Collective

Collective roasts and supplies specialty coffee beans to some of the city’s top cafés: Their Ratawali beans from Sumatra, with distinct dark chocolate notes and honey-like sweetness, are popular among cafés to use in espresso drinks. If you manage to locate this boutique roaster, hidden in the labyrinth of industrial warehouses in Section 19, we highly recommend the Cambara from Brazil for its almond notes and vanilla aftertaste, or the Ethiopian Mormora with its creamy body, berry notes and clean finish.

What really stood out for us, besides its lofty warehouse space, is that Collective goes beyond just roasting coffee and pulling shots. Its founders, Barrie Nasim and Hashraf Hashim, are regular figures in the coffee industry: Barrie founded Bellboys Coffee Crafters in London while Hashraf is a director at Mollydooker’s Coffee Bar. Zulkefle Yup, a roaster at Collective, also founded Brew Platform, a community of coffee traders, roasters and baristas that aims to promote our local coffee culture and elevate the skills and knowledge of everyone involved. Together, they organise latte art throwdowns and coffee brewing workshops that sometimes travel to other cafés in the Klang Valley and beyond.

Onsite at Collective, watch out for their twice-monthly cupping sessions. You’ll be tasting four to six beans, but more importantly, these sessions are a sensory experience that will also help you develop your tasting skills and palate – perfect for coffee novices.