Travel Post - Coffee & Desserts in Hoi An, Vietnam - Part 11

Ahhh... Jr is off to Danang/Hoi An next Monday and I thought I would squeeze in another post.  She has been taking notes from my previous posts on what to eat in Hoi An.  So, here's another rather essential post; coffee!  TT and I drank coffee every day while we were there, drinking on two occasions ... day and night! Hahaha... I do like Vietnamese coffee and was delighted to be surrounded by cafes where ever we walked.

Coffee Coffee everrywhere!

While we did try out several places, we kept going back to two places.  One was Guso Cafe, a local cafe with low stools and it served one of the better Cafe Sua Da (ice coffee with condensed milk) and the other is at Hoa Champa Coffee Craft Shop where one can get a good Cafe Sua Nong (hot coffee with condensed milk)

Hoa Champa Coffee Craft Shop located at 49 Phan Chau Trinh

While we did try the drip coffee, I kinda stuck to my ice and hot coffee with condensed milk. Aromatic and strong, sweet and bitter!  I supposed the other factors - being a tourist, foreign and interesting surroundings, the coffee beans of course and the lovely cool weather, all these added to a great coffee experience in Hoi An.  I am no coffee aficionado, I drink coffee and if it hits the spot for me, it's all gooooooooodddd....

Coffee stop at Faifo Coffee, one of the more upscale coffee places in Ancient Town.

Juan Valdez Cafe Origins, Intermark Mall

On April 1st, Juan Valdez Cafe Origins opened its first cafe in South East Asia, right here in the heart of Kuala Lumpur at Lot G-22, Ground Floor, Intermark Mall.

The ribbon cutting ceremony was graced by the Charge D'Affaires of the Embassy of Colombia in Malaysia, Mr Camilo Salazar and President of Procafecol, Hernan Mendez. The cute highlight of the ceremony was not only the appearance of Mr Juan Valdez himself but of him together with Juan Valdez's mascot donkey!

Caffebene Is Here in Malaysia @ Sunway Pyramid

An impromptu outing with Coffee Kaki  (CK) led me to Caffebene (which means Good Cafe) on a busy Sunday afternoon. This international Korean coffee chain finally hit our shores with the first outlet in Sunway Pyramid.  Thankfully, finding a parking bay was easy if that meant parking on the roof ... at 1.20pm, ample bays up on the roof. For easy access to Caffebene...enter car park through the Sunway Convention Centre and head up to CP7 (Level 7), unless you manage to find empty bays available on the lower floors.  Taking the escalator to the mall all the way down till you hit the shopping mall floor where TGIF and Padini Concept Store is located.  Caffebene is just a floor below.  Once you are there, try to control yourself from over ordering with all the goodies in store (for those unfamiliar with Caffebene, check out their menu HERE and you will see what I mean!).

Anyway, CK went to get a table while I stood in line to order.  They will give you a device that flashes and vibrates when your order is ready.  However, when CK went to pick up the order, CK came back with a staff who carried the order to our table instead.  One of their signature items is Bingsu.  Bingsu (shaved ice with toppings) is a popular dessert found everywhere in Korea.  Well, Caffebene's has a wide range of Bingsu (green tea, strawberry, cookies & cream, coffee - to name a few) and they are truly a feast for the eyes as well as your tummy.  With the current hot weather in Malaysia, surely this was as easy choice for me (no hot coffee for now!).

See what I mean? Isn't it lovely looking? This is a Coffee Bingsu (Single RM10.80/USD3). It looks heavenly and it taste nice too, though CK found it a tad sweet. It was generously "smothered" with toppings!

I thoroughly enjoyed my Strawberry Bingsu....The Strawberry ice cream sweetness level was just nice, sitting on a bed of generous red bean.  There were quite a lot of strawberries on and in the shaved ice.  They looked like a type of strawberry variety as they were all rather tiny and of the same size (I had even thought that they could be raspberries) and on the sour side.  This was okay as it went well with the sweetness of the shaved ice dessert.  The Bingsu is rather huge, it seemed almost bottomless at one point but on a hot day, I manage to finish it on my own.  Otherwise, I think it's a good size for 2 to share.  Would definitely come back for this!

Kaffa Espresso Bar, Damansara Utama

Of late, the Coffee Gang has been hanging out at Kaffa Espresso Bar.  Fortunately, we have always only met up here at night where car park bays are not scarce "commodity".  Try coming here during office hours and you'll know what I mean :o).  There is another option though; park your car at one of the Uptown Towers and then board the Uptown Shuttle Van to make your way here.

Doi Chaang Coffee @ Jaya One, Petaling Jaya

Here's a quick post...I just got back from Doi Chaang @ Jaya One and decided to do a short post on it.  With operating hours daily (close on Sundays) from 9am-7pm (yes, extended by another hour!), the few of us made it a point to arrive at this place right after work in time to try out their coffee before it closes on us yet again.  Hahaha...we had wandered to Doi Chaang on a Sunday previously and was deprived of our coffee since it's close on Sundays!