一切由2005年開始...

十二月世貿會議在香港舉行，我提着相機到處拍攝歷史性時刻。當時一些反對團體在隔鄰的華潤展覽中心設置了反世貿的展覽，在空檔時間，我走進去參觀，認識了當時在那裡售賣公平貿易咖啡的拍擋Duncan，當時他擁有香港唯一有公平貿易認證的咖啡烘焙公司，其後我們就開始踏上開設這間咖啡店之路了。

開始的時候，我幫忙售賣Fair Taste品牌的咖啡，但不久那邊拆伙了，於是介紹我直接與Duncan合作，過程中，我學到了與原先行業完全不同的知識，更重要是認識了世界的另一面 - 公平貿易的源起和不一樣的思維。雖然不賺錢，不竟擴闊了眼界。

有天經過新華書城，見到他們放了咖啡機在“像咖啡閣”的地方，基於售賣咖啡豆的關係，於是留下了電話希望與負責人聯絡。想不到後來藝術家型的CEO Ken居然讓我們自己上馬接手了咖啡店。但還未開業，Duncan就出售了工場而當上連鎖咖啡店的經理，美國Transfair 也停止了本土以外的公平貿易認證，結果咖啡店售賣的是新鮮烘焙的非公平貿易咖啡。由於認證以國家為單位，Duncan唯有向其它國家尋求協助，花了數月仍不得要領，只有暫時放下出售公平貿易咖啡的念頭。除了而我們亦踏上了另一階段，由於參與女青年會的籌款活動，認識了兩位酒店業的西餐和飽餅烘焙師傅，得到他們的幫忙，小店一直不用行貨而自行製作食品，從中有機會知道了一般食店會用的漆加劑、防腐劑等化學品。因為是自產自銷的關係，我們並不需要利用此等原料，客人嚐過以後，都會發現跟一般食店的出品有很大不同。一年中，得到很多的鼓勵，本來想擴充營業，擴大了的食店牌照也到手了，可惜由於書店的業主加租，新華書城還是選擇結業。

之後我們曾努力尋找新地方，在觀塘一麵飽工場經營數月後，又再關門了，這次是牌照問題，因為店主不想更改牌照影響原來的烘焙生意。但香港的租金實在太貴了，故此之後未能繼續。

但不論怎樣，非常高興的是在路上認識了很多新朋友，現在我們繼續以網上為據點以集合更多朋友，亦希望能從中另創新路，希望大家支持。如有任何建議，歡迎與我們聯絡。謝謝。

Everything started from year 2005.  I attended an anti-WTO exhibition and got to know my partner Duncan.  He owned the first Transfair USA recognized coffee roasting company in Hong Kong.  I then started to sell his fresh roasted fair trade coffee under the brand name "Fair Taste".  After a while, some partners of "Fair Taste" left and introduced me to cooperate with Duncan directly.

Our first shop opened inside Xinhua book city in Causeway Bay.  It was an accident.  I only wanted to sell coffee beans to them at first but their artist style CEO, Ken let us run the cafe instead.  In the mean time, Duncan sold his roasting company to chain stores and became their manager.  Transfair USA refused to recognize companies outside US shortly afterwards.  Anyway, we started a new chapter to run a cafe with all food cooked in-house.  I then learnt the chemicals involved in food business.  Fortunately, we did not require to use these because we produced everything ourselves with the help from two experienced chefs.  Many customers really appreciated our products so we decided to expanded.  Unfortunately, after getting the expanded food production license, Xinhua book city informed us they would not continue as the landlord asked for a lot more.

We then opened another shop inside a bakery factory in Kwun Tong.  Due to license problem, the owner refused to continue after two months.  The cafe was closed again.  Here we continue to serve you online by offering alternatives can't be found in ordinary shops.  If you have any suggestion, please don't hesitate to let us know.