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Cover Story

Maintaining the quality, standards and operating together, pulling in share resources and talking to each
one consistently remains a big challenge day in, day out other. The current slew of exhibitions and coffee festivals
for the next few years. are helping bring the industry to the masses but I think a
My advice to aspiring café owners are to always more concentrated effort in working together is needed
remain humble, keep learning the relevant skill sets to within the industry.
run a profitable business, establish the operating pro-
cesses and always keep an eye for expansion. Any new recent development within Espressolab? We
What are your opinions on the current development of hear that you have recently moved into a new HQ and
the local specialty industry and what would you like to have bigger and better facilities.
see in the next 5 years for the Malaysian Coffee Industry? We are poised for growth this year after consolidat-
I think the industry is still finding its foothold ing our operations for the last few months given the year
and acceptance in the general market. While cafes are end season and the implementation of the GST. We are
mushrooming, not many will be able to sustain given the gearing up to open up another 20 outlets over the next
intense competition due to low barriers of entry and the 18-24 months. We will also introduce new direct trade
entrenchment of the more established global brands. coffees as well as a comprehensive training program geared
Customers are now expecting good coffee ev- for the industry.
erywhere, hence cafe owners need to figure out how to Our headquarters, No11 was opened as a sustain-
compete in a level playing field. ability study in mind. We will translate and share all that
I personally would like to see more collaboration we have learn into a FREE report for everyone keen to
with cafe owners and baristas sharing ideas, working learn and know more about the industry.

DANIEL LIEW

Academic Director at Barista Guild Asia

Leading the way in education, Barista Guild Asia’s Academic Director, Daniel Liew Ming Chze, speaks to us about the
importance of education in coffee here in Malaysia and why consumer education is equally as important for the in-
dustry. Barista Guild Asia was formed on the vision to be a neutral ground for coffee education and is also the national
secretariat for the Malaysia Specialty Coffee Association

In the midst of this journey I met amazing people in
the coffee industry who shared with me precious time and
knowledge. One of whom is Mr Kelvin Ngow, Executive
Director of Coffex Coffee and Mr Cheah Sin Leng, a Home
Roaster. They were instrumental in my early development
and connected me with many others. During these period I
signed up for classes with the Specialty Coffee Association
of America that were conducted in Singapore and Philip-
pines and took the Specialty Coffee Association of Europe
Barista Level 1&2 and subsequently the Authorized SCAE
Trainer course. After almost a year in a café partnership
I decided to take the plunge to start an independent Cof-
fee School and Barista Academy. I knew there was still
much to learn but I also realized there was a need for a
Coffee Institution that was completely independent and
non-biased in their approach to coffee education.

Barista Guild Asia is one of the leading coffee train-
ing academies in Malaysia. What made you set-up the
Tell us a little bit about your journey in Coffee and how academy and why?
it all began. Traditionally many of the coffee schools were
As a Corporate HR Consultant, I used to spend a started by coffee or machine distributors. Many of whom
lot of time in chain cafes working and getting caffeinated. would offer their education program as part of their of-
So one day I curious enough to count the receipts from ferings. However there was a need for a body that was
my coffee expenditure and low and behold it was almost completely free from the trade obligations and focuses
RM600 or more. So I asked myself a simple question how solely on building skills, competence and knowledge
do I ascertain the value of a cup of coffee when I can’t of the student. So having been a Corporate Trainer for
even tell what is good or bad coffee. I went on a learning the last 21 years, I also realized that the coffee industry
journey looking for answers from experts, internet and lacked skilled trainers who were well trained in impart-
anyone who could point me to the right direction. That was ing knowledge, skills and ability. Many of them are highly
when I realize there were very few people in the industry skilled Baristas but were not trained to conduct training
teaching consumers the true value of coffee. programs based on a clear valid syllabus. They could have
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