"This is a workshop more than a cafe." said the lady who was roasting some coffee beans when I first stepped into the cafe.
Yes, August Drip Coffee (八月咖啡工作室) is a workshop, or a "roastery", where it roasts a wide range of imported coffee beans in-cafe. It is also a great place for coffee-lovers to interact, exchange coffee and brewing knowledge, and enjoy wonderful pour-over coffees and western-style lattes.
August Drip Coffee is located right beside Restoran Haobi (好比鸭王), a restaurant for herbal roasted duck, along Taman Century, close to KSL City Mall. The cozy cafe is about three years old, having opened for business just two months before the pandemic — so it is a relatively new cafe to most people who did not travel to Johor Bahru during the 2-year border closure.
The cozy cafe has a coffee-roaster in one corner with large sacks of coffee beans from different regions.
The cafe-workshop's primary objective is to roast the various types of specialty coffee beans for sales. I like the aroma that filled the cafe when they are roasting the beans — so fortunate it was on my first visit.
They imported over 70 types of coffee beans from over the world, including via auctions for exclusive coffee beans. Having a cup of pour-over coffee at the cafe is a great way to try the different flavours before buying the coffee beans to self-brew at home.
The lady is hand-brewing, or dripping, the coffee for customers. There are various types of coffee drippers, including V60, for brewing different types of coffee beans to get the best taste characteristics.
On the bar counter are some freshly roasted coffee beans for pour-overs. Light roasted beans are mostly fruity in nature. The medium and darker roasted beans are fuller body, mildly acidic and with stronger aromas.
The pour-overs that I have tried at August cafe are mostly light roasted to taste their bright flavours (closer to original) and include Ethiopia Sidamo, Kenya Kiriniaga, Yunnan Red Wine in the Sun, Ethiopia Yirgacheffe, Colombia Huila, etc. But I will get the medium-roasted beans to brew at home. Some of my purchases include the Ethiopia Sidamo, Yunnan Red Wine in the Sun, etc, and recently, the Tanzania Kilimanjaro AAA beans.
The first pour-over coffee I had on my first visit to August Drip Coffee was the Ethiopia Sidamo, along with a homemade Oreo cheese cake that I picked from the glass shelf. Before brewing the coffee, the lady ground the coffee beans and brought it to me to let me had a whiff of its peachy aroma. After a few minutes, the coffee was served. It had a light reddish colour to it.
I enjoyed the fruity coffee — breathing in the aroma before taking each sip — that was neither too acidic nor bitter and no sugar needed. The Oreo cheese cake was made with soft and creamy cheese. It was really good to go with coffee.
The cheery lady (I forgot her name) who made the great cakes was also a staff in the cafe. She makes really great cakes.
On my second visit, I tried the Yunnan (Red Wine in the Sun) coffee beans that were naturally sun-dried and treated in used red wine barrels.
To experience different flavours (varying degrees of acidity and red-wine aroma) of the Yunnan coffee beans at different temperatures, I was given another glass with a piece of ice to cool the just-brewed hot coffee. It was really interesting — not to mention that I was drinking (red wine) coffee as though it was whiskey.
Apart from pour-over specialty coffees, August cafe has its own blend of coffee beans in drip sachets and their cappuccino is rich and creamy with a pleasant aroma.
I visit the cafe quite often to try more of their hand-brew coffees, to gain more knowledge about the coffee beans and learning how to brew them. August Drip Coffee is a great starting place for beginners in self-brew coffee — like me. Furthermore, basic V60 brewing kits and filter papers are available for sales here.
I also participated in the cafe's membership scheme to enjoy discounts on expenses at the cafe.
Visit the cafe or order their roasted coffee beans online (if you are in Malaysia):
Address:
August Drip Coffee (八月咖啡工作室)
2, Jalan Kancil, Taman Century, 80250 Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia
Opening Hours:
10am to 10pm (Monday: 10am to 7pm)