R Ki Coffee Lab: New Richmond Coffee House with Housemade Desserts -

Newly opened two weeks ago in Richmond is R Ki Coffee Lab at 110-8280 Lansdowne Rd (across Lansdowne Mall). The coffee house takes over the space formerly occupied by Le Tea.

This humble and charming café is run by a husband-and-wife duo: the husband is the barista while the wife is in charge of the house-made pastries.

R Ki Coffee Lab Menu

R Ki’s menu of espresso-based drinks includes espresso, long black, espresso macchiato, piccolo, cappuccino, flat white, latte (regular, Spanish, Carmel) and mocha. They offer pour-over and Aeropress brews. For non-coffee drinkers, they have matcha lattes. They offer oak milk as a non-dairy option as well.

I’m assuming they have a rotating selection of house-made pastries and desserts. At the time of my visit, they had tarts (banana or lemon), cheesecakes (chocolate, Japanese-style, or Earl Grey), creampuffs and more.

What I Tried

I had a matcha latte with oak milk along with an Earl Grey cheesecake, lemon tart, and Japanese-inspired cheesecake. The total came to around $25.

What an expertly created dairy-free latte art! I’ve never had a barista successfully give me an Instagrammable latte with dairy-free milk. Not once.

All the desserts were really good: beautiful and not too sweet. I like the small accents on top of the treats including the branding.

The Japanese-style cheesecake was nicely light and fluffy.

The Earl Grey cheesecake was wonderfully moist and tasted true to its flavour.

The lemon tart had a crispy, buttery crust and a zesty lemon filling.

R Ki Lab Interior

I loved the little décor accents throughout the space to make you feel at home. Flowers in baskets; silver dollar plant vines on a ladder; pretty pictures held by mini clips.

You’ll find smaller dining tables on the first level while the second floor has larger communal tables. There’s even a bench right in front of the shop.