Went with Wee Chuan to Caffeinees for a relaunch of their Coffee Initiative.
Check out the proper reporting with photos from Wee Chaun’s post.
We had a good chat with Chris, the owner about Caffeinees’ commitment to offer quality coffee to the market. Obviously, commitment to the training of barista is crucial to improve the quality of coffee.
When we talk about the quality of Coffee, let us narrow down to the few crucial factors in Malaysia.
1. Freshness of coffee
Actually, when it comes to the raw material, it is not just the freshness. The qualilty of the coffee beans, roasting quality and blends, all play a crucial part in the final output of “Fresh roasted, good quality blend” of coffee. But with the reality of the Malaysia environment, pushing the bar too high would be meaning less.
At Caffeinees, they brought in green arabica bean and roast it themselves. There are surely a lack of science, technology and art in the roasting and blending process. But I am happy that at least there is a consistent supply of FRESHLY ROASTED COFFEE. Crema is rich and certainly a very decent cup of cappucino can be done.
2. Barista skills
With the utter lacking of Barista’s skills in almost 99% of all the cafes in Malaysia, anyone who pays attention to good Barista’s skills can offer us a cup of decent coffee. And for any cafe owner who appreciate the value of proper Barista’s skills should be complemented.
And for this reason, I am glad that Chris is committed to the training of barista in his cafe. After all, there is no magic you can do to produce a good cup of coffee if the barista don’t even know how to produce microfoam in the milk frothing process.
3. Espresso Machine and Grinder
This is a area that really seems to be irrelevant to us. Most of the restaurant who offered Italian style coffee have good espresso machine and grinder. In fact, many over paid their machines. They pay few thousands ringgit extra just to have a good looking machine while the barista can only produce crap. Save the few thousands and spent it on Barista Training lah for coffee sake. Just take a look at that extreamly sexy machine in J Co. Donut and Coffee. A state-of-the-art, 3-group Nuova Simonelli Aurelia. It’s like having an F1 race car driven by me (I wanted to say Alex Yoong, but actually, even though Alex Yoong is not great among F1 drivers, but he is actually a professional driver who is way better then any drivers you met on the road.)
So, if you got chance, drop by Caffeinees for a cuppa. Their food there is also quite decent.
Cheers.
Coffee where passion is tempered with reality 
Very constructive post indeed! I need to improve on my writings….hahahaha!
Chan, care to elaborate a bit on the taste of their blend? Or was it single origin?
“At Caffeinees, they brought in green arabica bean and roast it themselves. ”
Wow. Maybe they can also give you and WC a guided tour through their roasting process. Would be interesting to see the “behind-the-scenes” of what will eventually end up on your palate. Did you ask them how they brought the beans in? We could probably find out more about the AP and the necessary procedures for it. Just a thought.
They are using Columbia and Jawa in their blend. And I don’t think there is much interesting stuff behind the scene. They are not using any professional roasting machine. Low tech and manual. Didn’t you guys catch my “meaning” in the post 🙂
I also don’t want to go into the details of how the beans are source, if you catch my drift. Forget about AP procedures too. They were beamed in using Star Trek Transporter 🙂
Hahaha. Very much understood Chan.
Might drop by that place later this month since I won’t be going back to my hometown on the last weekend.
Cheers,
CS
hello Chan, I’m so glad when I found ur blog, I’ve been search for many coffee blogger, but ur one is the most complete one.
Chan, I hv a question here, I think u sure heard about Kopi Luwak right, but I just wondering where can I get this kopi luwak in M’sia????
Dear Tracey,
Unfortunately I don’t have any source for Kopi Luwak.
But frankly, I think it is all hype. And if you are willing to pay RM100 for a cup of kopi luwak, just pay me RM50 and I can make you many cups of very good coffee and drink till you drop 🙂
hahahaha…..well, I willing to pay rm 100 to have a try…never try never know wad is the best!
Hhahahah, Tracey….then you can pay me for that cup of Kopi Luwak as I just got it from my friend who came back from Indonesia, the real thing. And I am going to try later today to see if it is worth the hype.
Yo Wee Chuan,
Wahhh.. got poop coffee??? How much did you or your friend pay for it? You sure it is the real stuff? Can hold another party already. Everyone come just to get a sips of kopi luwak.
hahaha…well..is it really cost rm 100 per cup?
cos according to wad I kno is rm 60 per cup…dun kno how big is the cup la…..
hahaha.. actually no one really know how much a cup of kopi luwak.
I wonder who will be the first one here to give us a proper review on a real cup of kopi luwak.
KF, my friend came & showed me the Kopi Luwak in 3 forms: ground, roasted & green. I brew 1 cup using my Melitta pour-over filter. It is like the Blue Mountain we had at Berjaya’s but a little better. The roast is too dark, like charcoal. Looks like the one in Coffee Confidential episode 1. Not sure can coffee party as it is only very limited in quantity as you know it is expensive & a lot of work in picking to get 1 cup.