OldTown White Coffee, founded in Ipoh in 1999 as a coffee producer, is Malaysia’s largest halal-certified Nanyang kopitiam chain, which expanded from one cafe in 2005 to having over 200 outlets in Asia. It also produces popular 3-in-1 instant coffee products, especially Ipoh’s white coffee.
In 2024, OldTown White Coffee celebrated its 25th anniversary by starting a heritage hub, named OldTown White Coffee Experience Centre, in Ipoh Old Town — in addition to another outlet next to Ipoh Padang (about 300 metres away). The 3-storey heritage hub, located at one end of the famous Concubine Lane, features a heritage gallery, an Earthcare Cafe with exclusive menu items, 3D murals by Ernest Zacharevic and a retail shop.
We have visited other OldTown White Coffee outlets in Singapore, Johor Bahru, etc, including the other outlet at Ipoh Padang, but OldTown White Coffee Experience Centre offers a different “Ipoh experience”.
Earthcare Cafe occupies the whole ground floor, and also an extended section on level 2 with more spaces. It offers selected signature dishes and exclusive items on its menu. We tried Nasi Lemak with Ayam Goreng Berempah (马来香料炸鸡椰浆饭), OldTown Nasi Lemak with Crispy Chicken (旧街场脆皮鸡腿椰浆饭), OldTown Curry Mee (旧街场咖喱面) and BBQ Chicken & Fried Wanton Dry Egg Noodle (炭烧鸡炸云吞干捞全蛋面).
The nasi lemak dishes have very aromatic coconut-milk-flavoured rice with a sunny-side-up fried egg, peanuts, fried anchovies, crackers and cucumber slices as basic ingredients. Both dishes are served with fried chicken (whole legs) and one is fried with additional spices (berempah). The Ipoh-style curry mee has a rich curry flavour with mild-spiciness and couple of mint leaves enhance the flavour. The chicken wanton noodle is a familiar dish which we have tried several times before.
A hot cup of traditional OldTown White Coffee (旧街场白咖啡) is the best way to appreciate what OldTown White Coffee has to offer and definitely a must-try when in Ipoh. The sugarless coffee is aromatic, full-bodied, creamy and smooth, and its sweetness is solely from condensed milk.
The Sunset Serenity (日落宁静), one of the House Specials, is an iced coffee beverage from fusion of bold black coffee with sweet peach syrup, zesty lime juice and with a subtle hint of aromatic rosemary. It is a unique coffee with a mix of citrusy flavours.
Both Bubur Cha Cha with Coffee Jelly (摩摩喳喳咖啡果冻) and Matcha Tau Fu Fa (抹茶豆腐花) are recommended desserts to try. The iced bubur cha cha has pandan-infused coconut milk added with mild-bitter coffee jellies and is delicious and not too sweet. The Matcha-flavoured, smooth tofu pudding, in light caramel syrup —resembles Ipoh’s caramel custard in appearance— has a delicate matcha flavour. They are nice indeed!
On a wall in the cafe, an artwork was created from posters of traditional kopi, kopi-O, cham and white kopi, showcasing how they are mixed from various items. Take note that “white kopi-O” is actually black coffee — to coffee manufacturers, “white coffee” is ground coffee beans premixed with palm oil margarine without sugar. Many people erroneously equate “white coffee” to “milk coffee” as Ipoh white coffee is usually served with condensed milk — and, also, ordering traditional kopi (without specifying “O“) is to add milk.
The 3D murals by Ernest Zacharevic are connected by metal rods and span 3 storeys of the heritage hub. On the ground floor, a boy, on a rickshaw, tries to reach for a cage with birds flying out. On level 2, there are bags of black coffee and a boy hanging onto a food container. On level 3, a paper plane carrying two boys.
Those who are familiar with Ipoh Old Town’s “Art of OldTown” murals will probably notice some similarities between this tall artwork and 4 of the 7 artworks in the “Art of OldTown” series.
The Heritage Gallery on Level 3 showcases the history of OldTown White Coffee — as it progresses from a coffee producer to owning hundreds of cafes and expanding globally — and Ipoh’s white coffee and coffee shop cultures. The gallery also explained OldTown White Coffee’s “bean to cup” journey using three-bean blend (Arabica, Robusta, Liberica) for its signature Ipoh White Coffee.
Admission is free, so don’t miss the chance to explore the gallery.
Next to the Heritage Gallery is a retail shop that sells limited-edition merchandise, souvenirs, and coffee products of OldTown White Coffee. It completes the full experience of dining, interactive arts, cultural walk with shopping for their signature products — all within the hub. So, don’t miss OldTown White Coffee Experience Centre on your next trip to Ipoh.
Social Media:
Facebook | Website
Address:
2, Jalan Panglima, 30000 Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia
Opening Hours:
8am to 9pm | Daily
Nearby:
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