Singaporeans just can’t get enough of coffee, whether it be kopi-o in a plastic bag or a cup of iced macchiato from an aesthetic café.
But what about the third option: coffee from an HDB block? And not the kopitiam downstairs, but straight out of someone’s home.
As it turns out, these hidden home-based coffee ventures are only becoming more and more popular.
Usually operated by just one person, they hand out specially-brewed beverages to you right from inside the house.
MS News searched around and spoke to three of these HDB baristas about their unique F&B businesses.
For its founder, who asked to be referred to as ‘WeiLiang’, Hamamachi Coffee was just meant to be a way for the neighbours to get their coffee fix.
Image courtesy of WeiLiang
Located at Block 636B Tampines North Drive 2, WeiLiang said to MS News that their newly-developed BTO estate lacked eateries or coffee shops nearby.
Since WeiLiang was interested in brewing coffee, he decided to start doing so for his neighbours.
Upon opening on 1 Jan 2024, WeiLiang kept his expectations for Hamamachi Coffee low, even joking to his wife that she might be his only customer.
But surprisingly, we’ve gained a lot of attention and have had many orders come in. It’s been a really humbling experience.
WeiLiang told MS News that Hamamachi Coffee even had the opportunity to supply its cold brews to several events.
Image courtesy of WeiLiang
“It’s been exciting to see our coffee enjoyed in different settings,” he said.
WeiLiang chose to open the business at home due to its convenience. He also genuinely enjoys brewing for his neighbours.
Noting that Hamamachi Coffee was “more about passion than profit”, WeiLiang highlighted that he cannot order large quantities of ingredients like coffee beans to benefit from economies of scale.
As he wanted to keep prices reasonable, it became a challenge to balance both costs and affordability and as such, the business operates on “a very low profit margin”.
WeiLiang emphasised that Hamamachi Coffee aims to deliver quality flavours and has explored ways to infuse the preferred flavours of fellow coffee lovers into its brews.
Image courtesy of WeiLiang
The HDB barista told MS News that the standout moment so far was when Tampines North MP Baey Yam Keng showed up to give his coffee a taste.
WeiLiang brewed up his signature ‘nutty white’ coffee for the MP to try.
“We had a great chat about the business and our vision to serve the community,” he said.
Image courtesy of WeiLiang
Due to his main occupation being a music production lecturer at Singapore Polytechnic and a freelance music producer, WeiLiang only operates on weekends from 9am to noon.
On brewing days, Hamamachi Coffee takes orders and collection timings through Instagram DMs, with a 15-minute minimum coffee-making time.
They would then give the exact address for a grab-and-go after online payment.
They added that cold brews require pre-orders a day in advance.
For Kenneth Toi, toi.kofihaus is very much a passion project which he juggles on top of his full-time job.
The 31-year-old father of two currently works as a UI and UX Product Designer and operates his coffee business on weekends and public holidays.
Kenneth told MS News that the fundamental philosophy of toi.kofihaus is “affordable quality coffee”.
Image courtesy of Kenneth Toi
“I want each cup to taste consistent and good,” said Kenneth.
“Hence the meticulousness in measurement, timing, and recipe to ensure consistency for each customer I serve.”
Kenneth called the founding of his home café a “happy accident”. He explained that his friends encouraged him to start something using his brewing skills, so he created a Google Business profile.
This home-based coffee business unintentionally replaced his new HDB BTO estate, Kim Keat Beacon, on Google Maps, resulting in Kenneth being introduced in the neighbourhood group chat.
He also noted that while the estate is in a rather central location — between Toa Payoh, Bishan, Whampoa, and Potong Pasir — it is still relatively far from any cafés.
These factors eventually pushed him to start operations, officially beginning on 23 March 2024.
Image courtesy of Kenneth Toi
Kenneth told MS News that the first weekend of operations was the most memorable moment yet. His neighbours gave him much support and his friends and family showed up to cheer him on.
“[It] really gave me so much motivation and I’m humbled by that experience,” said Kenneth.
He added that it wasn’t difficult to get toi.kofihaus going, with no registrations needed to be done.
He did note that there were strict regulations for home-based businesses like no signage or banners allowed.
Kenneth said that he uses a small coffee machine for all his business brewing needs. It could only do a limited number of brews per hour, which gave him the occasional break while working.
Image courtesy of Kenneth Toi
The passionate barista humourously wondered how much his machine could take before it gave out.
“Logistically, it’s just sourcing for good beans, cups/bottles, and the weekly milk run to keep the drinks fresh,” he said about running toi.kofihaus.
Kenneth told MS News that the coffee business was partly a platform for him to improve his brewing skills.
Reflecting on his journey thus far, Kenneth said:
All that I’ve done and accomplished is self-learnt, so it’s something I’m really proud of.
His first crafted drink, the Rose Latté, which he claimed was met with skepticism at first, eventually became one of toi.kofihaus’ most popular brews.
Image courtesy of Kenneth Toi
He added that he loves doing his HDB home-based coffee business, and hoped to push this passion along while continuing to serve the community in a valuable manner.
toi.kofihaus operates from 9am to 1pm on weekends and public holidays at Block 265A Kim Keat Avenue.
Kenneth typically meets his customers in person at the pick-up point between Blk 265A and 266A.
In doing so, he gets the opportunity to “connect with the neighbours”, while also learning more about their coffee preferences.
For those interested to try the brews from toi.kofihaus, pre-orders for the usual weekend orders and pre-brewed bottled coffee are available on Thursday evenings on its website.
Image courtesy of Kenneth Toi
For two years, customers have been showing up to one of the first-floor windows at Block 214 Pasir Ris Street 21.
With a small but cute awning and plenty of brand logos, this is where they would find the aptly-named Ground Floor Coffee and its founder, Hasif.
Image courtesy of Hasif
Before he opened the home-based coffee business at their HDB unit, Hasif worked as a professional photographer.
He and his wife would explore different cafés across Singapore, sampling their signature drinks and bouncing ideas off each other.
Slowly, his interest in the brewing side of coffee grew and he began to work using the Aeropress manual coffeemaker.
Before he knew it, he had bought an entire espresso machine, which he said changed his life forever.
Hasif spent almost a year doing “R&D” before opening up for orders.
He worked with many coffee beans from different roasters, experimented using all kinds of milk locally available, and diligently studied coffee and brewing methods.
The results of these meticulous experiments were given to friends and family to try.
Image courtesy of Hasif
Hasif told MS News that he had always been a work-from-home person. He wanted to run his own business while spending more time with his wife and two children.
As such, it made sense for him to run Ground Floor Coffee as a business from his home rather than as a conventional brick-and-mortar shop.
Initially, Ground Floor Coffee took walk-in orders and displayed a handwritten menu at their HDB window, but soon, the authorities told Hasif that they did not fit the guidelines for a home-based business.
They adapted, first taking orders through DMs, which Hasif called “a nightmare”, before saving enough money to get a website on Cococart. Customers could then pre-order their drinks there and set a timeslot for collection.
For the business’ one-year anniversary in June 2023, Hasif even ordered balloons and new decals for the ground floor window and gave out free drinks.
Image courtesy of Hasif
Although the authorities returned once more to get them to take the decor down, he said that he would remember that fun day for a long time.
Starting this year, Hasif began focusing his efforts entirely on Ground Floor Coffee, allowing him to commit to it “full-time”. His wife, working a separate full-time job herself, also assists him on most days.
He aims to create a long-term sustainable business and not what he calls a “one-off viral brand” on social media.
Hasif told MS News that Ground Floor Coffee was “the OG” of the home-based barista business, having started in June 2022.
As a frontrunner, he then noticed other similar HDB-based coffee-brewing ventures starting up. While he acknowledged that competition was normal, Hasif alleged that some of these businesses would directly copy Ground Floor Coffee’s menu and drinks for a slice of the pie.
Image courtesy of Hasif
Yet Hasif was confident in his business being able to stand out and keep growing.
Passion, knowledge, and quality. They can always copy but they can never be like us in terms of service or quality and knowledge.
Ground Floor Coffee has recently re-opened after over a month-long break — although this time, with a bigger retail space.
Hasif said in an Instagram post that the idea of having a physical café was the very last milestone in his business plan, which he had now achieved.
Source: @ground_floor_coffee on Instagram
Located at #01-53 in the East Village mall on Upper Changi Road, he announced that they would no longer be serving espresso by the window.
With that said, Hasif wrote that the memories and experience from running the business out of his own HDB unit will stay with him for a very long time.
Source: @ground_floor_coffee on Instagram
He added that he was happy that Ground Floor Coffee paved the way for others to serve drinks from their houses too.
While people will certainly miss getting espresso straight from his window, Hasif has proven that a business of brewing coffee at home can grow to become something bigger.
When asked, all three HDB-based baristas had similar answers on how business had been going.
Kenneth described business for toi.kofihaus as comfortable, noting regulars each week and customers travelling from as far as Clementi to try it.
WeiLiang told MS News that many more orders were coming into Hamamachi Coffee than he ever expected.
As for Hasif, he said that everything was well for Ground Floor Coffee and that he intended to keep business going.
Given that he has been able to open a café, it’s safe to say business in his home had been good.
It appeared that HDB home-based coffee brewing might possibly grow to become another alternative for Singapore’s kopi addiction.
Hasif offered up an explanation as to the popularity of his business and the concept in general.
People can relate to their childhood memories of their neighbour selling popsicles or curry puffs from home and that really hits the spot.
Also read: Is Vietnamese coffee taking over S’pore? More hawker stalls selling alternatives to Nanyang kopi
Want to set up your own home-based cafe? Get your coffee beans online.
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Featured image courtesy of WeiLiang and Kenneth Toi.
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