Owned and operated by a family of mom & two daughters, Hé House Home Cafe is truly the gold standard of coffee in this town full of cafes.
We stumbled by the shop on a day of discovery and learned that to try their coffee you had to first make reservation. This was not a system we had encountered before given the abundance of hipster cafes in Old Town Phuket. Later during the session, we found out just why the system exists and how well it works.
A quick introduction to the shop itself. This is a cafe that was opened during COVID as mom & daughters’ passion turned into a full time career as SCA certified baristas in their newly renovated ancestorial home. They only carry specialty coffee that they themselves source around and the world and roast in shop to perfection. The twin daughters both specializes in may different ways of brewing coffee and have developed their palette through out the years. They only take about 2-5 reservations per day with the rest of the time continuing their craft in coffee.
On to the true topic of discussion, the coffee. Just how good is this coffee? And is it really worth the price?
To start each cup will set you back 400 Baht which is about 5x the price at any other cafe in the town. Even at that price we had 4 cups to try their different brewing techniques. It really was new and different.
This was “Dirty” not so dirty, made with their Carmen Luisa blend. Given the reservation system, they had personalized cards prepped with our names and all the tasting information for you to read through as you spin the whiskey glass full of coffee. It was rich in flavor with slightly sweetened taste by syrup.
Black over ice with Villa Betvila blend in a chilled wine glass. Personally, this was simply ok. But I did understand the methodology to drinking this way. As the baristas explained, effectively, the ice of immediately locks in the flavor, which is quite different if you were to enjoy it hot. If it started out hot, as the temperature cools down, the flavor changes and becomes more acidic.
Ice latte with the He House Specialty Blend. This was particularly interesting, since the baristas hand blended the different varieties they had carried at any given time.
Saving the most interesting for last. This was other specialty blend where the recommended preparation was with hand squeezed yuzu juice. This was probably the most different drink out the four. The yuzu scent really gave you the refreshing feel even before the first sip. The combination surprisingly tasted like beer hops with the acidity and the slightly bitter after taste.
All in all – the experience is probably one of the most unique in Phuket Old Town. Would highly recommend any travelers or coffee lovers give it a try. They only do reservation via Facebook Messenger and not Instagram. So please do reach out to them there.
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