​蜂大咖啡 Fong Da Coffee @Taipei

Established since 1956, this was one of the first coffee places in Taipei and was very popular.

In fact, the queue was so long when we walked past the first time and we ended up at 南美咖啡 Nanmay Coffee next door instead.

Hence, we decided to come try our luck again. When we arrived around 6.30pm, the place was quite quiet, and one of the staff was roasting the coffee beans using a rather antique-looking machine, and it was oh-so-fragrant!

With close to 30 coffee options, we opted for 蜂大水滴冰咖啡 Fong Da Iced Coffee (NT$85) and hot 法式巧克力 French Chocolate (NT$100). We also saw many traditional pastries (NT$12 each) and could not help but order the 花生糕 Peanut Cake and 绿豆糕 Mung Bean Cake.

The hot chocolate was smooth and not overly chocolatey; we loved it! It was served in a small espresso cup, and we just had to pour out the hot chocolate from the flask, thus ensuring that the drink remained hot throughout our visit. The iced coffee had a very interesting smokey flavour that swirled inside our mouths. We definitely had not tasted any coffee like this before. We liked it!

The bite-sized cakes were delicious, especially the peanut one which was really smooth and creamy.

We were seated at Level 1, which felt a bit squeezy because of the many boxes stacked under the counter. Many people had commented that service here was terrible. To be fair, while the staff were not exactly friendly, they were not rude either. Overall, it had a very old-school feel that we quite enjoyed.

Note: Money is collected upon serving of food / drinks. They also sell coffee beans here.