CBT: Jewel Coffee

Indie coffee joints are popping up everywhere, seriously. Soon, there won’t be a single quaint housing estate without indie coffee; and I’m sure all the local roasters will be laughing all the way to the bank.

What do you do to be different besides using chalk or scrabble tiles for your menu? Lots of things, apparently, according to Adrian who owns Jewel Coffee right in the heart of Shenton Way. This joint may not be the newest on the market, but I think it really has that different edge to it to help it last the distance.

In short, Jewel does coffee. Differently. If you’re walking along Shenton Way near Lau Pa Sat, surely you can’t miss this hugeass COFFEE sign.

And so let me start with the coffee. To be honest, the CBD has the greatest concentration of coffee joints in Singapore, owing to the literally gazillions of tired, faceless executives trawling its streets every day. Caffeine is a drug much needed. You can get a decent latte at quite a few spots in the CBD; so Jewel had a task on its hands right from the start; and my, have they rode the challenge well.

So in vogue now, manual brews are offered here, backed up by an Uber Boiler which actually tells you directly the weight and temperature of the water you have just dispensed for brewing. Jewel offers coffee brewed on the Chemex, the V60 dripper and a syphon. Of course, the Syphon is quite a spectacle if you were to actually order one.

 They offer a range of Single Origins for your manual brews. A Guatemala (South American) bean, an African bean and a Sumatran bean. Each with its own distinct characteristics.

 I couldn’t resist this photo. Heh. Such perfect symmetry. Psst. I think the guy on the left has erm.. left already as I didn’t see him at work on my second visit (and I spotted a picture of him on the FB page of another yet-unopened cafe). Well, such is the musical chairs nature of the local coffee industry still very short of good baristas. On the right, you have Shin Hao, who has been an experienced barista for years and really loves his coffee.

The Gibraltar here is also actually their version of a Piccolo Latte. All espresso based drinks here are DOUBLE-shot; not for the faint-hearted definitely. Nor the heart palpitated.

And here’s the interesting part: instead of a ‘house blend’ (which some places use as a euphemism for ‘mediocre beans’), you get a choice of 2 single origins for the espresso. Now, when they use a Single Origin for espresso, you know that they’ve got to be serious with their beans because beans graded good enough to be used as a Single Origin often cost much more than other mediocre beans put together in a blend to cover up for each other. Put it this way: this is a solo performance versus a traditional 4-piece band. Only the best get to go solo.

To be honest, I’ve had single origin espressos elsewhere before, but they never really tasted any good. Most of the time, the coffee just didn’t quite cut through the milk’s taste. But man, in this particular solo performance, perform it did. The stunning citrus notes in the first sip of my latte absolutely blew my mind away. I am mindless now. It got blown.

Now now. Deep-fried pork collar. DA BEST fried pork I have eaten. Ever. Juicy, tender. I could eat a whole portion by myself. I am salivating now even as I think about it. The chef, Carlton (who seems to like striped pants), is really doing a great job with the food. They do also offer a pretty good range of food; from a few pastas to sandwiches and desserts. I also tried their ham, egg and cheese muffin which tasted surprisingly, pretty damn good.

The owner of the place, Adrian, is probably one of the jolliest cafe owners I’ve met. Even when you’re a new customer, he sits down with you and just chats with an open-ness that makes you feel like you’re one of his best beer buddies ever. He’s got this comfy-ness about him that really makes you feel welcomed. He’s the guy with the great smile in the very first picture, right next to the La Strada espresso machine.

And the best part is, this is social cause food in a sense. Adrian’s unspoken dream is that Jewel Coffee would become a business which would enable him to engineer some social change in Cambodia by supporting schools and education there. Now, I like that. I really like that.

Go look for this Jewel of a place. Enjoy!