espressoLAB Bali Lane is now closed. But the same team who ran espressoLAB Bali Lane has set up Three Cups Coffee Co. I am sure the coffee quality still remains 🙂

Three Cups Coffee Co
Address: #04-31, 1 Raffles Place, Singapore 048616
Phone: 6438 4108
Operating Hours: Mon – Fri: 8:00 am – 7:30 pm, Sat – Sun: 10:00 am – 6:00 pm
Website: http://www.threecups.sg

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espressoLAB Singapore is opened by a colleague-friend and his wife, on 14th July 2012, who are both passionate about life, coffee and food.  I visited them when they first opened, but they have recently renovated to a hipster feel that blends in the neighbourhood better (and rightly so since they are situated in hippy Kampung Glam and with grungy CAD just at the back), so we went back to check it out as promised!

I am really proud they have come so far in 1.5 years and they have received 2 recent awards – 1) Gold Plate Awards 2012 by The Singapore Women’s Weekly – “Get your coffee fix” category, 2) Best for Coffee aficionados looking for that one great cuppa by Cosmopolitan just in March 2013. espressoLAB also has 7 outlets in Malaysia already.

First up for coffee, among 6 of us, we tried the Long Black, Latte, Flat White and Soy Mocha. At espressoLAB, they use double shots for all their drinks so be prepared for a strong caffeine punch. They also use Nature’s Farm milk, which is sweeter than the usual Meiji. Sidenote and new learning for me when researching for this entry: Nature’s Farm cows’ diets are customized to improve the quantity of certain essential fatty acids (Omega 3 & CLA) in the milk that are important in heart and brain health. The coffee beans are roasted in espressoLab KL, and there are 2 types of coffee now – 1) 4 bean blend and 2) Sumatra Wahana Single Origin [fruitier].

All the drinks were strong because of the double shots. The Long Black ($4) was probably one of the most intense I have had in Singapore – bitter, very acidic. The Latte ($5) was sweet, with no bubbles on the foam which means the milk was frothed well. The Flat White ($5), though strong lacked a bit of the punch I usually have with Flat Whites at Common Man or Chye Seng Huat. More of the sweet and smooth flavour even though I had the 4 bean blend.

My brother-in-law absolutely loved the Soy Mocha ($6.50) because it left no bitter aftertaste and he liked how the foam was well done like coffee foam. Apparently, soy milk cannot be heated more than 70degreesC, if not, the foam will be bitter so to achieve this foam texture, they had to scrape away the top bitter/out of shape foam and re-wet the middle foam to achieve normal ‘coffee milk foam’ texture for soy milk. The drink was so good he had another cuppa to go!

First up, we tried the Michael’s poached eggs (no surprise what my friend’s name is? :P). Michael’s poached eggs ($15) comprises two poached eggs with spinach, bacon, ham served with hollandaise sauce on toasted brioche! N described this main as epic – the eggs were well made and runny, with the yolk and hollandaise running into the spinach and mushrooms. Brioche was well baked and toasted which makes it tender on itself. Spinach was also fresh and green. Overall very yummy dish!

We also tried the Beef Sandwich ($10), which had tender juicy meat and a horseradish aftertaste kick! Unique sandwich and my second favourite dish.

The Big Brekkie ($15) comprised of bread, chipotle sausage, mushrooms, eggs.  Nice and typical dish; I felt the Michael’s poached eggs was more unique.

For desserts, we had the Ice Cream Sandwich. The chocolate ‘bread’ is baked by the couple with vanilla ice cream slapped in the middle, served with caramel sauce. We also tried the Lemon Sponge Cake – sweet without being over-saccharin with soft fresh cream in the middle. All the layers bring out the citrus sweet flavours!

Definitely must try for all coffee lovers who love strong double shots coffee. And good quality food but be patient for weekend brunch speed if you are going in a big group as espressoLAB has a small kitchen. Michael and Sue also runs coffee appreciation classes from time to time so if you would like to learn more on types of blends,  history and process of making coffee, how to work a french press etc, do check out espressoLAB Facebook for the next lessons’ timings and availability. We might attend one of these days to learn more as well!

Summary shots courtesy of my BIL 🙂

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espressoLAB Singapore
Address: 13 Bali Ln, Singapore 189849
Phone: +65-62988413
Hours: Mon – Fri: 8:30 am – 5:00 pm, Sat: 10:00 am – 7:00 pm
Site: http://www.espressolabsingapore.blogspot.com/