Fong Da Coffee, Taipei

I am not a coffee connoisseur, but I do appreciate a good brew. When I was planning for our girls-and-bubs' trip to Taipei last month, I turned to Eating Asia for ideas, as Robyn's recommendations for good eating experiences had proven to be excellent in both Hanoi and Kaohsiung. (She has recommendations for many other locations and countries on her blog, and I'm sure I'll be turning to her website time and time again when I need ideas for my future travel.) It was one of her articles on Wall Street Journal that pointed me to Fong Da Coffee, one of Taipei's original coffee shops that has been in operation since 1956. Fong Da retains much of its heritage, choosing to use vintage equipment to roast, grind and brew coffee. There are many varieties of coffee beans to choose from, and several ways to have your coffee. It's very popular, and the dining rooms both on the ground floor and upstairs were filled to the brim on the weekday afternoon we visited. It was hence not by our choice to order our coffees to go, but we weren't going to wait around for a table - not when we have two 1-year-olds in our midst. We still had to wait about 10 minutes for our coffees, and I used that time to admire the machines and buy the snacks at the front of the shop.

The queue (for takeaway and tables) was long:

I'm guessing this is a grinder (it was not in use when I was looking):

Roasting in a action:

Iced drip coffee, anyone? This apparatus makes four cups in six hours!

Enjoying our coffees with the snacks I bought from Fong Da - almond, peanut, sesame and mung bean flavours (in the background are two bottles of freshly-pressed sugar cane juice, bought at a street vendor on our way home, not at Fong Da):

Fong Da is worth a visit for coffee lovers in Taipei.

Fong Da Coffee 蜂大咖啡
No. 42 Chengdu Road
Wanhua District
Taipei City
Taiwan 108
Tel. +886 2 2371 9577