Why it belongs in ORBIS
NOC brands itself "coffee meets design." The Hong Kong roaster serves in-house-roasted espresso and pour-over inside deliberately minimalist, design-forward spaces, including its Graham Street original.
NOC -- short for "Not Only Coffee" -- opened its first cafe on the slopes of Graham Street in Hong Kong's Soho district in 2015, founded by 2011 Hong Kong Barista Champion Chan Chak Sum and F&B veteran Benny Leung. The name states the founders' intent directly: they wanted spaces that paired serious espresso with design and food, rather than a coffee counter alone. That approach earned recognition beyond Hong Kong -- Wallpaper* magazine named NOC one of the "World's Top Coffee Shops for Design Lovers" in 2018, and it has also appeared on international best-coffee-shop lists compiled by outlets including Big Seven Travel. Leung was separately recognized as an Outstanding Young Entrepreneur in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area awards for the brand's cultural-creativity work. From the original Graham Street site, NOC has expanded to roughly half a dozen Hong Kong locations plus a Bangkok outlet, all built on the same bright, minimalist template and an in-house roasting program. The Graham Street cafe remains the brand's reference point: a small-footprint, design-forward espresso bar on Central's steep market streets, credited with helping set the tone for Hong Kong's third-wave coffee scene through the second half of the 2010s.