Lugao Cafe — Attraction in Yuchi Township

Scenic property in a spectacular remote location. Poorly conceived service capacity. Unclear on the concept of "espresso" (Italian for 快速 coffee).

Our experience: We drove however many hours to this location (and then back later). We hike the equivalent of 50m elevation (15 floors) to their beautiful retail space to order a drink (and then hike back down later). By then we were ready for some caffeinated beverages!! They were at 75% capacity (both seating and parking) on a Sunday afternoon, so a bit busy but not exceptional. After paying for 2 cups of tea and 1 cup of espresso drink we were informed that we must wait 30 minutes. We waited 38 minutes in total. We imagined that they are picking the tea leaves and massaging them into the water and individually roasting the coffee beans and grinding them one by one and sifting the powder and walking out behind the shop to hand-squeeze milk out of grass-fed cows and we were anticipating the best cuppa tea and latte of your life. But then after 37 minutes we watched them put regular tea bags into hot water and saw the bulk espresso beans come from the the hopper and the milk from the fridge for the latte. So 38 minutes of waiting = 37 minutes of waiting + 1 minute of quick preparation of our order. While we were waiting we took plenty of photos of the vistas and walked the very short path around the café and browsed their retail display and that took only 15 minutes total so we still needed to wait 20 minutes for the drink order as there is little else to do to occupy your time. This means that the owners / management did not prepare either enough equipment or staff or activities to meet their expected demand (to be clear the staff were doing their best, the staff was not the problem). Their seating was about 4x too much for the equipment and staff they had. As for the quality and taste of the beverage...well after such a long wait your bias is too bitter to appreciate it but my coffee seemed OK.

That part of central Taiwan is spectacular, there are many places to enjoy scenery around there so cannot offer extra points for the scenery relative to the location.

Some positive comments: They have wheelchair/accessible: parking, lifts, and toilets They have plenty of toilets which are clean and bright. The signage around the property is helpful and well conceived. The property and space was clean and safe and...

Another Coffee and Travel Review by #texastomtaiwanting.

Unfortunately another coffee shop relying on novelty rather than substance.

Where to start... oh yes the 30 minute wait to go inside. No other option than to get a table and wait.

The view is amazing. Overlooking the coffee fields. It would have been great to be able to grab a cup and walk around. Plus they would get more people through.

So we’re at the table and have to go to the counter to order and the pickup at the counter. And there was another 30 minute wait...

If you know you’re popular get another espresso machine and turnout more cups per hour! The return on investment would be amazing.

Unfortunately we ordered 2 sandwiches. A ham sandwich and a cheese sandwich. Served cold wrapped in wax paper. Mostly bread and mayonnaise. Had to hunt for the small slice of cheese between the 4 slices of bland white bread.

Uninspired! Argh. There is so much potential here. I hope they read these reviews.

Coffee was ok.

Checkout the YouTube video at TexasTomTaiwanTing...

The cafe is situated on a slope and is surrounded by a coffee plantation. The cafe itself is built on 2 levels and it's huge. Floor to ceiling glass all around it lets natural light in. One can walk outside on the very spacious balconies to take in the view. I left the coffee itself for last simply because as an espresso guy I was still able to enjoy a large americano where the taste absolutely met that of an espresso. Quite impressive! I guess when you grow your own coffee you...