Hi guys,

I am a Malaysian currently studying in Taipei and a part-timer in cafe, and also a home-brewer. In Taipei, it is very easy to source quality single origin coffee beans for a relatively cheap price. I can also easily source a huge selection of green coffees directly from importers, due to the fact that home-roasting has been very popular in recent years.

However, since I am about to graduate and going back to Malaysia, I would like to ask the coffee community of Malaysia, about where do you guys normally source coffee beans in KL/N.Sembilan regions? I am from S'ban and it's been a real pain to buy quality roasted coffee in my hometown years ago.

Thanks in advance.

Thank you for your informative reply!

anyone what is the cheapest price of Oscar II in malaysia? I have been living in Taipei for years and just got back. in Taipei, Oscar II was around 28900NTD which is about RM3800. In Malaysia, most websites will just ask you to email for quoting.

Thank you for providing the link! I am currently thinking about whether to get a Rocket or Breville or Oscar II.

The last machine I work with is a La Cimbali m100 for about half year in the cafe I work, and have previously used a La Spaziale S1 Dream T for 4 years. Hopefully the Oscar II will serve me well in home brewing.

I would like to share some of my experience.

Even though I used to work in a cafe with commercial espresso grinder, but we only serve blend for espresso. So whenever I crave for single origin espresso, I will use my hand grinder.
Hand grinder used to have bad reputation for producing inconsistent grind size and lots of fines.

However, high quality hand grinder (like Commandante used by many professional) now offer titanium coated large burr, with dual bearing to ensure straight & stabilized axis.
Besides, when grinding by hand, the rotating speed is much slower than motorized grinder, which will also result in lesser fines and combined with the 2 above-mentioned features, will give you very consistent grind size and very less fines. Nowadays, most advanced hand grinder offer stepless adjustment and the range are enough for both light & dark roast espresso.

Now you might think such hand grinder costs a lot of money. But there are some produced by Taiwan & China company which are relatively cheap. You can google Helor grinder from China & 1zpresso X1 or Somad from Taiwan.

When we talk about varietals, it's just similar to how wine Sommelier talks about grape varietals. different varietals tend to have different growing characteristics under different micro-climate and environment. They tastes differently even under same growing environment too. Additionally, different varietals tend to have different resistance to disease so they affect farmers' preference too.

As for altitude, the higher the coffee estate, the cooler the temperature hence the slower the coffee grows. This means the coffee cherries are allowed to accumulate higher sugar content and will be sweeter and much complex flavor profile. So generally, the higher the altitude, the better the coffee gonna taste. However, the higher the coffee was grown, the higher the beans density so they will be much harder. This means it's more challenging to roast them properly.

my colleagues and I (I worked as part time barista in Taipei for quite some time) did an experiment, to compare different version of V60, plastic\ceramic\glass.
We found that there are mainly two difference.

First thing is of course heat retention:
- Ceramic: when preheated properly, has the best heat retention.
- Glass comes second and plastic worst.
However, you will see some master prefer the plastic version (like Scott Rao) because when brewing without preheating, plastic version doesn't suck up all the heat so the water temperature doesn't drop too much during the entire brewing process.

Second thing is the water flow. Inside the dripper itself you will see the spiral ribs. It's mainly designed to allow better airflow and well-circulated air means faster water flow rate.
Different version of V60 has slightly different spiral ribs depth and "solidness".
- Ceramic: Slowest among all version hence slowest flowrate.
- Plastic: Since plastic dipper is made out of mould, it has clearer spiral ribs hence faster than ceramic.
- Hario: Fastest among all. Hence it is one of the most popular version.

How flow rate affects flavor? Imagine that, the faster the coffee flow, the shorter the time where coffee and water contact, vice versa.
When your brewing time becomes shorter, you generally get more acidity, more floral and fruity aroma but less bitterness and body, and vice versa.

Regarding the heat retention thing, I was skeptical too. However I have seen some barista supporting that too. For example, 2018 Taiwan brewers cup champion Liu Bang Yu opted for plastic version of v60 during his final and IIRC his reason was similar to Scott Rao's too.

When I was saying about different flow rate among 3 versions of v60. What I meant was the flowrate under the condition that other variables being similar & consistent. Based on my experience, in the actual brewing process however, flow rate depends much heavily on grind size & the amount of fines, and more often light roast coffee tends to flow slower. The design of the dripper itself does impact the brewing process, but it is a less significant factor as compared to other variables like recipe, agitation etc.

Just my 2 cents

Have been using Kono & v60 (all versions) for years and I found that Kono tends to stain more than plastic v60. However, Kono is only made in plastic.

That's why in our cafe we have all versions, ready for different occasions.

Alternatively, you can buy with via taobao. Brands like kanoon or tiamo are particularly cheaper on taobao. If you happen to be shopping on taobao and are going to buy quite a few items then the shipping cost can be shared and it will be very cheap.

I have tasted some Colombian geisha and they tastes as good as Panamanian Geisha but much cheaper.

There are also a few estates where they ferment the green beans in old whiskey oak cask and the coffee tasted really winey & whiskey.

Quite a few estates are producing Geisha, namely La Esperanza (their geisha's labeled as Hanami), La Palma y el Tucan is another longtime CR awarded farm who happened to produce geisha as well. Or you can also try out the Finca El Trapiche which is the farm that Jason Loo opted to use in last year WBC (Jason ranked 7th with this coffee). And these Colombian geisha don't break your wallet (as much as Panamanian Geisha do).

I used to work in a cafe in Taipei where we at least have coffees from 17 countries and a total of 22 regions. Most of them are roasted relatively light.

Whenever new customers ask which coffee to choose, I would recommend them to at least try coffees from two different continents.
For example, one Ethiopian and one Brazil.
In most cases, a fruity Ethiopian will taste very differently to a nutty Brazil. This is where people start to know which flavor profile they actually prefer.
If one prefers an Ethiopian, we will encourage him to try coffees from same region but with different processing methods,
for example a Washed Yirgacheffe will taste slightly different to a Natural-processed Yirg. The former being much delicate & bright while the latter tend to taste more like tropical fruit & berries.
By tasting such way, you will also get to know what kind of processing methods suit your taste.

Finally, keep drinking & keep trying different coffee whether you like it or not. Developing a palate takes time but it's worth trying.

You can find Finca El Trapiche in Artisan Roast, and IIRC there beanshipper got the la palma e tucan

Kalita Next G or Kalita Nice Cut G are both good for home brewing, not suitable for espresso though.

Espresso machine always costs a lot. I have never tasted good coffee from machine priced below 2k.

Anyone joining the BrewersClub Early Access today?

I was quite tempted but also agree that the subscription price isn't very friendly. Orz

RM40~50 for 200g pack is quite reasonable for specialty coffee.

I didn't go that day, what are the general price range you see?

I worked with La Cimbali m100 back then when I was working in a cafe. The machine I used during my time in uni's coffee club was a La Spaziale S1 Dream T. Based on my experience, machine priced less than RM2k is very hard to produce consistent shots and since most of them aren't capable of steaming & brewing simultaneously, it's very difficult to practice latte art with them.

But for beginner and home-brewers who add sugar, cheap machines can be a good entry.