Nowadays, there are more and more independent coffee shops serving premium coffee...
I am no coffee expert as I still need brown sugar in my coffee... but I always do enjoy a good cup after meals! We are into cappuccinos and long blacks. Our personal preference towards the drinks are:
- cappuccino - ratio of espresso vs milk must be balanced, don't like the cappuccino tasting like latte
- long black - strong (but not to the bitter extent), smooth and must not have too much sourish taste
- Espressamente Illy @ Pavilion, KL
- Oriole Cafe & Bar @ Somerset 313 Orchard, Singapore
- Coffee Stain by Joseph @ Publika - the affogatto is worth mentioning
- Plan B Roasters @ Publika
- Antipodean @ Mid Valley
- Alexis @ Gardens/BSC
- Espresso Lab @ SS15 Subang
- Whisk @ Empire Subang - cappuccino and long black too strong, bitter
- Red Bean Bag @ Publika - OK but still more towards sourish, affogatto nothing to shout about
- Nutmeg @ Bangsar Village II - cappuccino is tasteless
- Artisan Roast Coffee @ Bangsar Village II - long black is too sour
- T&Co @ Mid Valley - cappucino's big and reasonable (RM10 for 12oz), taste is a bit on the mild side and the coffee's cold
- Pacific Coffee @ Setia City Mall - worst cappucino ever tasted! The medium size cup is like a bowl of soup! not only the coffee was very diluted, they even messed up the milk to espresso ratio... its just... a big cup of crap! Wasted my stomach...
- Espresso Lab @ 1 Utama/Empire Subang, Selangor - their quality keeps dropping every visit, bringing them down... and their cakes, don't bother...
2 reason... the barista and the freshness of the coffee beans...
If you are into Blue Mountain coffee, you may have a look here :)
Some updates:
11/05/2014 - tried Espresso Lab @ Empire Subang last weekend and cappuccino has improved a lot! The espresso to milk ratio is perfect, you can taste the "sweetness" of the milk without the exaggerated milky taste of a latte. Moving it up to the first list!
16/08/2014 - tried the new T & Co which replaced the Coffee Bean kiosk just outside of the HLB's Mach centre in Mid Valley. Short note above.
14/12/2014 - tried long black and affogatto from Coffee Stain by Joseph @ Publika. Affogato is very good! They were using single origin Euthopian beans that day. Single shot of very aromatic and the ice-cream portion is generous enough without leaving too much bitter taste.
10/02/2015 - tried long cappucino from Plan B Roasters @ Publika. There's a choice between house blend and single origin (RM1 extra), will go return for their single origin long black when have the chance. Cappucino is strong and well balanced, caffiene is slightly on the high side.
30/05/2015 - we there early since we wanted to take photos of minions with my son. There wasn't much breakfast choice and we hesitated a bit on returning to Antipodean due to the bad food and coffee we had in Bangsar previously. Fortunately we gave them a second chance! Now, their long black is superb! What we love about this is that its strong but not bitter, acidity is almost non-existent, a nice smooth cuppa! Cappunino is great too, better than Espressolab! Gonna buy a bag of beans and try it at home next time :)
20/07/2015 - there's always a long queue at 8 ounce coffee at Gardens, finally had the chance to give it a try today! Their long black was a bit disappointing... its sourish and diluted... the coffee was served very hot, some might like this. Finally, the caffeine is pretty strong, might try their cappucino next time, hopefully its better...
23/08/2015 - revisited Espressemante Illy @ Pavilion last weekend, definitely one of the best long blacks ever tasted! Another place worth mentioning is Alexis @ BSC, their Tiramisu is awesome! We ordered a long black to compliment the cake, turned out to be pretty good as well, strong with a hint of sourness, acceptable :)
14/10/2015 - Alexis @ Gardens, they use Illy coffee beans and there's a noticeable difference between their black coffee (RM11) and long black (RM16), great coffee nevertheless! Need to emphasize again, do try out their tiramisu while you're at it :)
16/10/2015 - Been adventurous lately and wanted to explore coffee other than long black or cappuccinno. We tried the machiatto at Jibby & Co @ Empire Subang. Not bad at all, wife said that its a lot better than their sourish long black.
24/10/2015 - Always wanted to try Jamaica Blue but its forever full at Mid Valley, finally able to try it at Setia City Mall. Their long black is very light in taste but very high caffeine content, taste somewhat like the drip coffee what we bought at Japanese shops.
03/01/2016 - Found another place serving good quality Illy at a cheaper price (RM10), 3 Little Pigs and the Big Bad Wolf at BV1!
