I say this is one of the previous posting “But let me ask you, the next time you go to any kopitiam, order a cup of kopi-O, and try drinking that without milk or sugar. Then you tell me how nice it is”.

Many times when people talk about coffee, they are not really talking about coffee.

What some people meant when they say coffee:-
1. Coffee flavoured milk
2. Coffee, vanilla syrup flavoured milk
3. Coffee flavoured, iced-blended, heavily sweetened milk
4. Condensed milk + evaporated milk, mixed with water and add crap coffee drinks
5. Add your definition here…

Personally, I don’t call any drinks coffee if the content has less than 10% coffee.
(Note: When I say coffee, I meant the finished product which is a liquid of coffee extracted with water)

Espresso: 100% coffee (but the actual content of course is (90%++ water)
Note: 1 shot espresso is approximately 0.8 to 1oz.

Traditional Cappuccino: 16% to 20% coffee (1 shot espresso & 5oz milk + foam)

Latte: 10% to 12.5% coffee (1 shot espresso & 8 to 10oz milk + light foam)

Other type of coffee derive from different methods like drip and press I consider 100% coffee because they only contain coffee extracted from water. You have later add sugar or milk but the percentage will not drop below 10%.

You will notice some cafe use ridiculously big mugs for your coffee drinks. They use mugs as big as 12oz to 15oz but they only put a single espresso shots. My friend, if you are drinking that, don’t call it coffee lah. The milk exceeds 90%+++, it is basically warm coffee flavoured milk.

Now back to Old Town White Coffee. They have been mushrooming all over Malaysia. And certainly most of their drinks with the name coffee does indeed have more than 10%  contents of coffee.

This is where you can differentiate between great coffee, good coffee and crap coffee.

I orders their 100% coffee, the Kopi O.

When you want to understand your coffee, remember 2 important points, aroma and taste.

So, I give it a few deep good sniff. Hmmm.. very strong aroma… like slightly burnt and sweet. Now why would it smells sweet? Ah.. they add some form of sugar and margerine into the roasting process. So, this is why they are call White Coffee. It is not even 100% coffee because apart from coffee that was extracted by the water, they were other “stuff” inside there. We of course do not know what is the actual ingredients.

Ok, never mind… not 100% also never mind. Cappuccino is only 16% after all.

Here comes the tasting. Arrrgggghh… gaggg…. poooiiii…. Wow… it tasted very much like charcoal water. You know, immerse charcoal in water, wait till it gets black.. that’s what I imagine. Totally undrinkable.

Calm down.. take a deep breath… Dear stomach, please relax… cool… Don’t throw up.

Phew!… This is a kind of coffee that is undrinkable without adding plenty of masking agents like condensed milk, evaporated milk and sugar.

Without a doubt, this is truly coffee. Truly CRAP coffee. That is how you describe coffee that is undrinkable on its own. They should use Gardenia’s motto about their bread, “So good you can even eat it on its own”.

I have tried many espresso that is bad, french-pressed coffee that is so-so… but undrinkable coffee??

Don’t believe me, go try it and let me know. Remember… decent coffee can be drank on its own. No adding sugar or milk.

As for me.. I quickly drink some “white coffee ice” to wash my tongue. White coffee ice is of course mixed with plenty of milk and sugar.

You can try “Kopi-O ice” if you dared. I’m just a coward.

Special note: What I comment above has nothing to do with their coffee drink making skills. It has to do with the “original” products. Their beans is most certainly of low quality, they say theirs is a blend of Robusta, Arabica and Libirica beans. The roast it DARK.. to almost charcoal like… reduce the coffee to almost a carbon-like state. With such condition, you just can’t do magic.