The True Story Of White Coffee Every Malaysian Should Know
White coffee is not just a Malaysian drink, it is a part of our history.
True white coffee is originally from Ipoh Old Town
Ipoh's Old Town White Coffee, with its unique Nanyang white coffee flavour and a long history, has witnessed the historical development of Malaysians for more than half a century.
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Just ask any person from Ipoh and they'll take you to that one old kopitiam that serves the true white coffee
An immigrant named Wu invented the coffee from local coffee beans roasted in palm oil.
Image via imgur.comTradition has it that it was precisely in Ipoh Old Town that the first generation of white coffee was pioneered by a Hainanese coffee roasting master in one of the old coffee shops at "Old Town" in Ipoh, Malaysia.
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There's a reason why white coffee is synonymous with Old Town. It all started in the 19th and early 20th century in Ipoh's Old Town area.
Ipoh, the capital city of Perak state, has been one of the pioneers of white coffee in the world. It is more than just coffee to the locals; it is a part of Ipoh's history. In the 19th and early 20th century during the British colonial era, Perak was a booming tin-mining state. Many British tin-mining companies set up bases in Ipoh, making it a prominent city in the country.
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Hainanese immigrants who were unaccustomed to bitter western style coffee modified it to suit the palate of the Chinese population
White coffee was developed by Hainanese who migrated to Malaysia when many sailed to the shores of Nanyang during the late Qing dynasty. Drinking bitter and acidic western coffee reluctantly was a way of socialising and doing business with westerners, but they were unaccustomed to drinking western style coffee.
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As such, these distinguished Hainanese of yore demonstrated their culinary expertise by modifying the taste of western coffee, gradually adapting it to that which best suited the palate of the Chinese population
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They adopted unique roasting, brewing and stirring techniques based on the traditions of the first generation. They also blended different coffee beans, thus creating the unique Old Town aroma.
Coffee makers in Ipoh learnt the method of slow-roasting their coffee beans in a margarine to give it the unique Old Town aroma.
Image via imgur.comThey took Nanyang's scotching climate into consideration and adopted unique roasting, brewing and stirring techniques based on the traditional coffee of the first generation. The taste of each cup of coffee was tailored exactly to the Asian palate. By mixing different coffee beans, coffee is mixed and blended, and a cup of aromatic and smooth traditional white coffee was born in Old Town.
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The ingredients of OldTown white coffee consist of a wonderful mixture of specially roasted Arabica, Robusta and Liberica coffee beans and prepared using our traditional recipe that has been passed down through the generations, every drop of OLDTOWN white coffee is as authentic as ever.
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The moniker 'white coffee', despite the coffee being a caramel brown colour, is given by the Chinese migrants who were working in the local tin mines
The term "white coffee" originates from the literal translation of its Chinese name, which was introduced in the 19th century by Chinese migrants who came to work in the local tin mines.
There you go, folks. White coffee is not just a Malaysian drink, it's part of our history!
The beverage is considered a must-try, a specialty of Malaysia that was featured at the World Expo Shanghai 2010 as the official beverage of the Malaysia Pavilion.
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