Behind the bar: Barista Harry Grover

Get Harry Grover, 30, talking about coffee, and he perks up. ‘It takes 40 pairs of hands to produce a cup of coffee,’ he explains before sharing: ‘Our house blend is best made at 94 degrees Celsius.’ The usually laidback Australian’s passion for anything to do with a good cup of joe is so evident you might find it hard to believe he started on his craft just a year and a half ago.

Grover moved here in mid-2010 to start up his speciality café 40 Hands, leaving behind a managerial job at his family’s property maintenance company in Perth. ‘Everybody thought [the café] was a real jump, but I think I learned enough [from my barista days],’ Grover says. Not that he thinks he’s already the cream of the crop: ‘As soon as you think you’re hot s**t, there’s always going to be someone better. I’ve still got heaps to learn.’

And he’s happy to be here learning, in Tiong Bahru. ‘Unlike Australia, there is a really small speciality coffee scene [in Singapore] that’s started to snowball in the last few years. I wanted to be a part of it.’ Tiong Bahru was also consciously chosen: Grover has been returning regularly to this area for four years. ‘People [tell me] I’m committing suicide with such a random location [but] it was part of a business strategy.’

The same amount of thought goes into the making of his cuppas – ‘I’ll do research before I whack [the beans] into the machine’ – which incidentally is one of two Synesso Cyncras on the island. This hand-crafted espresso machine from Seattle ($17,000) regulates temperature with precision.

As for the beans, Grover makes sure he knows their origins, that they are purchased through direct trade and their market price. He is concerned mostly about economic sustainability within the coffee industry, which may not include buying into the Fair Trade or organic concept: ‘Fair Trade is a safety net for [the farmers’] wages, but there are a lot of loopholes and problems. [Similarly,] organic costs a lot more for the farmers, [but] it doesn’t necessarily mean better coffee.’

He applies the same guidelines to his home-brewing selection, adding that it is important to have freshly roasted coffee and a really good grinder. ‘Beans roasted six days ago [brew much better than] those roasted four months ago,’ explains this self-professed coffee nerd. ‘Fresh is best – that’s the golden rule.’ He also believes in buying the beans in small batches and keeping them in a room with stable temperatures. ‘Use it up in three weeks. If you can’t, freeze it, defrost it and use it once. Don’t freeze it again because of condensation on the beans. Give it away to friends!’ He’s right: it would be a waste to simply throw away the effort of 40 hands. 

For address and other details, see our listing for 40 Hands.