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Delivering a set of barista skills port towards assisting the industry. For
to the end user is alot more complicated example, dcAcademy was formed to help
than it looks, especially on such a short raise the standards of consumers towards
timespan. Hence, some of these clients specialty coffee here in Malaysia. We want
would actually need more formal training. to ensure that our investments are being
We began a subsidary education company, put into good use and for the greater good,
dcAcademy to help assist with professional whether it is consumers or coffee profes-
trainings, which we offer to consumers, sionals alike.
the public and also our clients.
We understand that you are part of the
What do you think is the biggest problem committee for the Malaysia Specialty
here in the local coffee industry? Coffee Association. What is your stand
The import permit is definitely an on the association and how would it help
issue here in Malaysia. This refrains local the industry and local baristas in terms
roasters from buying better quality green of development and progress?
beans for them to work with. Although The association was formed to en-
Malaysia grows coffee, even the local pro- hance the standards of the local specialty
duction rate isn’t enough to meet the local coffee scene and I strongly believe that we
demand, in terms of non-specialty coffee. are achieving that mission. With the recent
We would definitely like to see a better sanctioned competitions, I think that we
range of green beans here in Malaysia. have pushed a step further in developing
local baristas to higher standards. As a
* Meet with Pete Licata one of the many What has changed in Dankoff Coffee member and sponsor of the competitions,
workshops organized by Dankoff Coffee Specialist in the last couple of years and I hoped to have assisted the industry with
Specialist where do you see Dankoff Coffee Special- our sponsorships. We want to assist these
Our biggest challenge to date has to ist in the next 5 years? baristas take their skills a notch higher by
be the education of clients and consumers, Within the last couple of years, allowing them to use our facilities to train
in general. 70% of our sales are based on we can proudly say that we are one of as well.
manual and semi-auto espresso machines the leading distributors and suppliers for
that require some sort basic barista training coffee equipments, ingredients and gear Our stance is to provide a platform for
when these machines are sold. As a supplier here in Malaysia. We have also recently all consumers, professionals and industry
and distributor of certain principal brands, just moved into a new office which will players to develop together. If the industry
it is our duty to ensure that our clients are feature a showroom for all our equipments, doesn’t grow, it wouldn’t benefit anybody
able to operate these machines properly a studio built for mixology as well as the at all. With that, we have also tried to
without damaging them. Some of our clients academy on the top floor. The new office bring in some experienced professionals
have over 100 outlets and require training also features a roastery, that is still in its that will be able to share their knowledge
for all their employees. This has been a re- experimental stages for further develop- with us, such as Pete Licata, Colin Har-
ally tough challenge for us, but thanks to a ment of some of our new projects. Some mon and many more to name. A Barista’s
dynamic team, we have been able to cope of these subsidary projects are strictly development is important in promoting
with most of the trainings conducted. neutral grounds for us to show our sup- the profession.

JOEY MAH

Roaster at Three Little Birds & Artisan Roast

Joey comes from a marketing background that recently ventured into the world
of coffee after leaving his corporate life, to pursue his passion in coffee. He found him-
self being a barista and developing himself into one of the leading roasters in Malaysia.
Joey has roasted beans for many competition baristas here in Malaysia and has received
much credit for his ability to bring out the best in local baristas to help them grow in
their personal understanding of specialty coffee.

Tell us a little bit about your journey in it moved on to creating SOP’s and later
coffee and how it all began. setting up cafes. To sum it all up, I would
I used to be a marketing guy before say that I really love coffee and the taste
I began my journey in the industry. Cof- and flavours that can be achieved with
fee was something I drink casually until great coffee.
I met my partners, Amirah and Michael
Wilson of Artisan Coffee. It was then I Congratulations on roasting beans for
became more serious and realized that 2/3 of the top 3 finalists for the recent
there's only a handful of good baristas Malaysia Barista Championship.Tell
in Malaysia. So I started to become one us what it took to achieve such great
myself. I started of just pulling shots, then heights.
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