Cold Brew (Kopi) It is pretty unthinkable how the bottled cold brew trend has come so far in the local F&B scene — a concept that is first introduced by the folks of Old Hen Coffee Bar, it has probably come close to a decade since then and it does seem that bottled brews of all sorts of flavours; caffeinated or non-caffeinated, are being served in various establishments island-wide. While the idea of serving up Nanyang-style Kopi as a bottled brew may not come across as a particularly new concept considering how some cafes such as that of Keong Saik Bakery have been serving up bottled Yuan Yang Cold Brew for quite some time. We were actually surprised to have found Kopitiam recently doing the same at their Kopi Kiosk counter at a recently re-branded Kopitiam food court at Marina Bay Financial Centre Tower 3 (the food court was previously managed by NTUC Foodfare) offering a Cold Brew (Kopi) as well as a Cold Brew (Latte) in a bottled cold brew that are both kept chilled in the display fridge — the availability of the Cold Brew (Kopi) and Cold Brew (Latte) is limited to a selected number of outlets as it seems.
Giving their Cold Brew (Kopi) a go considering how much of a coffee junkie we are, the Cold Brew (Kopi) is said to have feature Kopitiam’s 30-year signature blend, which comprises of a mix of Arabica and Robusta beans — it also features ingredients such as water, white sugar and evaporated milk; at least all of these are based on what was being described on the packaging. Taking a sip of the contents within the bottle, it is undeniable that the Cold Brew (Kopi) is much like having a Nanyang-style iced kopi — all that without the interference of melting ice that may dilute the drink. That being said, the Cold Brew (Kopi) felt somewhat unbalanced in term of its flavour profile — despite its punchiness, we still felt that the the Cold Brew (Kopi) was a little watered down and lacked the full kick that one would have gotten out of the usual Nanyang-style iced kopi, though it does also seem less sweet as compared to the Nanyang-style iced kopi. That being said, perhaps kicking up the sweetness a notch may actually help with bringing the flavours of the beverage slightly further to carry a little more impact in terms of how it tastes.
It does seem that Kopitiam has been a little more adventurous and keeping up with the times — while there has been more re-branding efforts where some of their existing food courts are now known as Kopitiam Corner, we also do note how they have seemingly spruced up the decor of some of their locations to provide diners with a much more comfortable dining experience. We are pretty surprised by how their Kopi Kiosk stand have been experiments and serving up new trendy variations of Kopi — this would include the Ice Spin Kopi that seems like their spin-off on the Ipoh-style White Coffee that comes all frothy on the top, as well as the Cold Brew (Kopi) in a bottle that we are seeing here. That being said, Kopitiam does have a long way to go with their more adventurous takes of coffee-related beverages; while the Cold Brew (Kopi) lacked that full-on punch that comes with cold brew beverages, the Iced Spin Kopi being a rather odd concoction that did not really quite taste anywhere like coffee. Perhaps Kopitiam could really take a little more time for further R&D before launching their more inventive creations; coming up with something that could perhaps hit the spot would help. Nonetheless, it is interesting seeing how even an establishment like Kopitiam is moving along with trends these days — does make us wonder how the coffee kiosks at coffeeshop would look like a couple of years down the road!
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