Big Short Coffee

A coffee bar that works like a cocktail bar

Big Short Coffee builds its drinks with the techniques of a cocktail bar: clarification, layered creams and foams, and tea, fruit, honey and nuts worked into coffee rather than added on top. The house espresso is the Big Short Blend, a 50/50 Brazil and Colombia blend, naturally processed and lightly roasted for sweetness, and it anchors most of the signatures.

The menu moves in chapters, seasonal releases that retire and replace drinks a few times a year, so the list in front of you is dated rather than permanent. The brand says it does things its own way, and the drinks make that literal.

The named drinks worth ordering

Mont Blanc is the returning favourite, built in later editions on fully washed single-origin Guatemalan coffee with vanilla bean-infused French cream, nutmeg and orange zest. Happy Valley Punch combines clarified coconut milk, blood orange, bergamot, Earl Grey and the house espresso. Young Harry runs cold brew with jasmine green tea, raw coconut water, roasted pistachio cream and corn flowers. Bee's Knees pairs cold brew with fresh strawberry puree, coastal wildflower honey from Western Australia, roasted pine nuts and fresh honeycomb.

Crema Al Caffe is the slushy one: house espresso with fresh and condensed milk, brown sugar, vanilla bean, almond praline and hazelnut praline. Later chapters have added Duck Shit Miso, with freddo espresso, duck shit oolong, white miso butterscotch, black sesame salt and milk; Peach Dragon, with cold brew, red dragonfruit, white peach, jasmine green tea and sage whey foam; and Crema Al Matcha, with Uji matcha, condensed milk, Madagascar vanilla bean and coffee honeycomb.

How the counter works

The format is a compact stand rather than a cafe: a low bar, limited seating, and drinks assembled in front of you. Baristas talk through the ingredients as they build each order, and drinks go out with tasting cards, which matters when a single cup holds five components.

Expect bright, light flavours pitched at Singapore's heat rather than heavy cafe dining, and expect the bar to be busy at peak. Order one of the named signatures on a first visit. On a second, take the blend on its own, as espresso or a milk drink, since that is the plainest way to see what the roast is doing underneath all the construction.