KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 29 ― With a new café popping up every other week, it is very hard to get excited by the opening of yet another such establishment.

But when it is by the same team behind Artisan Roast ― one of the most influential coffee purveyors in the city ― the buzz is just, well... palpable.

Michael Wilson, his wife Amirah Mohammad and Joey Mah have now branched out into stand-alone cafés that don't carry the Artisan Roast name; in November, pop-up café Nowhereman Coffee opened in Bangsar and today Three Little Birds Coffee opens in Sentul.

“Three Little Birds Coffee is set up differently compared to Artisan Roast. We will keep our signature pastries like our cheesecake and small slices from Artisan Roast TTDI but we will also source cakes from home bakers,” said Joey Mah.

Michael Wilson and Joey Mah of Three Little Birds Coffee playing around at the long communal table.

The spirit of collaboration that began with Nowhereman Coffee ― partners there are fashion designers Joe Chia and Justin Chew plus furniture design outfil Dumpwerks ― will also be continued here.

Three Little Birds Coffee will work with home bakers developing cakes especially for the café. Understanding that they are limited by their budget, Three Little Birds Coffee will pay them more so they can afford better ingredients. At least 20 per cent more than other cafés they normally supply to.

“We are not insisting that they use expensive ingredients, but we insist on good ingredients that make the taste good... and which will help them grow. We want to focus on helping small businesses grow and we are giving them the space to showcase and sell their products.”

The main idea of this place, Mah said, is to serve amazing coffee and great cakes.

Also, Three Little Birds Coffee looks completely different from any other Artisan Roast outlet. Instead of the exposed brickwork and raw feel those other cafés boast, Three Little Birds Coffee is... how shall I put it... an Instagramer’s dream.

Three Little Birds Coffee will collaborate with home bakers to bring customers the best-tasting cakes that pair perfectly with coffee.

You will want to take photos of every nook and corner and post it on Instagram ― the photo-sharing and video-sharing social networking service ― immediately; the triangle stools, the long communal table, the wet-look cement-rendered floors, the wooden shelves lining one wall, the plants peeking out from beneath the grating outside.

Anybody with any doubt that the place will take off because it is so tucked away in Sentul obviously do not know the power of Instagram. And once they come, the coffee and serenity of the place will win them over. 

Mah said the reason they chose Sentul was simple: “We love it.”

But there are also practical considerations. The new space also has room for their new baby ― a RM450,000 SmartRoast Merlin coffee roaster by Californian-based manufacturer Loring ― as they will still “focus on high quality coffee beans for all their cafés as well as for wholesale purposes.”

Recently, Michael de Renouard, an experienced roasting trainer from Denmark, was here to help them with what is touted as the greenest coffee roaster in the world.

Having the roaster on site means coffee fans can look forward to open cupping sessions, casual appreciation classes as well as barista training in the future.

The outside sunken area is perfect to just chill... or for kids to play around in.

Wilson has often been quoted as saying that the one thing he wants to share with customers is “the ability to taste the coffee.” Now that everything is in place at Three Little Birds Coffee, the team will have a chance to roast more coffee and help customers “tell the difference when they are having awful coffee compared to awesome coffee.”

And finally, why the name Three Little Birds Coffee? “I would like to think that it represents the three of us. The Big Bird, the Fat Bird and the Little Bird,” said Mah. Okay, you go figure out who is who.

Three Little Birds Coffee D7, Jalan Sentul, Kuala Lumpur Opening hours: 9am-7pm daily