Lighthouse Coffee

Last week, I had the chance to visit Georgetown, the capital of the state of Penang. Affectionately known as the Pearl of the Orient, Georgetown attracts many visitors with its colonial architecture, temples and museums, lively Chinese culture, non-stop shopping and most importantly, its wide array of food. Although Penang is not well-known for its coffee, I managed to discover some interesting coffeehouses and products in Penang. 

My first discovery in Penang: Lighthouse Coffee. 

Lighthouse Coffee @ Logan Heritage, 4 Bishop Street

Lighthouse Coffee is located in the Logan Heritage Building along Bishop Street. A friend of mine recommended this place to me and since it was near my hotel, I decided to pay it a visit. Although Lighthouse Coffee turned out to be a relatively small outlet, it boasts an impressive menu. On top of the usual coffee choices, it offers flavored mocha and caffe latte, a wide range of single origin coffees, and even has it own signature Logan Heritage Blend. The menu is all written on the board for easy ordering.

Menu of Lighthouse Coffee

I ordered a cup of Ethiopia Yirga Chefe coffee. It was prepared by the barista using a siphon coffee maker. Lighthouse Coffee stayed true to its claims of serving the best coffee. The cup of coffee that I ordered had an intense aroma, so strong that I could smell it before it was served to my table. Coffee's aroma fades with age, so it is likely that Lighthouse Coffee freshly roasts and grinds its coffee beans on a daily basis in order to serve its customers the perfect cup of coffee.

Siphon Coffee Making

Siphon Coffee Making

My cup of Ethiopia Yirga Chefe coffee

Yirga Chefe is a city in Ethiopia that markets its coffee by its own name. Having a cup of Ethiopia Yirga Chefe felt like a coffee history lesson. Coffee has its origins in Ethiopia, and a cup of coffee from this region is typically full-bodied with a light fruitiness. The cup of Ethiopia Yirga Chefe that I had was full-bodied but did not have the fruitiness that was typical of Ethiopian coffee. It turned out to be a little spicy. Perhaps a lighter roast might bring out the fruity flavor. The sour aftertaste also meant that Ethiopia Yirga Chefe has a high acidity. Not the best cup of coffee, but definitely a decent cup.

Besides coffee, Lighthouse coffee also sells cakes and pastries. I had a slice of Belgian Chocolate Cake and Chocolate Rum Cake to go along with my Ethiopian Yirga Chefe. Simply awesome! I would definitely go back for more.

Cakes and pastries on display @ Lighthouse Coffee

They also sell a wide variety of coffee merchandise. Sipon coffee makers, french press, home espresso machines, grinders, single origin coffee, and even T-shirts! I inquired about the prices of the french press and manual grinder. The french press was going for about 50 MYR while the manual grinder was about 120 MYR (sorry I couldn't recall the exact prices). 

Merchandise sold at Lighthouse Coffee

Lighthouse Coffee is also an ideal place to chill out with friends over a cup of coffee. The cafe interior is nicely decorated and can accommodate about 30 customers at any one time. There is also ample lighting in the cafe. If you want to read a book while enjoying a cup of coffee and a slice of cake, go ahead. This place is perfect!

Interior of the cafe

Paintings on the wall

Interior of the cafe

Greeted by roasted coffee as I entered the cafe

You can even leave a message for Lighthouse Coffee

The big message board in Lighthouse Coffee

If you are in Georgetown, do drop by this awesome place. They are located at Logan Heritage No. 4, Bishop Street, Georgetown. You can check out their website here if you have the time. I will be blogging about my other discoveries in Georgetown in the next few days so stay tuned!

Know Your Beans

You know nuts if you don't know them beans. We all yearn for that full-bodied perfect cup of coffee when we wake up every morning. However, without a basic understanding of what a coffee bean is, and how various types of beans can affect the final taste of your coffee, it is near impossible to brew the perfect cup of coffee. So let's start with the basics.

This is a picture of a coffee plant.

Coffee Plant

You don't actually see the beans growing on the plant. The fruits that you see on the plant are called coffee cherries. Coffee beans are the seeds inside these coffee cherries. Once the coffee cherries are picked, they are sent for processing through a mechanical husker, which separates the bean from the fruit. The beans obtained from this process and then dried, sized, sorted, graded and selected, usually all by hand.

Trolled by the bean.

There are a total of seventy-three species of coffee plants, but only three have commercial significance in today's world market: Arabica, Robusta and Liberica. 

Arabica: Arabica trees grow best at high altitudes, typically between twelve and twenty feet (3.7 and 6m) high. Most Arabica coffee picking happens by hand. This is partly due to its growth on mountainous land usually unreachable by machine but mostly because a human coffee picker, using a ladder or hook, chooses the ripest beans. Though Arabica naturally contains the least caffeine, it possesses the subtlest, more desirable flavors.

Robusta: Robustas are usually grown at lower elevations. They are easier to grow, produce higher yields, and are more disease resistant than the Arabica species. Coffee growers once touted Robusta, with twice Arabica's caffeine content, as Arabica's best replacement. However, they offer none of Arabica's flavor nuance and are generally of lower quality compared to Arabicas. This coffee type is sold and traded mainly as a commodity. Robusta's best attribute is its body.

Liberica: Today, Liberica thrives in Southeast Asia. But it has no real market penetration as its flavor does not match the best Arabica coffee and its per-plant yield is disappointing.

If you have been too lazy to read whatever I have just typed, do check out this video. Robert Henry introduces us to the world of coffee beans. Enjoy! And before I forget, do leave some comments behind. If this post has been helpful to you, do share it with your friends. If it has not been helpful, let me know how I can improve the content on my blog in the future. Thanks much!

Know Your Beans: An Introduction To The World Of... by VideojugFoodandDrink

Religion Meets Coffee

Recently, I came across a few articles that talked about the origin of coffee and how it was linked to various communities of faith. It seems that coffee and religion has a long history. Although little is recorded about the origin of coffee, what has been proven is the plant's likely regional birthplace, Ethiopia. 

Coffee's origins in Ethiopia make for an interesting religious circumstance. Ethiopia is one of the unique places where the three Abrahamic faiths have co-existed for a long time. Judaism, Christianity and Islam all have shared a part in the history of Ethiopia but it was Islam that first seemed to recognize, and take advantage of the benefits of coffee. Due to its hellish blackness, Islam wrestled with it at first. Should the drink be treated like alcohol, a forbidden and intoxicating drink to avoid, or recognized as a nutritious and refreshing beverage? The latter won out and coffee prevailed throughout the Islamic world.

The Catholic Church, which seldom delves officially into dietary matters, soon became embroiled in whether Christians should partake of this new drink. When pressed for an answer, the reigning pope, Clement VIII, insisted on a sip. He instantly proclaimed coffee a good tasting and healthy beverage for Christians. Jewish law, which frequently declares various foods kosher (in accordance with the religion's rules and customs), also deemed coffee allowable.

Clearly, this is still much to be learnt about the origin of coffee. To move forward with coffee knowledge, it is important to look back at coffee's history. I hope that this little bit of information here has helped you to understand more about the story behind this wonderful beverage.