If there is a cafe that can be considered underrated then this cafe we are reviewing today would be it. We came across Stairs Cafe by coincidence, we just had our lunch at the Cecil Street Market which is just 2 lanes away from this shop. Stairs Cafe is located at 46, Noordin Street, Penang.
When we entered the shop, we were surprised to find that we were the only patrons on a quiet Monday afternoon. There were three baristas eagerly waiting to serve us and they were dressed in lab coats which we found to be quite amusing. Anyway, we proceeded to look at the menu and we’re quite surprised to find a rather long list of diverse choices of coffee beans to choose from. The Yunnan coffee definitely caught my eye at first glance and that was what I ordered. There are the other more conventional choices of beans available such as Arabica beans from Guatemala, Kenya, Brazil and more.
As for the choices of brew methods available we found Stairs Cafe to have one of the most comprehensive choices we’ve ever come across. You have the standard espresso drinks from the Rancilio Classe 11 Xcelsius double group machine, syphon coffee which i suspect is the Hario Hana , pour over which a choice of Hario V60 or Chemex and some small selection of cold brew coffee in black and white.
Their specialty beans are kept in air tight long glass canisters but since the cafe’s interior design is rather dark, I guess it’s fine since the beans will be fast moving anyway. I didn’t get a chance to see which grinder was used (got too distracted by the many canisters of coffee which look like deco). I will return with details on their single dosing grinder later when i get a chance to visit again. Their main grinder for espresso is a Mazzer.
I got a lady barista brewing my pour over using the Hario on the bar top in front of us. She came with a tray of glassware consisting of your grounded coffee in 18g dose, an Erlenmeyer Flasks beaker (good for swirling the coffee later and keeps the coffee warm longer as the neck is rather thin) and 3 shot glasses and one standard coffee glass. She’d use the 3 shot glasses to taste and to check on the quality of the brew before serving your coffee. She’d also write down the different notes on a card noting what you should be experiencing when tasting your coffee. If you are confident with the brew as it’s happening in front of you, I’d suggest you can just tell your barista to skip that part and save more of the coffee for yourself to savour.
Their brewing method is pretty standard with a 30 second bloom phase and about a minute and half of complete pour in one go as they were using a size 2 dripper.
Business Hours
Monday (10:00 – 22:00)
Tuesday (10:00 – 22:00)
Wednesday (10:00 – 22:00)
Thursday (10:00 – 22:00)
Friday (10:00 – 22:00)
Saturday (10:00 – 22:00)
Sunday (10:00 – 22:00)