The Roquette is here!!!

Being a new cafe in the town, with some of the best cafes of Ipoh surrounding the area, it has to make good coffee, provide good customer service, and most important of all, be able to offer something special that no other cafe can.

And this is EXACTLY what this new cafe has done! The Roquette Cafe (derived from the word "Rocket") @ Old Town Ipoh is not just a new cafe, it's a really special one, with not just good hand craft espresso based coffee and dripper coffee, but also a political service centre, offering a place for locals to share information, talk, and raise complaints to DAP's Kepayang Assemblyman, Nga Kor Meng (if you are not sure who he is, just type his name on Youtube, he's all over the place).

The service cafe is divided into 2 parts, with the front part being the cafe and the back portion being the service centre (Mr Nga can be seen every Tuesday at this service centre). The cafe offers various freshly roasted coffee beans, mostly from Indonesia. I ordered a cup of Indonesian Lintong (mid acidity, slight herbal and fruity, a full body cup) brewed with dripper method (they called it Paper Drip Coffee) and I love the way they brew the coffee right in front of me at my table. They are using Kalita wedge-shaped dripper and coffee server, which is pleasant in the eyes. The espresso machine they are using is a semi-auto La Cimbali M27 with double group head.

Though the baristas are not skilful (perhaps they are still new), they are very sincere and passionate in serving us good coffee. Their courtesy make me want to return to that cafe again in the near future. 

We are ready to BREW!!!

Hey guys! We are in the midst of upgrading our equipments in order to brew better and serve you better. So, let's get ready for our new brewing session in the near future!!!

A Gorgeous Espresso Experience

Just two days ago, Espresso Lab has held a soft opening at its new Ipoh Garden branch. Yup! You heard me right! It's Espresso Lab!!! This is their first ever out of mall cafe, and they celebrated with a buy one free one promotion for only one day. We are lucky to arrive at the cafe at 9.55pm before it closed. And guess what? We ordered an espresso and flat white for only RM11! We appreciate the knowledgeable and friendly staff, and not to forget, the most beautiful espresso machine in town! As all the other outlets did, they are using the same Astoria Lever espresso machine! Expensive as hell! 

The house blend is very fruity and aromatic, and I love the way they make their thick and creamy espresso with the manual operated machine. You will notice a lack of thick crema though, as the lever machine has a different way of extraction than those semi auto machines, so, can't blame the barista :)

Bread and Art

I have always been complaining about the lack of good cafe in Ipoh. Last night, we found a cozy cafe at Medan Istana that makes beautiful latte art and bakes their own fresh breads. We tried a cup of cappuccino and mocha. They are using their own house blend, a blend of Sumatra Mandheling, Columbia Supremo, and Brasil Santos. The espresso machine used is Nova Simonelli Appia.

Another Trip to Burps & Giggles

We visited Burps & Giggles again, for breakfast, and most IMPORTANT of all, a nice cup of coffee. Burps & Giggles is using Bristot Tiziano blend, a mixture of Arabica (Brazilian & Central American Grand Cru beans) and slight Indian Robusta, resulting in a balanced blend that is fruity, spicy and sweet, intense aroma. I ordered a cup of cappuccino (the barista will always give you double shot of espresso, so make sure you specify if you don't desire such a strong cup). They are using Farmhouse fresh milk from Australia, which is quite reputable among baristas. The milk foam is smooth and aromatic, and the lattee art is made just nice. The milk mixed well with the espresso, hence an excellent cup of cappuccino. 

Crema

Good crema is extracted in a colour tone that ain't too light, nor is it too dark. Good crema doesn't guarantee good espresso, but it does tell you how well the extraction process has been done. A light coloured (like the creamy clover honey) crema usually signifies a short extraction, around 15 seconds, while a tiger flecking texture (like the reddish brown fur of Sumatran tiger) indicates well extraction, around 25 seconds. If you observe a dark and burnt coloured crema which is not distributed evenly on the surface of the espresso, it normally shows over extraction, which exceeds the maximum extraction period, resulting in an overly bitter cup.

We are serious about our coffee

People might be wondering why we are so obsessed about coffee quality. Our answer is, why bother spending money on a cup of horrible coffee, when you can get something better with the same price?