Calanthe Art Cafe

I like coffee at Calanthe.

They have 13 states coffee (Malaysia 13 states). I like Terrenganu's coffee.

Recently they have a new menu, which is Melaka Ice blended coffee. It's nice. Not very sweet. Heard that next week they will have another ice blended coffee coming out...

If you visit Melaka, please don't miss out Calathe!!

Forget Starbucks. Forget Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. When In Melaka, Calanthe Art Cafe is the place to be.

Calanthe Art Cafe has two shops in Melaka: the modern-yet-old-fashioned main shop along Jalan Hang Kasturi, which has an art gallery beside it; and the more mainstream branch at the Dataran Pahlawan Megamall.

It was the Jonker shop that got me curious, but was at the mall that I got to taste their concoctions.

It was raining that afternoon when we were at the mall. Rather than just window shop, I suggested to my mom and aunt that we just have coffee while we wait for the rain to stop.

I was enticed to have coffee at Calanthe because it has this really cool outdoor seating adorned with lots of greens. Well, actually it was ALL OUTDOOR. The shop is located outside the mall (located near the entrance opposite the other mall, Mahkota Parade). What I meant by outdoor is that, it doesn't have any ceiling or shade as compared to the "indoor" area.

Since it was raining, we had no choice but to stay where we were kept dry. The quaint cafe has this big shelf in the middle with a display of a variety of sculptures. Behind it are more seating where one can just sit back and admire the art works hanging on the wall. There's relaxing zen music playing in the background which makes for a casually elegant atmosphere - and a perfect coffee experience.

Calanthe Art Cafe's claim is they serve ONLY the best coffee from each of Malaysia's 13 States. Choosing from the menu alone can be quite time consuming. Everything looks so promising! Eventually, my mom decided on the white coffee from Perak, my aunt had Pink Lady, while I gave the Honey Coffee (and Laksa) a try.

Now here's the catch. Malaysian grown coffee (aka Local Coffee) is Liberica, hence inferior to Arabica and Robusta in terms of quality and flavour. But what makes Calanthe's coffee excellent? The answer lies in the different roasting techniques of the beans. Here is how the "MALAYSIA 13 STATES' COFFEE" are prepared:


*The coffee from SARAWAK is 50% robusta and 50% sugar, wheat and margarine;

*PERAK's White Coffee is 100% Liberica roasted only with margarine, as opposed to the SELANGOR beans which is roasted with margarine and sugar making it darker; JOHOR coffee also uses 100% Liberica but without sugar nor margarine.

*The TERRANGANU coffee is processed by using a mixture of 70% Liberica and 30% Arabica;

*The KELANTANese beans are roasted over woodfire;

*PAHANG's coffee is made from 100% Indonesian Robusta;

*N. SEMBILAN coffee uses a mixture of Liberica and Robusta;

*PERLIS coffee beans with 5 herbs for strength and freshness;

*KEDAH's robusta beans are lightly roasted;

*PENANG uses Superb black robusta beans

*SABAH has 76% coffee beans and 24% of margarine, sugar and salt.

*MELAKA's very own is roasted with 70% coffee beans and 30% sugar, salt and margarine.

Having said that, The White Coffee that my mom had is smooth and had a very good whiff. The Pink Lady (that's good ol' Strawberry Shake for you!) is one of the best milkshakes i've had in recent memory. The Honey Coffee? Let's just say that since then I've started pouring honey on my coffee. And before i forget about the Nyonya Laksa... Delicious!

Now, why would you go to Calanthe Art Cafe that uses the less flavourful Liberica beans? The Answer is simple enough. It is indigenous to Melaka. Starbucks are in every corner around the world. Calanthe can ONLY be found in this historical city.

Besides, if you ask me, I was never a big fan of the 100%-Arabica-using-Starbucks in the first place. It's quite ironic that the one who uses the best beans has the worst-tasting coffee. Having said that, real coffee lovers and experts have something to be thankful to Starbucks for: without IT one can never discover good coffee elsewhere.