Craving a speciality latte? Hop over to your neighbour’s home-based cafe

SINGAPORE – On a Saturday afternoon in October, Ms Sonia Lim hurried about, brewing up caffeinated drinks and plating home-baked pastries for customers. 

But her cafe, Coffee Near Me, is not your run-of-the-mill joint. It is located in the landed family home of the 21-year-old, near Lower Peirce Reservoir in Upper Thomson. The cafe opened in February and is one of a growing number of home-based coffee businesses popping up across Singapore.

According to Singapore Food Agency guidelines, residents living in HDB and private residential premises are permitted to operate home-based businesses given the small quantities of food they sell. They do not need to apply for a licence, but operators should adhere to the agency’s guidelines for food hygiene practices.

Under the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s home-based business scheme, these businesses should not put up advertisements, signage or posters at the residential premises.

Here are three home-based cafes you can visit to get your brews and bakes.

Coffee Near Me

Located just a street away from an entrance to the Lower Peirce Hiking Trail, Ms Lim’s cafe opens only on weekends and public holidays, and caters to hikers travelling to and from the nearby nature reserve. 

“It’s very hot in Singapore, so I thought after a hike, a good cup of iced coffee would sound amazing,” said Ms Lim.

The cafe in a semi-detached house has also drawn, aside from hikers, many young Singaporeans after trending on social media sites like TikTok and Instagram. 

The front yard is furnished to resemble a campsite, dotted with blue and white camping chairs, and ice boxes for tables. It seats up to 18 customers, who can choose from a range of home-brewed coffee and non-coffee beverages priced between $3.50 and $6.50.

They can also indulge in a rotation of baked goods, with Ms Lim’s homemade caneles (two for $3.50) and brownies ($3) being the most popular. 

Ms Lim is taking a break from her studies, having graduated in 2023 with a diploma in sonic arts from Republic Polytechnic.

She learnt to brew coffee at home at the age of 14 when she bought her first espresso machine, and opening a cafe has long been a dream of hers.

A conversation with her aunt encouraged her to take the leap and she distributed fliers offering pre-ordered brews to her neighbours in February.

The orders kept coming and, with her parents’ support, Ms Lim opened her cafe to the public three months later.

She continues to experiment with and expand her menu, with three new drinks being introduced in the past two months.

One of her latest creations is a pistachio matcha ($6.50), made from hand-whisked matcha, topped with a layer of creamy foam. 

Coffee by Grace C

Home-based coffee businesses have also sprung up in several HDB estates, including Ms Grace Chen’s Coffee by Grace C, which the 24-year-old runs out of her family’s four-room flat in Tampines.

A recent graduate of Singapore’s outpost of the Culinary Institute of America, Ms Chen said the drinks in her home cafe are inspired by her one-year externship in a San Francisco eatery.

While overseas, she visited many cafes across America’s West Coast, trying beverages such as the einspanner – a traditional Viennese hot espresso topped with cold whipped cream – which she rarely found in cafes back home. 

Upon her return, she was inspired to recreate those flavours and opened a takeaway-only home cafe in July. Customers order via her Instagram account.

The bestsellers include five flavours of the einspanner: original ($5.50), choco ($6.50), matcha ($7), hojicha ($7) and mocha ($7).

Ms Chen also whips up unique creations such as the Osmanthus Latte ($6).

“I really like floral drinks, so I made my own osmanthus syrup using dried osmanthus flowers. Everything is as natural as it should be because I don’t want to compromise on the quality,” said Ms Chen, who plans to roll out bottled cold-brew coffee next.

Returning customer Vicky Liu, 25, an administrative executive, was impressed after she tried the unique latte.

She said: “The floral tones from the osmanthus syrup complement the fruity notes of the coffee really well.”

Frans & Fam

For Ms Stacy Tan and Ms Deborah Quek, opening their pop-up home cafe, Frans & Fam, was a way to spark conversations and foster connections between customers.

“If you go out to a coffee shop or a cafe, you’re not naturally going to talk to the person sitting next to you. But I think the unique point of our space is that that happens organically,” said Ms Quek.

Often organised at Ms Quek’s family’s landed home in Siglap, Frans & Fam has run four pop-ups since its inception in June. 

This is the side hustle for the two friends, both 32, who run the cafe on a pop-up basis due to their day jobs. Ms Tan works as a brand director in a local creative agency, while Ms Quek is a speech therapist.

Though they started small by inviting mostly family and friends, more people have come to know them from platforms such as TikTok.

Their recent National Day pop-up, for instance, drew a large crowd, with the team selling about 150 cups of coffee. 

Ms Quek’s brother-in-law – Mr Jonathan Cho, 36, a lawyer by day – and Ms Tan are the main baristas.

They brew classics such as latte ($6) and mocha ($7), on top of more unique drinks like the dirty matcha ($7), which is made from a combination of coffee, matcha and milk.

The team also invites family and friends to be guest bakers.

Past pop-ups have featured bakes with a creative local spin, such as the Gula Melaka cake ($5) and Hae Bee Hiam cornbread ($5), as well as more familiar favourites like dark chocolate sea salt cookies ($4) and buttery scones ($5).

The cookies baked by Ms Quek’s fiance, who is a lawyer, sold out within three hours during a previous run.