Coffee scene in Kota Kinabalu

I was scrolling through Instagram when this caught my attention:

“Borneo Latte Art Competition 2018 – CHAMPION: RM2000”

RM2000 is a lot of money—it could easily grab anyone’s attention, not just the coffee professionals. The Borneo Latte Art Competition is one of the contests to be held during the Borneo Coffee Festival which I later found out is already in its third instalment this year.

From the Borneo Coffee Festival Facebook page

The Borneo Coffee Festival, scheduled from 28th to 30th September 2018 at Suria Sabah shopping mall, is organised to promote coffee culture in Borneo. While coffee itself isn’t new to the people of Borneo—we’ve all drank Nescafe and Tenom Coffee before—what the organisers are promoting is not just the consumption of coffee but the appreciation of the whole coffee making process and the people involved in it—producer, importer, roaster, barista, and consumer. They visited local coffee farms recently and had coffee experts talk about single origin coffee during last year’s edition.

This prompted me to go on café hopping in Kota Kinabalu to see what the coffee culture is like in city, not as a coffee connoisseur (which I am not), but just a regular coffee drinker experiencing this movement at various cafes in Kota Kinabalu.

Kota Kinabalu’s experience with western cafes started 18 years ago when Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf opened its first outlet at Damai Plaza in Luyang. It was the only café of its kind in the city for several years until San Francisco Coffee (now closed) and Starbucks brought their chains to Kota Kinabalu.

Now, in addition to the coffee house chains, the city has numerous independently-owned specialty coffee shops, all labeled as hipster café.

Menu

The menus are normally presented on a clipboard and orders are made at the counter (I guess this helps to stop the Malaysian habit of snapping their fingers or making that kissing noise when calling waiters!).

All cafes have the common espresso drinks—americano, long black, cappuccino, café latte and flat white—and also cakes, teas, breakfast, sandwiches—with vegetarian option available at some cafes—as well as inventive drinks like beetroot latte, kiwi latte and taro latte. The price of a hot café latte at these cafes are between RM7 to RM12.

The daily special isn’t your usual latte at Joe Sun Food & Coffee Co.

Alcoholic beverages are available at certain outlets too like Ampersand Specialty Coffee & Co-workplace at Bandaran Berjaya in Kota Kinabalu; and World Travel Café at Aeropod in Kota Kinabalu.

Not just machine brew

We all know the espresso machine, which makes fast brew. But there is also the manual kind of brewing, which takes longer, like the V60 (a hand drip method), French press (a press method), AeroPress (a press method) and syphone (a vacuum method). Each method produces different coffee flavours and aroma. These manual brewings are available at many cafes in the city.

INCH Coffee Bar also sells some manual coffee making apparatus like the V60 dripper and paper.

Open at 10am

Most of the independent cafes open only at 10.00am due to the small crowd during the earlier hours.

However, if you’d like to get your premium coffee fix before 10.00am, go to Nook Café at Lorong Dewan in Kota Kinabalu, which opens at 8.00am; the 1985. Coffee at Plaza 333 at Jalan Pintas in Penampang, which opens at 8.30am; Printcafe at KK Times Square in Kota Kinabalu, which opens at 9.00am; Joe Sun Food & Coffee Co. at Damai Plaza in Luyang, which opens at 9am; or any of the chain coffee shops as most of them open at 8.00am if they are not located inside a mall.

Creative interior

When it comes to interior designs, hipster cafes deserve A+ for effort. But, although different in style, most of them have common characteristics: minimalistic, industrial ceiling lights (mostly long, hanging light bulbs); bare concrete floors, wooden plank floor (either real or laminated), or retro floor tiles; quirky chairs; exposed electrical ducts; and tropical plants (live or artificial)—even the lavatory rooms are visually pleasing.

Concrete floors and wall; and tropical plants at the 1985. Coffee

Retro tiles and tropical plants at Ampersand Specialty Coffee & Co-workplace

Traditional motifs, painting and retro poster on the wall at Biru Biru Cafe

Minimalistic, retro tiles, retro door grill, tropical plants at Woo!

Retro tiles, retro furniture, hanging light bulbs at Tree Monk

Quirky chairs at Pando Cafe.

Quirky chairs at Ampersand Specialty Coffee & Co-workplace.

Tropical plants, hanging lightbulbs at HaRU Cafe.

Plenty of travel knick knacks at World Travel Cafe.

Tropical plants, hanging lightbulbs and a mezzanine floor at October Coffee House

Dual business focus

Some cafes aren’t just selling coffee and cakes but they also offer other services like printing, which is available at Print Cafe; making furnitures and offering engraving service, available at Pando Café; and travel services, available at World Travel Café.

Pando Cafe sells coffee, makes custom made furniture and offers laser engraving services.

World Travel Cafe sells coffee and offers travel services.

Latte art

Latte art is not compulsory but it is a tool for barista to showcase their creativity and to connect with customers.

The Borneo Latte Art competition is conducted according to the rules and regulations of the World Latte Art Championship (yes, that’s a thing!). Participants are judged not only on their latte art but also on their technical skills (like the correct use of equipment, espresso-making, milk frothing and hygiene). There is also a time limit which is different at each stage of the competition.

Here are 13 latte arts at the cafes that I went to recently:

Latte art by the 1985. Coffee in the foreground and their avocado cake in the background.

Latte art by Ampersand Specialty Coffee & Co-workplace at the bottom and their ‘The Cahaya’ meal (wholemeal toast, scrambled egg, guacamole, vegetarian ham and two sides) at the top.

Latte art by Dock In Cafe at the bottom and cheese cake at the top.

Latte art by HaRu Cafe in the maroon cup at the bottom and other orders (from left – brownie, cold brew coffee, raspberry specks cake).

Latte art by Hello Stranger.

Latte art by INCH Coffee Bar in the foreground and their Jasmine Matcha Pie in the background.

Latte art on Joe Sun Food & Coffee Co.‘s rainbow latte at the bottom and their americano on top left.

Latte art by Mong Cafe at the bottom and their plain waffle on top left.

Latte art by Pando Cafe at the bottom and their americano on top left.

Latte art by Tree Monk in the foreground and their breakfast sandwich in the background.

Latte art by World Travel Cafe.

Latte art by Nook Cafe.

Latte art by Woo! at the bottom and their Earl Grey pie on top right

Will this coffee movement be just a passe in Kota Kinabalu? I certainly hope not! Kota Kinabalu needs this kind of variations in the city. Thankfully, we have an event like the Borneo Coffee Festival to promote the coffee culture and plenty of cafes to keep the industry going.

Visit the cafes mentioned in this write-up

Ampersand Specialty Coffee & Co-workplace
Lot 23,
Jalan Berjaya 3,
Bandaran Berjaya
Kota Kinabalu
Facebook: youampersandmekk
Instagram: youampersandmekk

Biru Biru Cafe
24, Ground Floor,
Lorong Dewan, Kota Kinabalu
Facebook: birubirucafe
Instagram: birubirucafe

Dock In Cafe
House 35,
Jalan Setesen, Jalan Mat Salleh,
Tanjung Aru
Kota Kinabalu
Facebook: DockInHostel.kk
Instagram: DockInHostel

HaRU Cafe
Taman Cantek
Lido, Penampang
Facebook: cafeharukk
Instagram: cafe_haru_kk

Hello Stranger Cafe
Block B2, No.B-G-53A,
The Walk, Riverson,
Jalan Coastal,
88100 Kota Kinabalu
Facebook: Kkhellostrangercafe
Instagram: hellostranger_cafe

INCH Coffee Bar
1B, Perdana Park
88100 Kota Kinabalu
Facebook: inchcoffee
Instagram: inchcoffee

Joe Sun Food & Coffee Co
Lot 47 – 0, Ground Floor,
Block D, Damai Plaza Phase 4,
Lorong Pokok Kayu Manis 2,
Luyang
88300 Kota Kinabalu
Facebook: Joesunkotakinabalu
Instagram: joesuncoffeeco

Mong Cafe
No A-1-07,
Building No A, Jalan Inanam Kapital,
Lorong Inanam Kapital 2,
Inanam Capital,
88450 Kota Kinabalu
Facebook: mongcafekk
Instagram: mongcafekk

Nook Cafe
19, Jalan Dewan
Kota Kinabalu
Facebook: nookcafekk
Instagram: look.for.nook

October Coffee House
Jalan Dewan
Kota Kinabalu
Facebook: 10OctoberCoffeeHouse
Instagram: octobercoffeehouse

Pando Cafe
Lot 2, Ground Floor
Latitud6
88450 Kota Kinabalu
Facebook: pandocafekk
Instagram: pandocafekk

Print Cafe
I-52-G, Ground Floor,
Signature Office, KK Times Square,
Off Coastal Highway,
88100 Kota Kinabalu
Facebook: printcafe.orange
Instagram: printcafekk

the 1985. Coffee
1st Floor,
Lot 9, Block A,
Plaza 333 Kobusak Commercial Center
Penampang
Facebook: the1985.coffee
Instagram: the1985coffee

Tree Monk
Lot 2,
Ground Floor, Blk I,
Lintas Jaya Uptownship
88200 Kota Kinabalu
Facebook: treemonkcoffee
Instagram: treemonkcoffee

Woo!
7, Jalan Dewan
88000 Kota Kinabalu
Facebook: eatplaywoo
Instagram: eatplaywoo