#25 The Brew Orchestra

As third wave coffee is currently taking Kuala Lumpur city by storm, such culture movement has somehow set foot on southern Peninsular ground of Johor state too with a gradual yet prodigious growth of its own. Independent coffee shops dedicated to serving high-quality coffee amidst stylish environment is definitely on a regional rise judging from how easy it was to locate one around the neighbourhood area. Much to choose from the aforementioned sprawling cafe selections, yet we settled ourselves here since we conveniently found a vacant parking spot in front of the brightly-lit cafe.

Unlike any indie coffee joints we frequently encountered (and  in KL, which most of them were already established as stuffy yet cosy nook crammed with chitchatting aficionados and fashionable wannabe hipsters, The Brew Orchestra fares more like a coffee canteen. With interior design evocative of modern contemporariness, few fashion statement-proving crowds can either be seen taking selfies or presumably Instagramming their cup of artisanal rosetta (I swear some of them even gawped at us as if we weren't dressed up for some kind of special occasion, or is it just me feeling like a fish out of water for reasons unknown? Never mind.). While people were boisterously engaging in friendly chatter, we managed to grab ourselves an inconspicuous spot for our little tête-à-tête as the weekend evening progressed.

Piccolo Latte (RM 9)

'Sexy Urban' is the name of their specialty house blend, which conflates bean sources like Brazil Fazenda Passeio Natural, Guatemala San Andreas Washed and Honduras Finca El Chollo Washed. At first I thought this was the blend used in brewing the piccolo, but then one of the attendants were affable enough to approach us and clarify (with much hail-fellow passion) that the blend in my cuppa is of Ethiopian origin, and it was not featured in the menu plank. Nevertheless, my piccolo tasted just fine with the right kind of acidity.

Darjeeling White Tea (RM 15)

Mel's Darjeeling White Tea was nicely served in a mini triple teapot crockery set. The white tea was fragrant and hot, very hot.

New York Cheesecake (RM 12)

For munchies, we ordered a cake and an affogato. Too bad I can't seem to recall the name of the cake, but it was a nice complement to our drinks. (UPDATED as New York Cheesecake)

Twosome Affogato (RM 9)

I know it's utterly unfair to compare, but all you could ever get for a RM 12 affogato in KL is just a mere cup of single scoop ice-cream with espresso spooned all over. Here we had savoured a huge glass of double-scoop ice-cream (mix of vanilla and chocolate) dipped in full-bodied espresso,all in all for just RM 9! Yeah, I was in heaven.

Oh, I had a great time! :)

The Brew Orchestra

• 19 Jalan Molek 1/5C. Taman Molek
• 81100 Johor Bahru. Johor, Malaysia.
• Tel: 012-716 6717
• Business hours:
Monday - Friday  : 11:00 a.m. - 11:30 p.m.
Saturday - Sunday: 10:00 a.m. - 11:30 p.m.