Yes! 8 plates emptied which is considered a pretty good score for this petite hidden coffee shop along Gough Street where you have all the popular tourist eating spots of Shing Huen Yuen（勝香園）and Kau Kee Restaurant（九記牛腩）. Elephant Grounds has been attracting as much attention among foodbloggers for its innovative and mouth drooling ice cream sandwiches.

But this was not the reason why I was here. I somehow just managed to pass by Elephant Grounds during lunchtime and felt like it was time to pay this place a visit as it has been sitting on my to-try list for too long. Elephant Grounds succeeded in becoming one of my favourite coffee shops in Hong Kong for its laidback yet radiant ambience, harmonic and edgy coffee, and imperfect yet delightful cookies.

Elephant Grounds早已在food blogger界捲起了一股熱潮，本身頗喜歡咖啡的我卻久沒機會一嘗這小店的咖啡。每個人都是因為週末的雪糕三文治前來，但閒日午飯時間經過的我，只有機會淺嘗了一杯咖啡，與一塊曲奇餅。

不得了，咖啡一喝便知龍與鳳，是環境有影響嗎？
小小的咖啡店，卻在戶外面對住九如坊公園的觀景，自然光充足，周圍都種了幾棵大樹，給人一種懶洋洋的優閒調子。
為甚麼今天不是星期六？

因為不知道喝甚麼好，店員介紹了Dark Roasted Latte，但我卻點了一杯Mocha。
誠然，懂得喝咖啡的都不會點選朱古力咖啡，好像不太能夠試得出咖啡店的功架。
原來我錯了。
杯子上印有大象的腳，非常可愛，咖啡拉花不是最漂亮的，但奶泡算是濃稠適中。呷一口，這杯Mocha的味道來得極其驚豔。咖啡味濃且香，朱古力味道沒有搶過咖啡本身的風頭，卻把層次昇華了。每一口的咖啡都帶著那股烘焙得濃濃的咖啡豆香氣，還有甜度適中的朱古力味，讓一杯看似平凡的咖啡變得不一樣。味道與香滑的口感是超凡的，朱古力和咖啡一起奏出一首優美的歌曲。喝完一杯，已經想點多一杯。

The barista kindly recommended their signature dark roasted latte, but I chose Mocha for the day as I needed a sweeter kick. First sip of the coffee was mind-blowing as the robust tone of dark roasted coffee beans blended perfectly with the milky chocolate flavor, it was a symphony in my palate and great surprise as this cup of Mocha was by right the BEST mocha I probably had in my life. Right at that instance, I decided that I will come back for more, and see if Elephant Grounds offer the same level of quality and delicacy for their other coffee selections.

友人點了一杯Flat White，較多奶的咖啡，但味道上一樣有濃濃燒香的咖啡豆味，味道上好像不太乎合Flat White的要求，多一點奶會比較好。個人還是喜歡讓人感到驚喜的Mocha多點。

On the left hand side, my friend ordered a cup of Flat White which was not profoundly exquisite yet considered fairly decent. The rather intense dark roast coffee tone stood out but for a standard of Flat White, we were expecting a milkier and creamier flavor.

好吧，還有這裡的甜食也是值得一讚的。曲奇餅有提供多種口味，今次選了海鹽焦糖朱古力曲奇餅，質感上略嫌偏乾，質感近似brownie多過一般脆口的曲奇餅，但不打緊，口道方面取勝了。有點偏甜，但算是可以接受的。曲奇面上大大粒的粗鹽，中和了餅中心焦糖的甜度，喜歡曲奇餅有點咬口的人，會欣賞Elephant Grounds偏軟身的曲奇吧。

This little journey is not over, not until you take a bite of sweets to go with the nicely brewed coffee. Cookie time! Elephant Grounds offer a variety of choices for their cookies and I handpicked Salted Caramel Chocolate Cookie for a Monday to kill my blues. It was a very soft, chewy-like type of cookie, not my personal favorite and it did tasted more like a brownie texture-wise. Loved the boldness of the flavor as the huge flakes of sea salt toned down some of the overly sugary caramel filling in the middle of the cookie, you may not really like it for it’s too sweet for most of the people. But I liked my cookie just the way it was, it was a bit dry but crumbly good to go with the robust coffee on the side.

喜愛閒來享受一杯咖啡的我，絕對認為Elephant Grounds在環境雖然地方細細，但烘焙的咖啡和甜食都非常有誠意。不太造作但這小店卻很有edge，在香港地也算是難得。

Elephant Grounds in the Woaw Store on Gough Street DID woah me away. Only if I had more time to enjoy a cup of delicacy every now and then, it would have made my life so much better.


Elephant Grounds
(Inside Woaw Store), 11 Gough Street, Sheung Wan
上環歌賦街11號 (Woaw Store內)
*Ice Cream sandwiches are only available on weekends