Batu Pahat Cafe: 9% Coffee House @ Kampung Pegawai

"Everyone deserve 9% time coffee break" — 9% of 24 hours is about 2 hours a day for a coffee break. This is how 9% Coffee House got its name. The relatively-new cafe is about a year old and is situated in an old house in Batu Pahat, Johor.

If you are outside the cafe before it opens its door for the day, you may not know that a modern cafe is behind the old-fashioned folding doors.

The coffee bar occupies about half the waiting area on the ground floor. The room is rather spacious with minimalist decorations.

The dining areas are in the courtyard and more tables on the second floor.

The upper level is accessible via a wooden stairway. From here on, the old-house atmosphere is more obvious — a modern cafe co-existing within an old architecture.

The entrance to the dining area is a rustic steel door with some traditional Chinese characters above it. "玖巴仙" means "9%".

Opposite the dining area is the washroom with a cloth curtain that has four Chinese characters written on it. In Chinese saying, "门都没有" means "not a chance" but when translated literally, it means "not having a door". Rest assured, there is a door to the cubicle behind the wall.

The dining area is spacious with tables spaced far apart.

The cafe may seem to have an unfinished wall and broken roof but they are all part of the cafe's old-house decorations. The "broken roof" is covered with glass panels and allows sunlight to seep into the room.

To place an order for coffee and food, scan the QR code on the table and order via the e-menu.

9% Coffee House has some special coffees on the menu. One of them is called the "black craft coffee" with a Chinese name of "假装啤酒的咖啡" meaning "coffee pretending to be beer". Some netizens have assimilate the appearance of the black coffee to Guinness Stout.

The black craft coffee is actually a nitro cold brew, where nitrogen gas is added to cold brew coffee. The resulting effect is a frothy texture on top of the coffee. The strong bitterness of the black coffee is similar to drinking bitter Guinness Stout.

The aglio olio seafood pasta is a great dish to try with big prawns and clams. The spiced pasta may be a little spicy but tasty.

There is another cold special coffee on 9% Coffee House's menu called "dirty" (看起来脏脏的). Dirty coffee is a new way of making coffee that is gaining popularity in Asia. It is made by pouring hot espresso over cold milk and letting it permeates slowly, creating a dirty appearance.

I tried the dirty coffee with a gula melaka and coconut crepe cake.

A hot mountain caramel latte with lotus crepe cake.

For those who don't drink coffee, the cafe have flavoured matcha lattes too. We trued both the taro matcha latte and cheese milk matcha.

Address:

9% Coffee House

35, Jalan Ismail, Kampung Pegawai, 83000 Batu Pahat, Johor, Malaysia

Opening Hours:

12pm ~ 10pm | Daily

Next: Restaurant Soon Ji (阿顺饭店) Pork Organ Soup @ Kampung Pegawai