Public Opinion on Dante Coffee and Mr. Brown Coffee

Hi All,

What’s your opinion of Dante Coffee and Mr. Brown Coffee for quality of coffee and overall experience for in-store lounging? I’ve been going to Starbucks due to lack of other choices, beyond the sprinkled indepedant cafes. I see these two chains with mostly Taiwanese locals. I wonder if the coffee (and food) are good.

Thanks!

Dante is nothing special for coffee. Like *$, it’s mainly for lattes, and the food is probably better than the coffee in both places. Haven’t been to Mr Brown, but I imagine it’d be similar. Might as well consider 85°C if there’s one with indoor seating near you. None of these places are really focused on the coffee.

What independents have you tried? I can try to ask around for you if you let me know what area.

Mr brown would be a level above Dante. Both (an Starbucks too) sell prepared food that is reheated.

Dante is viewed as a place for salespeople to sit as (I’ve heard) they would get in sh*t from their bosses if they went back to the office during the day. I can’t imagine anyone going there for their coffee.

Guy

“lack of other choices”? You’ve got to be kidding :slight_smile: If you’re in Taipei, there are a dozen independents on every street. Both Dante and Mr Brown sell awful coffee - as mentioned above, they’re mainly for people to sit (and possibly have a sandwich). Mr Brown’s americano is the worst I’ve ever tasted, although their others are probably better than Dante.

Here is a decent list of independent cafes.

sugarednspiced.com/taipei-cafe-guide/

It ignores the many great cafes on and around Wenzhou St. near Taida.

There are many others.

best coffee in a chain store in Taipei is Barista, by far.

ask for “the Barista” in a medium cup at lunch time, it comes with a bagel (with pastrami) for 120. or something like that.

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I like Mr Brown better than any other chain. Quite decent. I can hardly stomach Dante.

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I always seem to end up in Dante for business stuff - the coffee is not great. The only good thing about Starbucks is that it is slightly better than McDonald’s coffee, but slightly worse than that kind of silt you get when you hose off a dirty truck.
Family Mart coffee is the best in my opinion if you want to take out.

Yeah I mostly go to 7.

I only go to Dante when I need to grind my coffee beans. They’ll do it for you for free.

Dante: bad coffee
Ikari: bad coffee, but drinkable. I like their toast, waffles etc.
Starbucks: coffee a little better but not worth the price
Mr. Brown: coffee better than all the above if I remember correctly
85 degrees: no complaints, good price; try both Americano and own brand but ask half milk because they add too much
Donutes: quite good
Doutor: best affordable coffee taste, but I so regret what they did to their cheese toast several years ago.

If you have good beans you should grind fresh everyday before you use.

If you have good beans you should grind fresh everyday before you use.[/quote]
Yes, I know. I’m just too cheap to buy a grinder and too lazy to use it if I had one.

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One of my favorite drinks 85 Degrees C offers is the Yuanyang (coffee with tea), a Hong Kong invention that 85 has wisely adopted IMO.

Cama has decent and reasonably priced coffee.

Mr Brown is apparently reducing market presence. Not surprising as it’s a very crowded market.

Guy

Their cafes have been half empty for years I always wondered what the hell they were doing, I thought it was real estate speculation.
Really overpriced coffee and food is not great.

Louisa have some decent sized coffeeshops , they have a big one near minchuan east station.

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AND frequently very nicely designed.

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