The Warkop

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Voluto Coffee

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Yet another city often bypassed in my history (mostly during family vacations when I was a wee tot) was the city of Pittsburgh. It's sad (and joyous) to say that my first actual trip just recently happened, as I had a long weekend to spend in town with friends, enjoying some baseball and local sights.

Of course, coffee stops made the list of attractions and there were quite a few. Much like Pittsburgh has been one of the few old industrial cities of the America to really bounce back, it seems their coffee scene has also been atypical in the number of acclaimed coffee places to have emerged.

My first stop was a relative newcomer to the scene called Voluto Coffee. Located in the Friendship area of Pittsburgh, the cafe is part of a residential building, with Voluto trumpeting huge windows and a nice array of modern-esque outside seating. On the other side of the glass, the cafe continues the modern look, with a gorgeous array of furniture in an 'honest architecture' space.

The coffee comes all the way from British Columbia via 49th Parallel. I had myself an espresso (49th's Epic) and a cup from their pump pot (I believe it was french pressed originally) of the 123 degree W Longitude blend. The espresso, pulled short with beautiful crema, displayed notes of vanilla, strawberry, cream, lemon and sugar. The barista did a great job with the extraction and the bright espresso was delightful to slurp. The 123 degree W Longitude blend produced a light, grassy, tart apple coffee with hints of tobacco, orange and honey; a great coffee throughout. The tea was free leaf.

As the first cafe on my expedition, I was greatly pleased with Voluto. Stop in.

Friday, April 30, 2010

Natural Kopi Luwak


Natural kopi luwak is completely untreated kopi, as it is collected with no additional processing. The beans are hand collected from where they lay on the jungle floor, bagged, and then sent to Animalcoffee where they are eventually turned into the world's most exclusive gourmet beverage.
The individual beans are naturally glued together in the stomach of the Luwak, there is no artificial adhesive involved, yet kopi luwak collected in this fashion appears remarkably clean and is completely odour free.
Depending on where the kopi luwak is collected there may be a predominance of either Arabica or Robusta grown which ensures the Luwak Coffee is of a particular type. Alternatively both Arabica and Robusta may be grown within close proximity of each other, as is the practice in some areas of west Sumatra, in which case both kinds of coffee cherry are eaten by the Luwak and the resulting kopi luwak is a blend of coffee created naturally in the stomach of the Luwak.

A bagful of freshly collected kopi luwak in its natural state is brittle and needs to be transported carefully to avoid ending up as individual beans, which are generally unacceptable to Animalcoffee.
To obtain beans while still in this state they must be collected almost immediately after they are deposited on the forest floor. Once they have been exposed to the elements for even a very short period, particularly in the rainy season, they break down into individual beans and we can no longer be sure that they are genuine kopi luwak.

Friday, April 23, 2010

Hayaki Kopitiam

I encountered Hayaki Kopitiam during my Hari Raya Aidilfitri holiday in Kota Bharu Kelantan. It was Friday, we planned to have breakfast at the well known White House Kopitiam, unfortunately it was closed. White House Kopitiam closed every Friday, make sure you remember that!
Since we all are in Kota Bharu town, going back home is not an option, so kena cari jugak a nice place for breakfast. While wondering around, we found Hayaki Kopitiam located at Jalan Kebun Sultan. At that time it was only around 8:30am, memang planned to go out early to avoid the crowd.
Once at Jalan Kebun Sultan, you will definitely see the Hayaki Kopitiam restaurant. There’s two Hayaki Kopitam restaurant facing each other. FREE parking is provided nearby for customers. The restaurant is open 24 hours.
Hayaki-Kopitiam
What can you expect from a kopitiam restaurant? the usual breakfast stuff, but here in KB they have additional menu like Nasik Dagang & Nasik Berlauk. I had kopi-0, french toast, egg toast, roti kahwin and nasik lemak. The french toast was delicious!

Hayaki-Kopitiam-egg-toast
Hayaki Kopitiam also provided WIFI internet connection for FREE. I’ve also noticed that wall socket plug is also provided at a few tables. If you happened to be in Kota Bharu Kelantan and would like to get connected to internet, Hayaki Kopitiam will be a good choice, provided if you have your own laptop that is WIFI enabled. Here you can surf all you want with the price of kopi-o for only RM1.00
Hayaki-Kopitiam-1