Best coffee in Kaohsiung, Taiwan

To all coffee lovers, coffee is mandatory even when travelling. Late nights, early mornings are inevitable when you want to experience a city as much as possible. So while checking out Kaohsiung, my friends and I reviewed 7 coffee joints and tasted their lattes to find out which has the best coffee in Kaohsiung.
FYI, we are generally latte drinkers, with no sugar. We pride soy over the usual milk, but clearly Taiwan does not have a culture of drinking soy lattes.

We reviewed our coffee in terms of how much we liked it, and included factors such as how strong the coffee taste was.

1. Starbucks

The first thing that appeared when we Googled 'best coffee in Kaohsiung' was Starbucks. We were really skeptical but still went ahead with trying it since you can find Starbucks virtually everywhere.

Soy Latte

Rating: ⭑⭑⭒⭒⭒

Actually the Soy killed it for us :( The soy milk that Taiwan's Starbucks uses is probably the Asian Soya milk, aka 豆浆 (dou jiang), not the Western Soy milk, so do take note! Other than that, the coffee is generally the same as most Starbucks elsewhere. 

It might be better without soy milk in Taiwan, but we didn't pass by anymore Starbucks to try it.

2. CRAFT @ XinJueJiang Shopping District

We were definitely in need of coffee when we were shopping in XinJueJiang Shopping District. Craft was tucked nicely in a corner of the shopping district and we decided to give it a try. 

Iced Mocha

Rating: ⭑⭑⭑⭒⭒

The Iced Mocha was a little sweet, but the coffee taste was not drowned in huge amounts of milk and coffee, which made it a great refreshing drink to energize our day. (with a little sugar rush)

3. CRAFT @ XinJueJiang Shopping District

We went to XinJueJiang Shopping District for a 2nd time to shop for more stuff, since it was the only day shopping street we could find in Kaohsiung. I guess locals in Kaohsiung prefers shopping in huge malls.

Iced Latte

Rating: ⭑⭑⭒⭒⭒

We honestly thought we could give Craft a 2nd try since their Mocha was quite good, so we got another Iced Latte. There was too much milk in the latte which covered the taste of the coffee :(

 4. APEULS COFFEE @ Formosa Boulevard MRT station

Since we stayed near Formosa Boulevard MRT station, we grabbed a cuppa coffee from Apeuls and gave it a try.

Black Coffee

Rating: ⭑⭑⭑⭒⭒

The Americano was a little watered down tbh; a little disappointed but nevertheless, we still finished a 0 calorie drink :)

5. Aunt Stella @ Han Shen Department Store

Chanced upon a shopping mall so we went inside to shop and found this little cafe at the basement of the mall.

Black Sugar Macchiato

Rating: ⭑⭑⭑⭒⭒

Although the drink sounds sugary, we were pleasantly surprised by the sweetness of the drink. It was not too sweet, which is perfect for people with non sweet tooth. The downside of this was just that the drink was a little watered down, like most of the other coffees in Kaohsiung. 

6. Tea Boutique & Cafe @ Pier 2

Prior to getting this cup, we TRIED hiking up Shoushan but then we gave up halfway cause it was too hot. So we ubered back down again to Pier 2 to grab a pick-me-up.

Black Coffee

Rating: ⭑⭑⭒⭒⭒

Same old, same old -- watered down :( But it was another 0 calorie drink so we finished it ;)

7. Brought Coffee and Tea @ RuiFeng Night Market

We headed to Rui Feng Night Market on one of the nights and that was definitely a time where we needed coffee after exploring Kaohsiung for the whole day.

Brought's Specialty Coffee

Rating: ⭑⭑⭑⭑⭒

It's a specialty coffee for a reason. There's alcohol added to this mix to give it a unique taste. Although the coffee was not as strong, we felt that the mix of alcohol, coffee, and sugar definitely deserves 4⭑ :)

 8. Sunny Day Cafe

Basically we were attempting to walk from our place to a 豆浆shop (soya milk shop) which took us nearly an hour, so we dropped by a cafe to grab a cuppa in the morning.

Iced Latte

Rating: ⭑⭑⭒⭒⭒
We were actually disappointed :( The latte only had a very distinct taste of milk, making it seem like milk-flavoured coffee instead of coffee with milk :(

BONUS: BERNACHON COFFEE (from 7-11/Family Mart)

To be honest, we practically lived off 7-11. The 7-11 in Taiwan had so much variety in terms of food and drinks that we could never decide what we want every single time. But we always took coffee.

Rating: ⭑⭑⭑⭑⭒

Honestly, this was one of the better coffee I've tasted in Taiwan. This version of Bernachon Coffee is not as sweet as the dark blue bottle, and the coffee taste in this 'Golden Cup' is actually quite strong. TBH, this is my 2nd favourite, behind Brought Coffee & Tea's specialty coffee ;)

Maybe I guess there was a reason why Starbucks was dubbed the 'Best Coffee in Kaohsiung' by Google, no matter how many times we tried googling. 

If you're looking for good coffee in Kaohsiung, I would highly recommend popping into a 7-11 store or Family Mart. The wide selection of coffee (and the price) in there would NEVER disappoint. :)