KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 1 — Curtains of falling ferns. A gravel-strewn tunnel that leads into a cavern a fashionable shade of dusty pink. Cocktail bar by night, another kind of bar by day.
Fans of award-winning bartender CK Kho are already familiar with this rather chilled-out part of Bangsar as it is where Coley Cocktail Bar is located.
During the day, however, the space is transformed into a coffee bar — specifically Transparent Coffee, the latest café by Joey Mah of Three Little Birds.
Why the name Transparent Coffee? Mah explains, “This will be the first café where we will be sourcing all the beans directly from the producers. We want our customers to know — and to taste — exactly where their coffee is coming from.”
Not unlike Mah’s other coffee havens around town, the drinks menu features the usual black and white espresso based coffees, filter brews as well as seasonal lemonade and chocolate drinks.
Filter coffee is where the decision to go for direct-sourced coffee beans really shines, however, in part due to how the flavours of every cup is “transparent” and unadorned.
When I visited, besides a choice of direct producers such as Roberto Jurado and Alfonso Robelo, there was also the interesting choice of beans from Uraga Samii, a privately owned washing station in the Guji region of Ethiopia.
As the farms thereabouts are smaller and don’t have their own in-house processing facilities, about 10 of these smallholders send their beans to the central washing station.
The resultant cup has subtle notes of jasmine, watermelon and peach. Floral and fruity, just the way many of Mah’s longtime customers enjoy their coffee (his own preferences may have rubbed off on them over the years).
The delicate taste is not entirely unexpected: these are heirloom beans grown at 2,000 MASL (metres above sea level). Only 80 bags of the washed processed beans are produced a year (amounting to no more than eight bags per smallholder).
It’s clear Mah believes in serving only extraordinary coffee. Though, if one were honest, it feels like this has been his way all along, from the early days when he started as a part-time barista at TTDI’s Artisan Roast, the granddaddy of specialty coffee outlets in the Klang Valley.
To accompany the excellent brews is freshly-baked sourdough courtesy of Keith Koay, the Malaysian Barista Champion 2016 and owner of One Half Coffee in Petaling Jaya.
The sourdough is prepared three ways: as toast, served with French butter and a choice of sea salt, muscovado sugar, Marmite, Nutella or garlic; as tartines (open-faced sandwiches), with toppings including chicken liver pâté, strawberries and mushrooms; or as good old sandwiches (chicken and aubergine, anyone?).
Koay is both a friend and a protégé; Mah trained the former for the Malaysian Barista Championships a couple of years ago.
Every business decision, while based on sound numbers and timely opportunities, is an excuse to collaborate and partner with his friends and people he admires.
Mah says, “CK is a friend and he has done an amazing job on the space here at Coley Cocktail Bar. He’s very passionate about his craft and has developed a following of regulars who appreciate that.
"I appreciate that drive and direction, and felt this was a good way for us to collaborate and also to make use of the space during the day.”
Almost right on cue, Kho appears, making a brief stop to make sure everything is running smoothly during Transparent Coffee’s soft launch phase. (According to Mah, he’s also deep in R&D to create a series of coffee cocktails for Kho’s bar.) Kho and I exchange a few words, he chats a bit with other customers, and just as quickly, the cocktail maestro is gone, an unobtrusive presence.
More of Mah’s friends drop by, including Lim Yi Perng, his partner-in-crime in two other ventures — Random Food Store and Three Little Birds Coffee at Isetan The Japan Store. Everyone is a foodie, apparently. Our conversations switch easily from ramen otakus and bread science to the technicalities of opening a doughnut and coffee shop in KL.
The ambience at Transparent Coffee is laidback and the sense of community is strong but not exclusive. Here is a place where everyone is welcome, all the more if you have a passion or two you’d like to share.
Transparent Coffee
6-G, Jalan Abdullah off Jalan Bangsar, Bangsar, KL
Open daily 8am-5pm
Currently still in soft launch stage
Coley Cocktail Bar
6-G, Jalan Abdullah off Jalan Bangsar, Bangsar, KL
Open Mon-Sat 5pm-1am, Sun closed
Tel: 019-270 9179
