The Perfect Brew (Part 1/2)

The Perfect Brew
Backed by its company's rich roasting experience, the young bloods at boutique cafe Cuppa Choice shows Singapore how to brew the best coffee

By James P. Ong
Editor, 88B.com

THE CAFE THAT COFFEE BUILT: After over 20 years of supplying coffee beans to Singapore's hotels and restaurants, Hui Yee Manufacturing has finally opened its own cafe in Chinatown. （PHOTOGRAPHS: MARK LIM）

THE newly opened Cuppa Choice cafe, with its shiny black-and-white tiles, is the most peppy cafe I've been to recently.

Natural light streams in. In the middle of the room: a bar with pillars made of coffee beans, where guests can sit across each other on Philippe Starck stools as they sip their coffee, or stare at the chalk board that covers an entire wall.

Ah, the wall. This is where the staff have painstakingly scribbled the names of all 84 drinks on offer, divided into neat categories: coffee classics, frappes, milkshakes, yoghurt shakes, iced tea signatures, signature espresso-based, iced coffee signatures, fruit juices and refreshments. Name it, they most likely have it.

On their first week of operation, a group came in and, upon being informed there was a total of 84 drinks to choose from, decided to throw down the gauntlet: "Make an 85th drink for us!"

To everyone's delight, award-winning head barista and Business Development executive Ian Consulta obliged them and whipped up a Wasabi Milkshake — wasabi paste, milk, plenty of ice and homemade vanilla gelato. They finished the drink with relish.

It's this off-the-cuff attitude that makes Cuppa Choice different from your garden variety franchise-coffee and kopitiam; the barista is given the go-signal to experiment with the ingredients on hand. In other cafes, creativity goes down the drain as baristas have no choice but to adhere strictly to the menu.

Barista Ian Consulta At Cuppa Choice, this concept of the barista as "chef" means there will always be something new on the menu.

For Consulta (pictured left), whose strength is transforming desserts into drinks, this could mean a Cookies-and-Cream Mocha Frappe, Nutty Presso (peanuts and coffee), Rose Dark Mocha (using bandung), or Matcha Azuki (green tea, red bean, and coffee).

But lest we be sidelined into the sweet concoctions, rest assured that the "real coffee" offering here is as substantial and equally exciting.

After all, the folks behind Cuppa Choice wouldn't put up a board on the street that says "Brewing The Best Coffee" if they couldn't deliver on the promise.

Cuppa Choice is owned by Hui Yee Coffee Manufacturer, which began over 20 years ago as a small start-up supplying coffee powder to cofee shops around the island. They have since moved into coffee roasting, as well as supplying coffee brewing machines and espresso machines to coffee shops and cafes.

According to Suhaimie Sukiman, Cuppa Choice's operations manager and trainer, they also offer coffee appreciation workshops and barista training. They also hold events to prop up the barista community in Singapore.

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Source: The Perfect Brew (Part 1/2)