Takeaway:
The first resident of APW before APW became the weekend hotspot it now is. The coffee doesn’t match Chye Seng Huat Hardware but it’s still a pleasant little cafe to spend time at – if you can get a seat, that is!
22 Oct 2017 update: In its current form, Pulp drops down to the second tier of our upcoming Best Coffee in Town list.
First things first: PULP cafe is easily one of my favourite cafes in Malaysia. The coffee is consistently great, they sell loads of beans and equipment (although not always at the best prices), and it’s in a former paper-cutting space. It’s not quite as pretty as its Singaporean parent Chye Seng Huat Hardware, but one could argue that it’s a lot cozier. And cozy-factor aside, it’s hard to deny that PULP remains one of Malaysia’s best-looking cafes: Merchant’s Lane may have the old-Chinatown chic and VCR the welcome-to-the-third-wave cornerhouse sheen, but PULP cafe pares it down with bare-bones industrial elements incorporating the odd machinery or two from its former life.
With all that in mind, please note that the horrendous shots below are not reflective of PULP’s beauty.
Beautiful crema, perfect temperature for drinking immediately, ergonomic cup, delicious brew. On the other hand, it’s a rm10 long black. Such is the conundrum of PULP. Inevitably a portion of the expense goes towards the experience and not just the coffee or the labour, but it’s partly the experience that makes the coffee so enjoyable. It’s very much a “3rd wave” experience though. You don’t have the atmosphere of the neighbourhood coffee joint which I suppose isn’t so bad considering Malaysia never really had neighbourhood coffee joints in place.
Remember when I said they also sell beans and equipment? I got my Aeropress from PULP (while waiting for my upcoming Aeropress post, you can also get one at my online store for a good deal cheaper than most Malaysian outlets).
Naturally, PULP cafe also dabbles in more than just milk/water+espresso and filter single origins. Their cold brew is usually pretty solid, and the fairly new Nitro-infused coffee on tap is an interesting addition to the lineup.
One of the interesting things about coffee is it’s such a counter-productive interest to explore. With absolutely no prior experience in the roasted beans, a great cup of coffee will taste like a 9/10 to you. You can then pour in time, effort and money into exploring different brewing methods and bean localities but at the end of the day the greatest cup of coffee that you can now find will likely still taste like a 9/10 at most. On the other side of the spectrum, the burnt watered down swill that most places serve – and that once tasted pretty decent to you – will now seem absolutely disgusting. It’s not a very inclusive hobby.
And yet once you start smelling the freshly ground beans and taste just how different each of them are, it’s difficult to resist being hooked.
Is this a full review for Pulp? Of course not. That’s in the works.
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