PMQ Coffee Agenda returns to Central from Oct. 16 to 19, inviting coffee enthusiasts to explore four distinct dimensions of coffee culture: Personality, Professional, Lifestyle and Journey.
This year, the 11th edition gathers over 50 coffee brands from Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Macau and overseas, featuring immersive exhibition booths and interactive experiences. The lineup features award-winning baristas around the world. Having Hong Kong’s new generation of baristas, “Gen C” (Generation Coffee) performing live demonstrations.
#Personality: Testing Your Coffee Character
Upon arrival, visitors step directly into the #Personality zone, exploring the city’s most distinctive coffee tastes, ranging from pour-over and milk-based drinks to siphon coffee and other unique flavors.
Black Sugar Coffee, a Hong Kong-based roastery, uses “pet-friendly” as one of their gimmicks. Their booth is filled with Shiba Inu-themed decorations and merchandise, such as Shiba toys, drip bags and coffee cups. They also bring one of their “members”—a cute Shiba Inu—to the booth, which draws continuous crowds for photo-taking.
“Our shop has four ‘furbosses’ that our customers adore. We wanted to use this event as a way to connect with fellow coffee lovers through pets. Moreover, we really want to use this platform to support and promote the local coffee scene,” founder Diana adds.
This year marks the 10th anniversary of Black Sugar Coffee. They introduced four custom anniversary drinks to show appreciation to their supporters: Yangzhi Ganlu, Coffee Milk Punch, Autumn Garden, and a coffee-free option called Not Melon, which blends kiwi, coconut, and melon for non-coffee drinkers.
Beyond drinks, the #Personality zone also serves food. Big Ma Dim Sum is one of the long-queuing culinary attractions. The shop offers popular all-time-favourite Cantonese dim sum dishes, such as Siu Mai, radish cakes and crystal buns.
“We started preparing everything fresh early this morning, and we never use pre-made meals,” notes founder Dai Ma.
Besides, the shop actively organizes local Chinese Dim Sum workshops to preserve traditional pastry-making skills for future generations.
#Professional: Experience the Perfection
In the #Professional zone, visitors can grasp the precious opportunity to meet award-winning international baristas and brands, including Homeground Coffee Roasters from Bangkok, Roosa Jalonen from London and Hyungsoon Jang from Seoul. A major highlight is the collaboration between Blossom and Taipei’s Sherry Selection. Sherry, the champion of the 2022 World Barista Championship (WBrC), brings her remarkable ability in artful Pour-Over craft. Thought coffee-lovers hoping to taste a cup should expect a queue.
#Lifestyle: When Coffee Meets Art, Movie and Design
The #Lifestyle zone explores where specialty coffee interacts with creative arts.
Through displaying different movie themes, Islet Coffee Lab brings viewers to a coffee and cinema world. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Broadway Cinema Center, the shop has drawn inspiration from four unique art-house films to create four specialty coffee blends. Customers who spend more than $200 can win exquisite movie-themed postcards from a raffle draw.
“I’m obsessed with the movie Aftersun, so discovering a custom coffee blend inspired by it at the festival was such a great surprise,” shares Ethan Kan, a 35-year-old attendee.
#Journey: From Seed to Cup
The festival concludes by bringing visitors back to the origin of the bean.
This year, PMQ Coffee Agenda includes this brand-new zone, exhibiting the growing journey of Hong Kong coffee. Through interactive displays of raw coffee ingredients and processing equipment, visitors trace back how a coffee bean turns into a cup of coffee, from cultivation to roasting and brewing.
“Roast-your-own-beans” workshop giving participants hands-on experiences in how cup materials and color shape the change in coffee’s taste.
