Roaster Series - JWC Roastery
JWC Roastery is the brainchild of Nelson, an absolutely passionate coffee man. He has been roasting coffee in Johor Bahru since 2009, one of the earliest specialty coffee roaster in Malaysia.
Nelson and his team had been active in participating numerous coffee competitions in the past years. This includes winning the 2016 Champion of Malaysia Brewers Cup and Latte Art Championship. They also represented Malaysia in the World Championship in both year 2016 and 2017.
Here's a short interview with Nelson, happy reading!
1. What is your earliest coffee memory?
Morning coffee sessions at traditional kopitiams with my parents and grandparents when I was a kid.
2. How did you get into the coffee industry?
I studied and worked in Taiwan as a software engineer for 10 years. It was during that time when I started to learn to appreciate specialty coffee. However I realised there was no good coffee after I came back to Malaysia in 2009. Hence I started my first cafe named Ink Brew by JWC. The intention was purely to share good coffee with more people.
3. What is the future of specialty coffee in Malaysia?
We are seeing the growth of specialty coffee as we see more and more people learning to appreciate good coffee. Not forgetting the marvellous achievements of Malaysians in world coffee competitions, which brings us to a whole new level.
4. What separates JWC from its peers?
We understand the importance of educating our customers on the appreciation of coffee. We can’t change the traditional kopitiam culture, but we can introduce a new culture by showing them how to appreciate the characters and uniqueness of each coffee origin. This starts from training more baristas to make good coffee, which is also the rationale behind the inception of JWC Coffee Academy and JWC Roastery.
5. What is your favourite coffee?
A black coffee which has been happily brewed.
6. Any tips for the novice coffee lover?
There are no rules in coffee-making. As long as you enjoy the coffee, it’s good coffee.
