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It’s a curious thing. While I am a great fan of Starbucks in the UK (see my earlier blog post, Three Cheers for Starbucks), I am much more ambivalent about its presence - and the presence of Starbucks clones like Gloria Jean, Coffee Bean or the like - in Malaysia.
Why?
Well, unlike the UK, where coffee was hideously undrinkable before the appearance of the American chain, coffee in Malaysia has always been wonderful - so the Western-style chains seem a poor second in comparison to the original, local brew.
Let me tell you what I love about coffee in Malaysia. You can have it hot or with ice - and I love it with ice: not a few cubes plopped into a glass but a tall glass full of ice with a couple of straws, over which the coffee is poured. As for the coffee itself, it’s thick and flavourful, served black with nothing added or with sugar, or with condensed milk or evaporated milk - or both. It packs a punch - and if you have the sweet version, you’re ready to race around all day in spite of the tropical heat. If Malaysian coffee were a person, it would be Michelle Yeoh. In contrast, the chain store Western variety is refreshing but rather feeble - like Woody Allen.
I also love sipping a kung-fu kicking Malaysian coffee in the old-fashioned local coffee shops, where you can look out into the street through the open arches on all sides, a grimy fan churning the stuffy heat around. On the walls would be tatty Benson & Hedges posters and a Chinese calendar flappy wearily in the slow breeze. Flip flops and old wooden clogs might clack against the tiled floor as the char kuey teow stallholder brings you a steaming plate of noodles on a plastic plate and the drinks boy in a singlet bangs another kopi peng on the formica table top. You’d leave awhile later, stuffed full, with the smell of fried fat and cigarette smoke clinging to your hair and your T-shirt drenched in sweat.
I can see, in contrast, the joys of an air-conditioned, sleek Starbucks where you can sit in your Guess jeans and light linen Elle jacket, checking emails on your laptop, thanks to their WiFi connection. I can see the appeal of low-fat blueberry muffins and a tall latte or frappuccino. I can see all that.
I just hope that there’ll still be room for the old-style coffee shops in the new, modern Malaysia. I hope that all the roads won’t be turned into 3-lane freeways and all the lovely, old houses won’t be pulled down to make way for another skyscraper that might be the tallest, highest, biggest, fanciest in the world. I hope that not all the shops will be in giant-sized malls nor all the restaurants hidden inside office complexes. I hope that when I’m in KL in 10 or 15 or 20 years time, I’ll know that I’m in a unique, multi-cultural Asian city and not a concrete jungle that could be Anycity, USA or Anycity, China. There have been huge changes in Malaysia in the last decade and the country’s prosperity continues upwards. Malaysians enjoy a great lifestyle and have many opportunities to thrive. Having stylish air-conditioned places to where you can sip internationally renowned coffee is one of the signs of that good life. I don’t wish that to peter away. I just hope that the old-fashioned way of having a Malaysian coffee - and all that that signifies in terms of Malaysian tradition, heritage and roots - will still endure.
Photo: thanks to goosmurf from flickr.com (CCL)
