Trifter

Being predominantly Chinese, Hong Kong people are more of tea drinkers than coffee addicts. Look into any Starbucks or Pacific Coffee around here and you won’t find a long line of rabid corporate types clamoring for coffee.

So, instead of presenting an exotic line of brews, the people behind Charlie Brown Café appeal to the Asian’s penchant for cuteness to try out their offerings.

This café chain has outlets in Tsim Sha Tsui, Mong Kok and New Territories. I often go to the branch in Cameron Lane, TST after an afternoon of window shopping. This particular café is hard to miss as there is no other display case featuring cakes and pastries bearing the roundish profile of Charlie Brown and the rest of the Peanuts characters.

Inside, everything will remind you that you are in a Peanuts-themed coffee place. There are big statues of Snoopy and Charlie Brown. Peanuts animated cartoons are played on one wall, more drawings of the characters are pasted on the others. Peanuts comic books sit next to other magazines. Little figures of Linus, Lucy, Peppermint Patty, Snoopy and the gang can be found in every corner. The tables and chairs bear the café logos, as well as the cups and saucers. Let’s not forget the souvenir mugs, key chains and plush toys.

It’s as if having a Peanuts character smiling at you from the cappuccino foam or your cheesecake wasn’t enough.

Still, this is a coffee shop. Their coffee beverages, thankfully, do not have any cute names like, say, Marcie Macchiato.  The coffee concoctions are very basic: cappuccino, Americano, etc. The house blend is very likeable, nothing too strong nor does it have any complicated tastes. Thankfully too, they serve the basic brew black, unlike the coffee with a ton of milk as served de rigueur by most cafes in this territory.

The food menu is pretty much the same as any café: sandwiches, pasta, soup, little rice meals. The serving and taste is good enough for a light lunch. Obviously, I’m not quite sure on how to rate the food. Perhaps its because I’m always so distracted by the cuteness around me.