An old apartment transformed into a cozy café — the Hu family invites you for a delicious cup of coffee

Photos & Text / Maji Bear (Mr. Neurotic Bear Blog)

I usually go back to Yilan about once a year, around Lunar New Year or when the mountain cherry blossoms on the Beiyi Highway are in full bloom. I always feel like a migratory bird or a season, arriving at the most beautiful moment of a road. Though I never wear a blue shirt, I come with plenty of eager anticipation.

Since I’m not someone who goes home very often.

Between my last and this trip back to Yilan from Taipei, another new café, Tiger Coffee, has opened in Yilan.

Tiger Coffee is managed by a couple, along with their energetic Boston Terrier, Hudou. These three are currently the café’s members. Usually, the couple runs the place, while Hudou’s part-time job is seeing guests out at closing time, and his main job during the day is to play to his heart’s content.

By the way, the boss, Mr. Hu, enjoys photography, usually rides a bike, and even roasts and brews his own coffee — we have so many shared interests.

Although I headed straight to Tiger Coffee in downtown Yilan after getting off the Beiyi Highway, by the time I arrived, the city lights were already on, heralding the coming of night.

It’s a bit hard for me to imagine that this place was originally intended just as a residence, not for business.

The original concept for Tiger Coffee was to create a home with a coffee bar where guests could enjoy delicious coffee together. As for making money — well, they didn’t expect to get rich from it, but just enough to cover the cost of coffee beans would be sufficient.

Who knew that this inconspicuous café located in a residential area would gradually gain some fame? Therefore, after Lunar New Year, Tiger Coffee may open up the second floor for business to accommodate the increasingly busy customer flow.

Initially, Tiger Coffee put a lot of effort into transforming this old apartment into what it is today. To adapt to Yilan’s relatively humid climate, they removed the cement to expose the bricks. The original partitions were also all torn down and replaced with the current layout. Because it was designed with the concept of “home” in mind, Tiger Coffee doesn’t really give off the feeling of a commercial space.

This reminds me of Maya Coffee in Hsinchu, which also embodies this kind of warm, home-like café vibe.

By the way, the paintings on the walls are all works by Mr. Hu’s mother (can we call her Mom Hu?), and although I heard they might be for sale, I think Tiger Coffee would hate to part with them.

I ordered a Guatemalan, Antigua, and Fleur.

The flavor bursted with wonderful floral notes upon entry, then shifted to a rich fruity profile with a solid sweetness. It had a medium-to-full body and a clean finish.

Single-origin coffees at Tiger Coffee are brewed via pour-over, while the siphon is just for the owners’ personal use. To save time on serving, they use Chemex for pour-over. However, instead of using the original Chemex filters, they opt for KONE’s gold-tone filters — this saves on filter costs in the long run and is also more environmentally friendly.

For espresso-based drinks, it’s much simpler. Currently, a single-group Carimali machine serves all the espresso needs, and given the current customer volume, this single-group machine is fully capable of handling the task.

Like this hot cappuccino — I ended up drinking it before it even made it to the table.

The current roaster used at Tiger Coffee is the Cube series direct-fire machine by Coffee Workers. I’ve always thought this roaster is a great choice for small cafés or home enthusiasts.

Since it’s only recently started serving the public, there aren’t many decorations yet. I think it’s still a phase where you can see the owner’s personality. Take this little truck placed on the red brick wall, for example — it’s basically every little boy’s dream.

I heard Tiger Coffee originally planned to plant a cherry blossom tree here, but the neighbor was worried it might affect feng shui (look how lovely the small-town charm is), so they changed it to a pond instead.

But I think the pond is a good idea. Cherry blossoms look stunning for just two or three weeks a year, but the rest of the time they’re just ordinary trees with green leaves. A pond, if well-maintained, can stay adorable all year round.

By the time I met the legendary Hudou, it was almost closing time.

Tiger Coffee is on my way home, so I’ll probably add it to my regular route. Until next time I visit again.

P.S. Hudou is really super cute, but I won’t post any photos here because I want to trick you into visiting Tiger Coffee, chatting over coffee, and then being played with by Hudou.

[Tiger Coffee]
Address: No. 104, Guorong Road, Yilan City
Phone: 03-931-2104
Business hours: 1:00 PM – 7:00 PM (Closed every Thursday)
FB fan page: https://www.facebook.com/whocafe

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