Slinging out the good stuff in Singapore
With 48 hours in Singapore, we stopped by an unassuming coffee shop close to our hotel on our first morning. After one sip we were hooked.
When people talk about Singapore, they don’t mention the coffee. The green city, the garden city, with vines on perfectly spaced buildings and flowering crawlers creeping up the skyscrapers. Conversations ramble around the architecture, the cleanliness, the impeccable transport systems. You’ll hear about light shows that turn the night sky to day and the hawker malls that are packed tight with mouth watering stalls of food. But the coffee? Words on it are far and few, and so when visiting I wasn’t expecting anything out of the ordinary.
On our first morning in the city my partner and I went for a stroll down the bright building lined Purvis street, in search of a brew to fuel us up for the day. Unable to find the coffee shop we’d initially spotted on google maps, we stopped instead at a small hole in the wall spot, Pinhole. A cool blast of air greeted us and we took seat at the windowsill, a brief reprieve from Singapores sticky humidity. The coffee shop was minimalist in design with white walls and countertops, sparse seating, and a gleaming coffee machine taking centre stage. The coffee menu is simple – espresso, black, white, cold brew, and a filter coffee option. Operating on a roastery rotation basis, on our visit they were serving beans from Newav Coffee Roasters. I went for a flat white while Tom, struggling to handle the humidity, opted for the Dark Room cold brew.
Coffee Jargon
Unlike coffee shops in New Zealand Australia, there is no rush on the baristas in Pinhole. Wide eyed we watched as every step was carried out with perfect precision. Tom’s cold brew was served in a cool glass bottle. My flat white followed a little while after, a carefully crafted piece of art. The cold brew was similar to a blend we’d tried in Melbourne. A funky brew, slightly zesty and refreshing. The flat white caught us both unawares. Balanced and smooth, every sip was a rounded combination of full flavour, with notes of peach and honey. There was a creaminess and a wholeness to the cup that I adored. If every morning could start with a coffee like that, I knew I would live a life of utter contentment. Maybe that’s an exaggeration but when drinking a coffee that good you start to feel a little crazy.
Better perhaps than any flat white we’d tried in Melbourne, one of the most acclaimed coffee brewers around, I was at a loss as to why no one was talking about Singapores speciality coffee scene. A hidden gem, if you’re on the hunt for coffee perfection, hop on the next flight to Singapore and get yourself to Pinhole.
