About 50 festival-goers showed up for a discussion on the book, Cafe SG: A Cafe Lover's Guide To Singapore, at the ST Reading Room yesterday, where some of the authors touched on topics such as their favourite types of coffee, their ideal cafe settings and their memorable experiences at cafes.

The discussion got candid and lively when one of the attendees asked why one would pay for artisan coffee in a cafe when one can get kopi in a coffee shop for a fraction of the price.

The authors, who included ST journalists Rachael Boon, Yeo Sam Jo, Olivia Ho and Lester Hio, said this was a matter of lifestyle preference.

"If you were to go on a romantic date, obviously an air-conditioned cafe would be more comfortable," said Mr Yeo, 27. "But don't get me wrong - we still very much appreciate our kopi C and teh gao siew dai from the coffee shop."