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Urban Coffee Roaster

Central / Hollywood Road, Hong Kong

Go for a local roaster with competition depth, filter intent, retail beans, brew gear, and a practical Hollywood Road cafe.

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Urban Coffee Roaster's Soho cafe sits at C Wisdom Centre on Hollywood Road in Central, a short uphill move from the office core and close to the same Old Town Central route that pulls visitors toward galleries, antique shops, and Sheung Wan. The room is more polished than hidden: food menus, retail coffee, and steady all-day traffic, with bags, brew gear, and filter choices keeping the roaster's work visible.

The brand has been roasting in Hong Kong since 2014, and the brand centers on sourcing, roasting, quality control, sensory work, and brewing expertise. That makes the Soho shop a practical central anchor for Urban Coffee Roaster: easy to route, open daily, and broad enough for both a coffee-first stop and a fuller cafe visit.

Coffee

Urban Coffee Roaster is a house-roaster brand rather than a single-room cult counter. The shop sells filter coffee, auction lots, espresso, drip bags, steep bags, grinders, kettles, drippers, filter papers, scales, and other brew gear, so the cafe should be read as the public face of a wider roasting and retail operation.

That breadth is the reason to go. Order espresso if you want the baseline, but look for filter, single-origin, or seasonal options before settling. Urban is especially helpful for visitors who want a central Hong Kong cafe where the retail shelf and coffee menu both point to a local roaster.

Filter

Filter is central to the brand. Urban notes a weekly filter-roasting rhythm on its site, and the online shop separates filter coffee from espresso, auction lots, drip bags, and steep bags. That structure is a stronger signal than a cafe that merely offers batch brew in passing.

The best visit is to treat the Soho bar as a tasting checkpoint. Try a brewed coffee, ask what was roasted recently, then browse the shelf for beans or brewing supplies. In a city with many visually polished cafes, Urban's stronger claim is that it can send you home with the same coffee logic in a bag.

Food

Food is part of the all-day format. The cafe network includes breakfast, lunch, tea-time, drinks, alcohol, and cocktail menus across its cafes, with the Soho address carrying breakfast and lunch support. That makes Urban more flexible than a tiny espresso bar, especially for visitors moving through Central.

Still, the food should not blur the recommendation. Urban belongs here because of coffee and retail, not because it is the most distinctive brunch room in Hong Kong. Use the menu to extend the stop; let the coffee decide whether it belongs in the day.

Service & Room

The Soho room has an advantage that many better-hidden Hong Kong cafes lack: it is easy to use. Hollywood Road gives visitors a clear route, the daily hours are straightforward, and the bar can handle a wider mix of office workers, tourists, and coffee people. It is not the calmest room in the city, but it is one of the more practical.

The wider network also matters. Urban Coffee Roaster is a multi-location Hong Kong brand, but this review stays anchored to Soho because it gives the most useful central version for a city guide.

Why Filter Notes shortlisted Urban Coffee Roaster

Urban Coffee Roaster earns a Hong Kong place because it combines local roasting, filter intent, retail depth, and a central Hollywood Road room that first-time visitors can actually plan around. Cross town for brewed coffee, beans, and a practical Central stop; know before going that the brand is broader and more all-day than the city's smallest coffee-obsessive rooms.

At a glance

Urban Coffee Roaster • Central / Hollywood Road
Neighbourhood
Central / Soho, on Hollywood Road above the main office core.
Address
UG/F and 1/F, C Wisdom Centre, 35-37 Hollywood Road, Central, Hong Kong.
Hours
Daily 8:00am-6:00pm.
Other locations
Mapped here: Tsim Sha Tsui, Causeway Bay, Tseung Kwan O, and Hong Kong International Airport.
Coffee
Espresso Filter House-roasted beans
Food
Breakfast Lunch Tea-time menu
Best for
A central house-roaster stop with filter coffee, retail beans, and brewing gear.
Tradeoff
Broader cafe format; less intimate than Hong Kong's smallest brew bars.
Awards & recognition
2024 Hong Kong Barista Championship

Gary Au won the Hong Kong Barista Championship and Coffee in Good Spirits Championship

The Way to Coffee cites Gary Au's 2024 Hong Kong titles and Urban Coffee Roaster's wider sourcing, roasting, quality control, sensory, and brewing teams.

Source: The Way to Coffee ↗

2025 World Coffee Championships

#6 in the 2025 World Coffee in Good Spirits Championship

Gary Au of Urban Coffee Roaster placed sixth in the final round in Geneva.

Source: 2025 WCIGS Final Rankings ↗

Map

Urban Coffee Roaster — Hong Kong
Reviewed location Other location

Instagram & Other Photos

Instagram

What others are saying

“One of Hong Kong's most decorated and forward thinking specialty coffee operations.”
“Renowned homegrown specialty coffee brand Urban Coffee Roaster is now in Terminal 1.”
“Coffee cocktails by Gary Au, two-time Hong Kong champ in both coffee and mixology.”

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