Page 25 - #62 eng e-mag

Down the Rabbit Hole

A Discovery of Coffee Wonder-
land in Selangor, Malaysia

D ickens once wrote “It was the best fee shops like Starbucks and Coffee Bean & Tea Milo Time
Leaf. Even though the price increased suddenly
of times, it was the worst of
times.” This might be the best
consumption to 10 MYR (2.43 USD), it did not
description for coffee market in from 1-2 MYR (0.24-0.49 USD) per cup for daily Malaysia is famous for being a
Malaysia. Here, “Hippies”, recognized in the affect the Malaysians’ loves for cafés as the “Third big fan of this cocoa and malt
eyes of older generation, are dominating the Place”. Since its first coffee store was open in drink, they even have the
biggest factory of Milo. You
emerging specialty coffee market. They are Kuala Lumpur in December 1998, Starbucks has can have it warm or iced and
young, energetic and adventurous. They are opened 235 stores in Malaysia by January 2017, even with coffee inside.
promising to grow up very quickly but actu- accounting for 44% of coffee market share.
ally being constrained by the slow growth of Nowadays, big coffee shop chains like Starbucks
coffee market. For local people, the whole remain to be the first choice for consumers, lead-
specialty coffee market is like going down the ing a constant growth of local coffee market.
Rabbit hole in Wonderland to explore. In the following decade, Malaysia experi-
Malaysia is a multi-ethnic and multi-cul- enced the third wave of specialty coffee. Euro-
tural country. Therefore, the local coffee market pean and American style specialty coffee has in-
is influenced by diversified culture, for example credibly influenced the Southeast Asian coffee
their religions are Hinduism, Buddhism and market. Black coffee with no sugar, no milk, no
Islam; later immigrants from Singapore and syrup and even no cream, and the stories behind
Chinese Hainan brought their culture into the coffee beans attract coffee drinkers’ to know ev-
mix, as well as the national culture from Malay- erything about coffee. Just like going down the
sia and India. They all made a profound impact rabbit hole from Alice in Wonderland, everything
on local coffee market development. In Malaysia, seems new and people can’t wait to explore. Young
you can see specialty coffee just on the streets. roasters and green bean buyers started to go di-
You can also find coffee in supermarkets or rectly to the coffee bean origin in order to select
convenient stores. Even, in some area like China high quality green beans to roast later. In Kuala
Town or Little India, you can taste a local coffee Lumpur, capital of Malaysia, there are several
named Kopi. It is also one of the first waves in excellent coffee-roasters, who not only get more
coffee revolution in Malaysia. The beans are and more popular at home but also getting noticed
dark-roasted and mixed with margarine and in international competitions.
sugar. After ground and brewed, it looks just like Even though the market is limited for now,
black coffee, but it has a strong bitter taste. local young professionals are trying their best to
Just like in China, the concept of specialty develop specialty coffee sector. This time, we will
coffee was introduced in the late 1980s and focus on 6 local specialty coffee shops, to share
early 1990s by the development of chained cof- with you the charm of local coffee scene.

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