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2016-12-28
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A pioneer in the drip coffee bar in Bangkok that is revered by lots of local coffee people, the “institution” for drip coffee of sort. What I recommend here is not its drip coffee program but a rather ‘innovative’ coffee drink called iced coffee jelly that focuses more on its cold, creamy and sweet attributes in the cup than the coffee itself.Gallery Drip Coffee (GDC) is the pioneer of drip coffee in Bangkok. In the past, when anybody asked about coffee in Bangkok, this café made it to the list
Gallery Drip Coffee (GDC) is the pioneer of drip coffee in Bangkok. In the past, when anybody asked about coffee in Bangkok, this café made it to the list that I told those who are after drip coffee in Bangkok.
Once I asked these people how this place is, often times, they don’t give out any meaningful comment, let alone mentioning about how the coffee is which is not a good sign no matter how you play it, IMHO. I begin to understand why any comment is not easy to come by with this visit.
The strength of GDC is in its location that is very convenient as it’s very close to one of famous shopping centers in Bangkok, think Causeway Bay in Hong Kong or Orchard Road in Singapore, making it easy to find an ‘excuse/diversion’ from other regular things most tourists do for their trip to this café.
I think I can say GDC is fully loaded with gears for drip coffee. Brand named hot water tower, induction stove to further regulate the temperature, the wooden drip rack that shows off various coffee funnels, be it manufactured by known corporation or hand made pieces, likely by themselves.
The rows and shelves of hand cranked grinders in the shop easily reveal how obsessed owners are with this type of grinder. An artisan of sort?
I’m not sure whether the “passion” for everything hand grinding carries itself well over to the main grinder used in the shop, the $$$ and famous Lyn Weber HG-1. While I saw HG-1 and drip coffee before, the burr of this grinder is from Mazzer Robur which is designed largely for espresso. Lyn Weber own website doesn’t even mention anything on drip coffee and chooses to splatter the HG-1 webpage all over on how good this HG-1 is on espresso. Espresso burr for espresso coffee, of course; espresso burr for drip, well...
Not only the dubious choice of grinder but also the way they brew coffee is rather fascinating. I rarely see barista fill up the coffee ground almost to the rim of the funnel for hand drip. Most suggests the coffee ground about half the funnel and that’s why there are various funnel size just to suit the volume needed.
The coffee menu is not what we are familiar with these days for third wave café. The tasting notes are mostly not there on the menu board and when they provide some, it’s rather cryptic. Throwing one of the important aspect of the transparency away or just trying to be mysteriously chic? Somehow, this feels almost an anti third wave movement in this age of sprawling seriously good coffee that is known for promoting transparency to the core on the way they run a business.
Putting those ‘unique’ aspects of this café aside, let focus on the coffee. As I don’t want to bother the barista with questions on tasting notes on each and every coffee they have on the menu board to choose the coffee, I finally ended up with its pick of the day offering which is Ecuador La Conventina Typica, hoping for less chance of disappointment from its recommended coffee of the classic varietal like Typica. Coming from a lesser known country for coffee, the coffee bean itself doesn’t disappoint me. I am very happy with its sweetness and cleanliness that are all over the cup and makes a lot of sense as the coffee is of Typica varietal.
The coffee is roasted darker than what I typically find in Hong Kong of local and international third wave roasters but manages to deliver quite a juicy cup. I can venture to say the drip brew skill is okay but it reminds me of yesteryears drip coffee which is too muted.
Hand drip of Ecuador La Conventina Typica
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Iced coffee jelly
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Iced coffee jelly
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Iced coffee jelly
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