Coffee, Coffee Around The World ...

Heard it many times about people I know could not live the day without their cuppa coffee! For some, just a morning "fix" does not give them the boost to carry out the day's task and need multiple "fixes".

Instead of the traditional coffee our ancestors are used to e.g. Aik Cheong and Nam Seng, we now have international brands like Coffee Bean, Starbucks, San Francisco Coffee, Gloria Jeans etc. providing Malaysians that booster to start their morning.

What about coffee from Vietnam? The traditional manual brewing of coffee (as below) which gives that rich aroma of coffee drank after that slow drip through the coffee filter enjoyed with condensed milk or just black and/or ice.

Perhaps the marketing dollars and brand building had much to say in influencing the taste of coffee lovers in Malaysia today with the younger generations opting for the international brand names for more like status purposes.

With Old Town coffee setting the pace for the "coffee war" in Malaysia through it's kopitiam outlets, Pappa Rich, Uncle John, Station One etc. have all expand their businesses around the country to secure the market share.

Further on the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia, we have the popular Hai Peng Kopitiam (picture below) in the quaint town of Kemaman which have coffee lovers coming from all over to have the original taste of family brewed coffee inherited through generations till to-day.

Old Town had gone a step further by teaming up with banks to open up a small outlet within the bank premises to serve their products while the customers wait in the queue to perform their business transactions. This have proven to be a "viable" team and the international brands have follow suit such as San Francisco Coffee teaming up with fashion retailer Esprit.

The growing influence of international coffee brands have grown and we now have coffees from continental countries such as Italy in Kay El (Kuala Lumpur). They do have their followers in foreigners who prefer the espresso kind of coffee while I would think they have not been bitten by the local coffee taste yet.

You can be excuse if the photo above and below are mistakenly perceived as in an overseas country given the Caucasians patron of this "espressamente illy" coffee outlet

The F1 cars of previous years in Pavilion would answer the reason that KL have grown into an international cosmopolitan city serving flavors that suit the taste buds of people around the world which makes foreign travelers feel at home when in this country.

Much have been said about international coffee taste, I would recommend that visitors to this beautiful country give the local coffee a try and would result in you asking for more!