Coffee & Toast Malaysian Style – Where to Have It?

By Rosemarie John– Well known as a kick-start to the day ahead, a cup of hot piping frothy goodness tastes different in every country. Discovered by an Ethiopian Goatherd, roasted and brewed in Arabia and spread across Europe, Asia and the Americas, coffee has become a staple need in everyday households.

Though much of coffee in Asia is cultivated on the Indonesian isles, it is the Malaysian brew of White Coffee that has captured the hearts of many coffee lovers. Coffee is an age old obsession dating back more than 500 years and Malaysian’s are no exception to this.

Unlike traditional roasting coffee methods, white coffee is derived from  roasting coffee beans with palm-oil margarine and nothing else. Its resulting coffee is much lighter in colour and once brewed, is served with sweetened condensed milk instead of the usual fresh milk and sugar duo. This is what ultimately gives the Malaysian White Coffee its unique and authentic taste and aroma.

This method and style of coffee drinking can be traced back to the early years when Chinese immigrants settled in Malaysia centuries ago. However, its popularity took off when a secret coffee brew was created by a coffee shop owner in the township of Ipoh back in 1958. Word spread of his unique blend that it soon caught on, all over the state.

This aromatic brew is found in hundreds of kopitiam’s around the country. Kopitiam, a portmanteau of the Malay word for coffee (kopi) and the Hokkien word for shop (tiàm), captured the Malaysian coffee culture and coffee lovers by storm. Offering local delicacies like Chicken Curry and Rice, Chicken Hor Fun, Prawn Mee and the all time favourite Kaya and Butter Toast, has got a coffee shop like Old Town White Coffee beeping on the radar of any coffee enthusiast.

A cup of coffee shared with a friend is happiness tasted and time well spent, they say. Should you be travelling to Malaysia or even Singapore for that matter, make visiting a kopitiam your top must do’s as far as savouring local Malaysian delicacies are concerned. Old Town White Coffee has an approximate of 177 stores country wide and as a traveller, it will be pretty hard to miss.

Just to list few, you can find them at: (1) Taipan Signature No1 Jalan USJ10/1E Subang Jaya (2) 1Utama Shopping Mall Lot LG312 Bandar Utama City Centre, (3) Jaya One Shopping Mall 31-LG1 Block C Petaling Jaya (4) Pavillion Mall Lot 1.30.00 Level 1 Jalan Bukit Bintang (5) and even at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport: Lot CPI22 ContactPier International which is opened 24 hours.

Also available in Singapore, Old Town White Coffee is located at (1) Cineleisure 8 Grange Road, #01-04 Cathay Cineleisure Orchard, Singapore 239695 (2) Far East Plaza #01-07 & #01-07B, 14 Scotts Road, Singapore 228213 (3) Jurong Point 63, Jurong West Central 3, #03105/112, Jurong Point Shopping Central, Singapore 647331 (4) Suntec City 3 Temasek Boulevard #01-225, Suntec City Mall, Singapore City Mall, Singapore 038983 (5) Bukit Timah No 9 Yuk Tong Avenue, Singapore 596314.