The Coffee Academics should be of no stranger to many people, especially the famous Hong Kong flagship branch.
The Coffee Academics has won several international awards and has made a name for itself as well!
With that, we have visited its flagship store in Singapore, which has various mixed reviews.
The Coffee Academics
Living up to its name, The Coffee Academics is known for its coffee. According to the information on their website, they create distinct blends from coffee beans sourced from all over the world that are roasted by them.
They are also enthusiastic in extending their coffee knowledge to like-minded people by conducting courses and classes.
However, (ashamedly) as someone who doesn’t appreciate coffee as much, I went to their store for their food! Hence, I will focus more on their food instead of their coffee.
Ambience at The Coffee Academics
We visited the Flagship outlet at Scotts Square. As it is the flagship store, it is pride for their “3,000sq feet sensorial arena”, which has 7 sensory stations, including The Espresso Bar, Tea Academics Bar, Cupping Corner, Culinary Counter, Custom Blend Concierge and Hand Brew Bar.
They also have this huge table around the Hand Brew Bar, which has tatami mats that allow you to sit comfortably and enjoy your coffee and brunch. That is definitely a unique and interesting experience.
Overall, the restaurant has a very cosy vibe, which allows you to sit around and have good catch-up with your friends over nice coffee and brunch.
Food
Umami Pasta – SGD$23
The umami pasta is basically spaghetti with spicy XO sauce with sweet shrimp, ebiko, onsen egg and bonito flakes. I mixed the egg together with the pasta and everything else so the flavours are better infused together.
I absolutely love this dish! The pasta is super flavourful! The spicy XO sauce gives the pasta a slightly spicy flavour to it, which is not too overpowering or strong that numbs your taste buds. Instead, it slightly stimulates your taste buds, which is super appetising.
The sweet shrimp, ebiko and bonito flakes combined together, gives the pasta a very strong and flavourful seafood taste, which is super delicious. I love this dish so much I keep going for another mouth.
However, I think that the sweet shrimp is this dish can either be replaced with normal prawns, which would add a taste of meat to the dish, completing it, or it can be replaced by dried shrimps, which I believe will give the pasta a stronger flavour, making it even more umami
Truffle Portobello Mushroom Pizza – SGD$26
The Truffle Portobello Mushroom Pizza, as its name suggests, is a thin-crust pizza with portobello mushroom, onions, mozzarella cheese, parmigiano cheese, finished off with truffle oil.
This dish is indeed super flavourful as well! I definitely recommend this dish if you love mushrooms. The fragrance and umami of the portobello mushrooms is basically the highlight of the dish. The thin crispy crust, sweet onion and stringy cheese completes the whole dish.
However, one thing to note is that the crust becomes soft and wet if you leave the pizza for too long, especially the middle part. I would prefer it if the crust remains crispy as the crispiness of the crust is an important addition to the texture of the whole dish.
Passionfruit Cruffin – SGD$5.90
How can you finish a meal without a dessert? Hence, we decided to order a passionfruit cruffin. I have been thinking of getting this since we entered as I saw it on display at their counter.
Cruffin is basically the combination of a croissant and a muffin, which means it has the crispy and flaky texture of a croissant, but is in a shape of muffin, and can have different cream of flavours stuffed in it.
This cruffin is super crispy and flaky, on the outside, and is filled with tangy-sweet passionfruit custard in the middle, and topped with a bit of passionfruit curd. The whole flavour comes well together as the tanginess of the passionfruit pairs well with the slightly dense texture of the body of the cruffin, making it a lot more appetising
The cruffins I had at Keong Saik Bakery has a more runny and liquid-y filling, which flows out the moment you cut it open, like a lava cake. However, the cruffin here has a more ‘solid’ feeling, which also means that the texture of the cruffin can be maintained crispy as it wont be soaked by the liquid filling in it.
Both Kayden and I prefer the cruffin here! So give it a try if you are here! 🙂
Uji Hojicha – SGD$6.40
As I don’t fancy coffee, I ordered the Uji Hojicha. I find this slightly light, a lot lighter than a lot of other Hojicha out there. The smokiness of the hojicha is still there, but the flavour is slightly bland, I supposed it might have been diluted by the milk. However, it did taste quite nice, but I would prefer if the hojicha taste is slightly stronger and more fragrant.
Okinawa Specialty Coffee – SGD$6.40
Kayden ordered the specialty coffee – Okinawa. It is basically cappuccino with Okinawa brown cane sugar.
According to Kayden, the coffee has a very strong and robust flavour, which was not too bitter (like Arabica). The foam on the coffee is sweet and has tad of caramel-like taste, which blends well with the strong-flavoured coffee.
Service
I would rate the service at The Coffee Academics as mediocre. Staff were sort of friendly, but it was kind of hard to get their attention as well. I would think they could do better, especially for a flagship store.
Price – $$
Rating – 4/5
The Coffee Academics @ SCOTTS SQUARE FLAGSHIP
Address:
6 Scotts Road, #02-01/02 Singapore 228209
Operating Hours:
Mon – Thu, PH on weekdays: 9am – 830pm
Fri – Sat: 9am – 9pm
Sun: 9am – 8pm
