KULAI (Johor), March 21 — Kulai moves at its own pace.

Forty-five minutes from Johor Bahru, the traffic thins. The afternoons stretch lazily. Shopfronts open without urgency, as though the day has nowhere pressing to go.

Somewhere above one of those old shophouses sits Café Jufei.

You would not know it from the street. Climb the stairs and the mood shifts at once. The café feels less like a commercial venture and more like a trove of someone’s carefully preserved treasures.

Someone’s living room, one of us suggests.

The interior leans unabashedly retro — the sort of aesthetic that happily recalls the ’80s. Wooden bookshelves line the walls. Old cameras. Toy figurines. Paperbacks with yellowed pages.

Framed photographs that might once have hung in a family living room. Each item suggests a past life before arriving here.

Look closer and the details multiply.

A crate of vinyl records rests beside a pile of old magazines. Rattan stools and cushioned armchairs. Another rack holds cassette tapes. Potted plants trail across shelves, a touch of nurtured nature.

This truly feels like an ’80s time capsule, the sort of place where time loosens its grip.

By the window, sunlight pours in and softens the room. Motes of dust float in its glow, giving the entire space a dreamlike calm.

The café’s owner soon appears — an affable gentleman who seems to know most of the regulars by sight, if not by name. Coffee, he tells us, is his particular pride.

Indeed, all the items on the café’s menu are prepared by hand, but the coffee, he assures us, receives his special attention. The beans rotate with the seasons; he roasts them on a Korean designed Elecster machine which uses a semi-fire, semi–hot air roasting method.

Before brewing our pour-over coffee with a V60 dripper, he shows us the beans.

They are stored in repurposed plastic ice-cream containers — practical, unpretentious. Lids come off one by one. Each container releases a different fragrance.

He suggests two choices — a Kenya AA or some beans from Yunnan. We decide on the former.

What follows feels less like ordering a drink and more like a small pause in the day — the sort of quiet interlude that afternoon cafés do best.

The filter coffee arrives clear and bright in the cup. The aroma presents itself first. Citrus peel, perhaps.

A sip reveals a wine-like acidity that glides across the tongue, balanced by a full body and a gentle fruitiness. There are hints of berries somewhere in the background, fleeting yet unmistakable.

For our second drink we choose a single origin white coffee made with Ethiopian beans. Milk softens the intense floral notes of the coffee, producing a cup that is mellow and reassuring.

To go with our coffee, we ordered a cranberry scone. Craggy at the edges and tender within, flush with rich butter.

Each bite alternates between tart and sweet; the Russian roulette of the cranberries. Something to nibble absent-mindedly while we forgo conversation in favour of delving deeper into the infinity scrolls of our smartphone screens.

Lest you wonder if the menu is limited, fret not. There are cheesecakes and waffles for those with a sweet tooth. Savoury options such as pizza and garlic bread. Enough variety to justify a full meal, if one wished.

Yet there is something deeply pleasurable about spending an entire afternoon here with simply a cup of coffee and a modest pastry.

Because the true appeal of Café Jufei is not simply what it serves.

It is what it allows.

In a world that seems to hurry endlessly forward, this small upstairs café offers a serene alternative. A room where one might read a few pages of a book. Watch the afternoon light shift across the floorboards.

Sip coffee slowly. Nibble on something sweet.

And linger, just a little longer than planned.

Café Jufei 聚啡馆

3D, Jalan Ismail, 

Taman Kulai, 

Kulai, Johor.

Open daily (except Mon closed) 10am-6pm

Phone: +60 10-668 4458

* This is an independent review where the writer paid for the meal.

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