I stopped in Penang on the way back to the UK after visiting New Zealand and was surprised to find that espresso based coffee drinks did not exist in many cafes on the island.

The Coffee Bean and Starbucks have the monopoly in this market and the only other establishment that we found a decent coffee was at Dome in the satellite terminal at KLIA (prepared on a La Cimbali machine)

Many cafes served ‘cappuccino’s’ which were no more than hot water and a sachet mix.

Perhaps it is too hot to drink coffee in Malaysia, or has the coffee revolution not yet hit?

Some hotels had bean-to-cup machines with whole beans but in my opinion they miss several of the vital qualities required to make an acceptable cup of coffee (see here for the 5M concept).

I’ll visit Penang again but next time I will be taking a supply of beans, a grinder and my Aeropress with me.