First Look: Taiwanese Coffee Culture Finds a Home in Ashfield

Anyone chasing a caffeine hit in Sydney would’ve noticed the rainbow of toppings frothing over cold brews and matcha lattes lately. They stretch the colour spectrum from black forest berry foam to pistachio cream.

But have you tried a signature drink with Taiwanese flair?

That’s the appeal of newcomer Festive Coffee, in Ashfield, which offers exactly that.

Damon Tsai opened his cafe in January, after many years working in specialty coffee. It’s a hidden gem, situated down a quiet alley, between the suburb’s main drag and train station. I might’ve overlooked it altogether had I not received a solid recommendation to check it out from Vlasto Bartoska, the award-winning head barista at Marrickville’s Ona.

I’d tried Bartoska’s After Dark coffee – topped with Riverina cream, Vitasoy oat milk and tonka bean shavings – and asked if he knew of interesting versions of the two-tone drinks we’re seeing everywhere. He suggested Festive Coffee’s Taiwanese take.

The Ashfield signature is the Cloud Aix, an iced batch brew sweetened with longan honey and finished with cold Taiwanese-tea foam. Although it’s prepared with berry-like Ethiopian beans, this chilled coffee celebrates Tsai’s birthplace. He grew up in Taichung, in central Taiwan, savouring the lychee-like sweetness of longans.

“Taiwan is a fruit kingdom,” says Tsai, who moved to Sydney a decade ago. He hadn’t seen many people embracing longans here, so he added them to his drink via honey made from the tree’s flowers. “It took me a while to even come up with the idea of the drink,” he says. “This might just make the beverage more unique.”

While the fruit-derived honey is Taiwan’s most popular kind, prized for its fragrance and amber-rich tones, “it’s difficult to find a legit longan honey in Australia,” says Tsai. That hasn’t stopped him trying and accentuating its flavours in the Cloud Aix: he also tops the drink with dehydrated longan soaked in a gentle brown sugar concentrate.

These syrupy notes balance the silky foam, which is infused with tieguanyin, an iron goddess oolong with refreshingly bold jasmine notes.

The name hints at his inspirations. Cloud refers to the airy top layer, while aix (pronounced“ex”) refers to the beverage’s infusion of two caffeinated brews. “I got the idea from a drink from Hong Kong where they mix the tea and the coffee together. They call it Yuenyeung,” he says. When Tsai researched it further, he learnt Yuenyeung also refers to Aix galericulata: a particularly handsome mandarin duck symbolising love in Chinese literature. According to folklore, the birds commit lifelong devotion to their partners.

Even though autumn’s just started, Tsai’s already considering his signature drink for winter. It’s a work in progress, but the vital elements have to be from Taiwan.

Festive Coffee is adorned with personal touches: Tsai designed the signage (patterns evoking fireworks and origami coffee filters) and his wife crocheted the coasters and decorative flowerpots holding hand-woven flowers.

The specialty coffee focus is supported by Tuga Pastries baked goods: croissants, kouign-amanns and the brand’s famous Portuguese tarts. Tsai also pours hot chocolate, matcha and tea. He’s chosen to highlight Taiwanese oolong, available to drink-in only. It’s designed to be savoured over multiple brews, which taste different with every extra steeping.

Tsai is a friendly, generous figure: when Broadsheet visits, he walks around offering free samples of a unique cold brew – coffee fermented with cherry fruit. He says it tastes like strawberry gum and he’s exactly right.

“I haven’t met a lot of Taiwanese here. And in a way, I’m homesick,” he says. Tsai wants to build a community at Festive Coffee – not just for people with Taiwanese heritage, but for anyone who needs company and a slower tempo. “I want to provide a place that gives people a sense of belonging.”

Festive Coffee
2 Markham Place, Ashfield

Hours:
Mon 7am–2pm
Tue 7am–midday
Wed to Fri 7am–2pm
Sat & Sun 8am–2pm

@festivecoffee