Story by K.H. Ong
THE air at the Gurney Paragon Mall atrium was thick with the aroma of coffee today.
This was expected as the Penang Coffee and Desserts Festival 2018 from Aug 3 to 5 was into its second day, which was celebrated by many a latte lover.
Among those who visited the atrium were Penang USM administrative staff members Sarah Amini, 29, and Zulaikha Mohd, 27, who both hail from Johor.
“We love coffee and that’s why we are here,” said Sarah. “Both of us must have coffee on week days before we go to work. Coffee makes us more productive at work.”
They were introduced to coffee bean products from Thailand and locally roasted coffee by Frad Coffee founder T.C. Sim, who invited Thailand 2017 Aeropress Champion Tejit Sintawichai and Craft Coffee owner Nattajak Pitakpuvadon from Chatuchak Market in Bangkok to make guest appearance at the festival.
“Besides the various products like syrup, sauce, puree, matcha powder and cocoa powder, we have coffee machines for commercial and domestic uses,” said Sim, whose company is located in Bukit Mertajam. For more information, he can be contacted at 012-5278168 or email [email protected].
A couple, Lim Lean Hong and his wife, were spotted testing the different flavours of coffee.
“We were here last year. There is always something to learn like how they process the beans,” said Lim, who was looking at the array of coffee beans from Sumatra, Costa Rica, Guatemala and Brazil.
For the more serious who want to be a coffee specialist, Barista Guild Asia (BGA) offers a professional barista training on the processes of grinding, brewing and presentation of coffee.
BGA manager Jonathan Lee said students have to take an examination as part of the Coffee Diploma System in the three-day course. The course fee is RM2,800.
“We also have consumer classes like for latte art, brewing method, espresso sensory, introduction to coffee and introduction to cupping protocol. Each class is about four hours,” said Jonathan, who can be reached at 016-443 3747 or email [email protected].
State Tourism Development, Heritage, Culture and Arts Committee chairman Yeoh Soon Hin, who officiated the opening of the festival at Gurney Paragon Mall (owned by Hunza Group) today, believes the festival would continue to shine in the coming years and consistently play a part to boost tourism in the state.
“I’m truly pleased that the Penang Coffee and Desserts Festival is promoting Penang to the world. I would also like to thank TLM Event and Gurney Paragon Mall for organising this festival,” Soon said in his speech.
Soon foresees that the number of visitors to Penang will soar with the increased number of direct flights to Penang.
“Only this year, we have new direct flights from five cities, namely Hanoi, Phuket, Doha, Banda Acheh and Jakarta. In addition, four airlines have also increased their flight frequencies to Penang,” he said.
Also present at the event were Hunza Group founder cum executive adviser Datuk Seri Khor Teng Tong, Hunza Group managing director Datuk Khor Siang Gin, Hunza Group executive director Fong Yin Sian, TLM Event managing director Jack Wong and TLM Event executive directors Alex Quah and C.K. Ewe.
In conjunction with the festival, the signature food truck gathering party, which was held from 5pm to 10pm, also drew a lot of visitors. Other highlights of the festival included Latte Art Throwdown, workshops and demonstrations by experts.
