Filters Lane

We discovered Filters Lane on accident while in search of another coffee shop up the road, so glad that we did! I ordered an espresso here and it was amazing. Seriously one of the better espressos that I have had. The interior was really nice, they even roast on site!

Very good coffee! Not as cool as the other coffee shops in the area but the one that serves the best coffee.

Yummy cappuccino, but I was a little disappointed that they were using the Australian Milk «Drink» (i.e., powdered/​concentrated milk with water added to it) instead of real milk to make my coffee. Also, the price of my coffee was a little steep given the tiny size of the cup. Cool ambience inside of the shop though, and they sell some good quality home-​coffee-​brewing products as well.

Although this café sitting on Caine Road is noisier than the other cafes at Tai Ping Shan Street, I like this place for its banana chiffon cake and the wide variety of coffee they have. The traffic outside gets better in late afternoon during weekend, and its quite enjoyable to do some reading. Staffed by young locals, the flat white is surprisingly good. Also, not located at the hippest area making this café less busy and I dun have to worry occupying their seats for too long. ;P

It’s hard to discern one coffee house for another, especially given the hold that the two biggest HK players have on us. However, Filter’s Lane on Caine Road, a small independent coffee house, does a good job standing up to the big boys, both in the coffee offering, and the general ambience and service.
They are total coffee purists at Filters Lane, to the point of being snobby unfortunately. They roast their beans in-​house, in the roasting machine in the shop window — yep, that’s a piece of working kit. They then hand-​drip filter each cup for you. Goodness knows what that means, but there seems to be some sort of art in passing water through coffee grounds to make a drink. To be fair, the coffee there is very tasty, and you will taste the difference between theirs and other chain stores. Normally I take my coffee as black americano, just coffee bean and water. However, at Filters Lane, the richness and strength of the coffee means I have to have it as a latte, otherwise it gets far too strong and bitter.
The other quirky thing I like about Filters Lane is the food. It is sort of Japanese inspired, and made in house by the Korean chef. Sure there are home-​made cakes, tarts, muffins, etc., but the sandwich and hot food selection definitely has a Japanese bent. I am particularly fond of the tonkatsu chicken sandwich with wasabi mayo — yummers, just needs to be bigger!
It’s a really chilled out place, could do with a little more soft furnishings — lots of high tables, not enough sofas. Isn’t the cheapest place in the world, for that you’ll have to go to the chains, but affordable. There’s also a lot of information about coffee and the provenance of their coffee in the store, so you at least have something interesting to read.