Jennifer Liu, wealthy heir, serial entrepreneur and top barista behind The Coffee Academics Photo: Forbes
The Coffee Wars have heated up again with the frothy assault on the Sai Kung market of The Coffee Academics. This is chain claims to be the largest in Hong Kong by consumption. The founder is Jennifer FW Liu, Cornell-educated architect and granddaughter of Liu Po Shan, founder of the Chong Hing Bank and Liu Chong Hing property empire.
The new store is at the main town end of See Cheung St and its wall art and sparkling lights can be seen from Yi Chun St. It will now fight for Sai Kung market share with Little Cove Coffee Shop, a homegrown firm that gets it all right, and Cosy Coffee on Po Tung Road, so well-designed it’s like a classy library or club. Struggling for attention on See Cheung Rd also are the Black Smith and Tea Break Cafe.
The new Coffee Academics outlet at 55 See Cheung Street, Sai Kung
Jennifer Liu, comfortably backed by family wealth, launched herself as an entrepreneur by setting up a property platform PP.com invested in by PCCW Ventures and later acquired by a NASDAQ property company. Ms Liu also established HABITU, a brand well known in Hong Kong, RoasteryLab, Tea Academics specialising in vegan and raw foods as well as 14 South Lane. Her umbrella company is called The Academics Group.
Coffee Academics, now percolating at See Cheung St, has an over-wrought website worthy of Private Eye’s Pseuds Corner: “Designed to be a sensory playground for speciality coffee, our individually curated spaces are woven into the living fabric of each local neighborhood”. The Academics Group describes itself as a “global lifestyle brand”. It’s not all hype: the company now has stores in nine Asian and Mideast countries.
Nor should Jennifer Liu be dismissed as a rich heir. She’s a philanthropist who has founded JWF Foundation supporting underprivileged women and children and is a committee member of Business for Social Good as well as several other charitable groups.
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