[Taipei 台北] Da Dao Cheng / Dihua Street 大稻埕 / 迪化街 (4/5) : inBlooom Together 印花作夥 + COFE bar 喫咖啡吧 @ Lynda's Taiwan-logue

< Visited in Jul 2019 >

Despite having been to Dihua Street 迪化街 several times, there are still reasons for me to keep revisiting. One of which is homegrown label in Blooom 印花乐. First attracted to their products and fabrics inspired by traditional window panes, grilles and floor tiles, I have since amassed quite a few custom-made curtains, bags, pouches and stationery. As a loyal customer and follower, not forgetting my Kaohsiung store-manager-turned friend got posted here, I had to turn up and show my support when they opened their third outlet (and possibly biggest) at Dadaocheng 大稻埕 - inBlooom Together-Dadaocheng III 印花作夥-印花乐大稻埕三店.

Not unlike most of the retail and eateries at Dadaocheng/Dihua Street, inBlooom Together 印花作夥 occupies an old Baroque-style building, optimising the long spacious ground floor with a front of shop, a small courtyard in the middle (中庭) with an airwell letting natural light in, and an extended retail section at the back.

⇩ These steps lead up to partner COFE bar 喫咖啡吧 on 2F, a coffee bean to bar cafe which I will introduce shortly.

⇩ The courtyard intended for pop-up stores. There was a 5-month long Makers' Base Tokyo mini crafts bazaar and workshop on selected days.

⇩ The back of the house is dedicated to the label's beautiful fabrics, now part of the label's line of apparels. Reminiscent of fabric shops in traditional marketplaces, I like how they have done up this section.

⇩ A staircase at the back of leads to 2F's DIY workshop, named in Blooom Classroom 印花塾. Some DIY class was going on (with much laughter and chatter). Hopefully I can have chance to get something done myself next time (though not particularly gifted in crafts).

⇩ Back to the shop front (and after claiming all the items I pre-ordered), I went up to COFE bar 喫咖啡吧.

Off their FB post introducing their specialty (and what I came for):
"Inspired by the concept of bean to bar chocolate, COFE Bar is made of Taiwan specialty tea, cacao butter, (a) small amount of crystal sugar and native soybean powder (substituting emulsifier). Tea is used to completely replace the non-fat cacao solid part of chocolate bar, while the flavour of specialty tea is slowly but fully extracted by cacao butter during conching. The “edible” Taiwan tea is our brand new proposal for tasting specialty tea."

⇩ The cafe interior, seating not more than 50 pax

⇩ Bought these drip coffee sachets to enjoy at home

⇩ A menu which caters primarily to coffee and tea lovers (like me). There are some food items, but being here after two rounds of feeding at Dadaocheng with more to go after this, I gave them a miss this time.

⇩ The "tea chocolate" is laid out on slabs, ranging from the least fermented (greenest, and most "sour") on the right to the most (dark brown) on the left. I was definitely here for this, and the professional and helpful service personnel spared no effort in recommending a best combi.

⇩ My eventual selection, to try the spectrum of tea flavours. NT$50/piece.
From left (brown) to right (green): COFE Tea | Tieguanyin 铁观音 | Oolong 青心乌龙 | Biluochun 碧螺春

The server recommended consuming from the greenest (least fermented) to the brownest. The texture is no different from eating chocolate, but the taste is absolutely tea-ish. The least roasted (green) expectedly had a sour tinge, admittedly not my preferred (be it for tea or coffee), if not for this first try. I enjoyed them very slowly, in between sips of coffee and while writing my notes, which could be a good way to refresh your palate and differentiate the flavours.

⇩ Nantou Yuchi drip coffee 南投鱼池水洗手冲咖啡 NT$180 (minus NT$30 for my F&B combi). Though my personal preference is for medium to dark roasts, I took the server's recommendation to try this light-medium option - smooth and flavourful enough for my tastebuds.