Heard all about the new Pinhole Coffee Bar which had recently opened its doors pretty recently along Purvis Street — the coffee bar is situated right next to Jai Thai. Being a spot that focuses on their specialty coffee, expect a whole menu revolving around filter coffee where they feature single-origin beans roasted by various coffee roasters locally or beyond. Those who are more into espresso-based coffee will also be able to find the standard range of coffee beverages such as that of the Black, White and Espresso being available on the menu here; there is also a tasting flight which they have dubbed the “Hello, Good Morning” here, while non-coffee options include chocolate, artisanal tea and a tea ferment as well. For bakes to go along the cuppa, patrons can opt between the cookies and lemon loaf; both of which being the only bakes available on the day of our visit to Pinhole Coffee Bar.

For our choice of the filter coffee, we went with the Rwanda Umbumwe roasted by local coffee roaster, Cata Coffee (cafe-hoppers from water back in the day may be familiar with them being the coffee programme running alongside The Bakery by Woodlands Sourdough when they were still at Serene Centre). The tasting notes for the beans that we have picked includes hints of “pink guava, raspberry and white florals” — noticed that rather floral note in its body, while there was a rather alluring smokiness with a clean finish, which I found to be rather intriguing.

There seems to be an uprising of specialty coffee bars opening of the late, especially with the likes of abseil and Haven Coffee which have opened rather recently. With lesser specialty coffee options within City Hall these days, Pinhole Coffee Bar is a great addition to this part of the island — a rather centrally located cafe that emphasises on coffee; somewhat a great alternative to the crowded Narrative Coffee Stand on the other end at Bras Basah. A spot that coffee lovers should definitely check out.