Famous for bubble tea, Taiwan is now brewing a path to coffee fame

In a small coffee shop nestled in one of Taipei's bustling business districts, Lo Chien Chiang stands motionless before his coffee roasting machine. 

His eyes are fixed on the beans tumbling inside its chamber, visible through a tiny glass window. 

Most roasters listen to the coffee beans crackling to guide the roasting process.

However, Mr Lo was born deaf and so uses his vision and experience to determine when beans are roasted to his satisfaction.

The former basketball player first opened the coffee shop with his wife in 2015, after leaving his long held job at the Chinese Taipei Deaf Sports Federation.

"I wanted to roast my own beans because I want to be in control of my own brand," Mr Lo said through a sign language interpreter.

"I prefer to have my own taste profile — that's why I insist on roasting my own beans."

Mr Lo's Bravo Cafe is just one of more than a dozen coffee shops lining a narrow street where office workers and locals stop by for their morning brew or business meetings.

All of the cafes offer specialty coffee, brewed from high quality beans scoring at least 80 out of 100 in an international standard grading system.

The majority of them roast their own coffee beans, often right on premises.

"When I first opened up my cafe, there weren't as many coffee shops," Mr Lo told the ABC.

Coffee fanatics bring in tourists

According to Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs, in 2011, there were 1,592 cafes, but the latest available data shows that by 2022 the number had risen to 4,096.

And that's not counting Taiwan's famously ubiquitous convenience store network that also started offering specialty coffee in recent years.

As of last year, there were more than 17,000 of them scattered across the island.

"Taiwan is not only home to a large number of specialty coffee shops, but a significant percentage of these cafes roast their own beans as well," Berg Wu, the owner of Simple Kaffa and the 2016 World Barista Champion, said.

"Some enthusiasts would even roast their own beans at home for personal consumption."

Data from Taiwan's Ministry of Agriculture revealed the average Taiwanese person drinks 177 cups of coffee per year, making Taiwan the third-largest coffee consumer per capita in Asia.

"Some focus on pour-over coffee, others specialise in Italian-style espresso drinks, and there are even cafes that offer creative coffee-based beverages, similar to bubble tea," Mr Wu said.

The diverse coffee scene has attracted a growing number of tourists who visit Taiwan specifically for the experience of "cafe hopping".

"They would come to us for Taiwanese coffee, Berg Wu for a coffee made by a world champion, then Fika Fika for Nordic style coffee," said Dong Ding Ho, the president of SanFormosan Coffee, which specialises in locally produced beans.

"In all of East Asia, only Taiwan has such a complete and diverse coffee scene."

From siphons to Starbucks and beyond

Between 1895 and1945, Taiwan was under the colonial rule of Japan.

During this period, coffee and bean plantations were brought to Taiwan.

"When the Taiwanese first came in contact with coffee, it was introduced as a habit of modernity. To be modern was to be Japanese," Mr Dong said.

He explained that during that time, coffee was often made with a siphon, and tended to be strong and bitter tasting.

About 100 years later, Starbucks' foray in Taiwan popularised espresso-based milk drinks, which were often milder compared to traditional style coffee.

"That's when many people became accustomed to drinking coffee," Mr Dong said.

A decade ago, Taiwan was not really considered a coffee-culture powerhouse.

That changed in 2016, when Mr Wu put the scene on the map by winning the prestigious annual World Barista Championship.

"Only then, people started to notice Taiwan as a formidable presence in the coffee culture landscape," Mr Wu said.

Over the years, many Taiwanese baristas and roasters have gone on to win prestigious international awards, further cementing Taiwan's reputation in the world of specialty coffee.

"Taiwan has experienced waves of foreign cultural influence over the years by means of colonisation or other forms. Therefore Taiwanese are very inclusive when it comes to food and beverages," Mr Wu said.

"Taiwanese are open to receiving new information, and willing to invest time and effort into studying something."

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