted in small batches and delivered to you within the week.
Let’s take a look at who they are.
Perk Coffee
Perk Coffee is the youngest of the lot. Founders Paul and Serena previously lived in Kenya, where Paul himself evenbecame a coffee farmer on Maasai lands!
Soon enough, both of them developed an appreciation for the delicious ‘fruity’ coffees and the beautiful highland plantations that Kenya is known for.
Take a look at the menu they currently offer, and you can see that even today, they still want to share their love for ‘fruity’ coffees, with each and every type of blends that they sell having that very profile.
Their coffees are also ethically sourced from Africa and South America from dedicated farmers who look after their land and employees responsibly.
Their ordering process is simple too.
The beans may be from overseas, but they are roasted right here in Singapore. Roasting happens on Tuesdays, and orders ship the day after, so you can expect your deliveries within the week. You can opt for either whole beans to be sent or have them grounded for you into powdered form.
Hook Coffee
The second startup coffee couple on this list is none other than Hook Coffee. Launched at the start of the year, they too offer sustainably grown and ethically produced coffee beans hailing from Africa and South America.
Their mission is simple, they do not want you to ever run out of your favourite coffee beans, nor do they want you to drink stale coffee that’s been on the shelf for ages.
Where they are different though is the blends they offer. With catchy names like Kopi Sutra and Specu-lose Your Mind, their coffees take on the taste profiles of your favourite desserts.
Here, the ordering process is a little more interactive.
They will ask you about your various coffee drinking habits and preferences, and then make a recommendation from there. Don’t like what was recommended? No worries, proceed to select your choice of their blends. Typically, coffee is roasted at the start of the week, and again, reach you by the end of the week, delivered into your mailbox.
According to Hook’s FAQ, this week-long process isn’t to deprive you of freshly roasted coffee, but to enable the coffee to ‘degas’, which takes up to a week.
Oh, have a Nespresso machine that takes shot pods? They have a menu for that too.
Cafebond
Last, but not least is Cafebond.
If you’ve been to Melbourne, Australia, you will know that the streets there are lined with awesome cafés with equally amazing coffee. If you have a craving for that very coffee, you can save on the airfare and have them delivered to your doorstep instead.
Shop for the coffee of Melbourne’s best cafés at your fingertips.
The ordering process is straightforward. First pick your coffee of choice:
After which, you will be able to choose from several options of packaging, grind size, roast type, and quantity of your order, before proceeding to checkout.
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Again, Cafebond also practices the “roast at the start of the week, deliver within a week” method, so it’s best to put your orders in over the weekend as orders are consolidated on Monday at noon, roasted on Tuesday and shipped out on Wednesday.
Placing your orders during after noon on Monday also means that you will be scheduled for the week after.
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If piping hot coffee is not your thing, you can opt for their cold-brew line and drink straight out of the fridge.
The Entire Café Experience Without Leaving Home
With food delivery services offering menus ranging from cakes and desserts such as Hombakee, having your own specialty coffee blend at home to go along with your artisanal bakes seems like a wonderful proposition.
