Sokoso cafe手勾手咖啡
文/黃書萍 照片提供/手勾手咖啡
04 722 7090
彰化市華山路9號 No.9, Huashan Rd., Changhua City, Changhua County 500, Taiwan
每當要開始採訪前，腦袋總是會重新收尋自己與店家的記憶滋味。第一次造訪手勾手，對於環境的舒適感、合口味的咖啡感到印象深刻，再次造訪時則特別挑了早餐時段,從用心烹調的餐點裡，吃得到食材的樸實。這樣一間讓人自然留在口袋的咖啡店，由一對在彰化土生土長的姊弟經營，讓我們來聽小葉和Joseph說說他們的故事吧!
從泡咖啡店到泡咖啡
咖啡店對我和Joseph而言，就是放鬆、享受咖啡與整體空間的生活風格，在學生時期就常待在各種類型的咖啡店，也因此找到自己喜歡的？。然而在開始工作後，沒有時間好好享受一杯咖啡，加上累積幾年的營養師工作歷練後，想要把飲食營養的想法，放到自己的咖啡店菜單規劃中，要客人吃得安心、吃得營養，將其導入生活中實踐會比衛教醫療門診的個案更有意思，就這樣逐步建構出手勾手咖啡的構想。
營養的餐食從源頭找起在離開臨床營養師的工作後，秉著對營養的推廣熱情，一方面擔任衛生所的營養諮詢工作，另一方面也和Joseph籌劃咖啡店的樣貌，包含餐點研發、飲品、店內裝潢、桌椅…等逐漸成形。
在裝潢正式開始之前，與Joseph進行一趟食材的環島之旅尋找特色點心、特色食材，也更了解台灣的各種風土之美，舉凡可能使用的食材都希望親眼所見，在這一路上拜訪各地的農園主人，走訪山中養雞場的飼養環境、蔬果的種植場域、麵包的製作工作室，感受親手採摘食材的美味，還有貼近職人的工作態度與生活，不論現在手勾手店內是否有使用，我們都希望呈現給客人的餐點，是經由我們親自了解過的。
2016咖啡源頭之旅
一如對餐桌食材的好奇，咖啡是咖啡店的要角。不論是義式咖啡、手沖咖啡，都是將咖啡豆經由不同的沖煮方式，而形成咖啡飲品。然而，咖啡豆的原生環境、處理辦法，在台灣受限的地域條件，往往只能從書本或咖啡課程的知識傳遞獲得。
為了能更確實掌握採購的咖啡豆品質，以及對咖啡的喜好熱情，在2016年與咖啡豆貿易商一同前往巴拿馬進行一趟為期11天的旅程。走訪多個咖啡莊園，實際了解咖啡樹的種植、採收，氣候與咖啡的關係，見識到各種處理法，在各個莊主介紹下發現莊園的種植、處理過程各有訣竅，並非如同書本上的制式，也是每個莊園獨特且無法被複製的的地方。
此外，走訪多個莊園後，發現即使莊園有不同的種植哲學，對於土地的愛護卻是一樣的，合理化的施肥、作物與土地共生息、不強改土壤環境、提高咖啡果實利用率…等，俗話說：「吃果子拜樹頭、強摘的果實不會甜」，都在這些莊主們的身上有了驗證。旅程後，也想將這些理念帶回台灣與大家分享，每回沖煮咖啡，仍可以再次想起他們怎麼善待每棵果樹、想要表達出的滋味，傳遞給咖啡店每位客人。畢竟一顆種子到一杯咖啡的背後，緊密聯接的每一道程序都需要高度的專業，專業分工，才能讓每道程序完美。
美好的事物就是能彼此分享
客人從環境的觀察、理念的共享,也會來到餐盤上。我們將營養觀念融入食材，客人也能輕鬆的認識健康均衡的飲食觀念，開口跟我們詢問如何動手做料理、怎麼認識一杯好咖啡，這些美好的片段，就是手勾手一起創造出來的美妙時刻。
經營咖啡店雖然是種商業經營，卻能巧妙的串起人與人的互動交流，提供一個完善的空間，讓在地的大家或是來到彰化的旅人們能夠多停下腳步，感受彰化的人情之美，再透過一杯咖啡的媒介、餐點的美味分享，開啟彼此聊著生活喜好的午後。
Sokoso Cafe The answer awaits at the source
From cafe hopping to coffee making
To Ye and Joseph, a cafe is a place to relax and enjoy coffee along with the vibe of the space. Cafe hopping is a lifestyle. “Since student life, we’ve explored all kinds of cafe and found our favorites. However, we seldom have time to properly enjoy a cup of coffee after we started working. Ye had years of experience working as a nutritionist, so we figured that we want to introduce nutritious diets in our menu. We want our customers
to eat happily and eat well. Applying the knowledge of nutrition to life is way more interesting than dealing with clinical cases in health education. Therefore, we started planning Sokoso Cafe step by step.”
Finding nutritious meal at its source
After Ye quit her job as clinical nutritionist, she started doing nutrition counseling out of her passion for the promotion of nutrition. Meanwhile, she started planning a cafe with Joseph from designing meals and beverages for the menu to arranging interior decor and furnitures. Everything started to come into places.
Before actually starting interior construction, Ye and Joseph went on a trip around the island seeking unique snacks and ingredients. They got to see the local beauty of Taiwan. They wanted to feel all the ingredients with their own senses as they visited farm owners, going from chicken farm inthe mountains, vegetable gardens to pastry bakeries. They first-handedlyexperienced picking food ingredients and witnessed the professional
attitude and lives of these craftsmen.
“Whether or not Sokoso Cafe has used all of the ingredients mentioned above, the meals that we provided to our customers are all thoroughly studied by ourselves.”
2016 The journey to the source of coffee
Just like our curiosity for what we have to offer on the dining table, coffee is the star of our cafe. Espresso and pour-over coffee are caffeine beverages made with coffee beans in different methods. However, due to Taiwan’s geographic conditions, the knowledge on growing and processing coffee beans is usually very limited to books or coffee seminars.
To ensure the quality of the coffee beans we purchase, and also out of my love for coffee, I embarked on an eleven-day journey to Panama with coffee bean traders. We visited several coffee plantations to closely examine coffee tree planting and picking and climate’s relation with coffee production. We also got to see different bean processing methods.After each owner of the plantation explained to us their unique planting
and processing techniques, I realized that the industry is not standardized as I have read from books. Actually, every plantation is unique and irreplaceable in its own way.
Additionally, I found that though each plantation follows a different planting philosophy, they all cherish the land by moderate fertilizing, ensuring corp and land coexistence, maintaining soil environment as it is, enhancing coffee bean utilization rate, etc. There’s a saying that goes, “Thank the tree while eating its fruit. Let nature take its course.” I see
it in the doing of the plantation owners. As the journey came to an end, I wanted to bring back these concepts to Taiwan and share. I remind myself of how they treat each coffee tree, how I want to convey the message to my customers every time I make coffee. After all, from a seed to a cup of coffee, each of the closely related processes requires highly professional work distribution so as to achieve perfection.
Great things are to be shared
Customers’ feeling of the space and shared concepts can be observed from our plates. We incorporate concepts of nutrition into our dishes, and our customers can easily learn about a balanced diet. They would then inquire us about how dishes are made, how to identify a decent cup of coffee. And these lovely moments are what make Sokoso proud.
Despite operated under a business motive, a cafe is able to ingeniously connect people, create a space in which locals and visitors to Changhua alike slow down and experience the beauty of Changhua by starting off a delightful afternoon with a cup of coffee and delicious meal.
