Chuan Bee Kopitiam

There are over 12,000 prewar buildings within the historic enclave of George Town which was the heart of this UNESCO Heritage City. If you are not local you may not be able to locate some of the best coffee houses (or more commonly known as kopitiam in local Hokkien dialect) that are hidden and scattered around the maze like street network of this heritage town. 

There is one such place located along China Street (Lebuh Cina), it is the road right across and run perpendicularly to the famous Kuan Yin Temple  (觀音亭). 

The appearance of this modest little shop doesn't look very impressive at first. In fact it may even put off many potential customers who wish to be in newer and presentable premises. This is where you always need the locals to bring you to places like these that never appear in your Lonely Planet travel brochure.

Kopitiam in Penang Hokkien means coffee house. However it is unlike Starbucks or Coffee Bean which specializes on variety of coffee. The name derives from the fact that the locals always enjoy their local Penang coffee in places like these where they can also dine in and chit chat with their friends. The local coffee served here is particularly good and I never fail to order a cup. The mixture of bitterness and sweetness is just right in my view.

Pomfret Fish Curry

Stir Fried Bitter Gourd with Egg

Like many other Kopitiam in Penang, you can find the standard Chu Char (煮炒) menu here like fish curry, stir fried vegetables, fried Hokkien Mee etc. But one dish that you MUST order when you are there is their 金香雞 (pronounced as Kam Hiong Kai in Cantonese) where the chicken is deep fried into golden brown color in their secret recipe spices. I've been trying to find out what are the spices that they use but I was not successful so far.

 金香雞

Rose Tea Of Winter Warmers

We can basically categorize people into 2 main groups; the tea and coffee group. Very seldom that you will crave for both, you either love one or the other. Personal preferences aside, there are tons of research and debate on which is a better drink in terms of its ‘kick’ effect as well as its health consequences.

Many believe tea is better health wise, but it is only the antioxidants found in green tea that has been tested to be effective in reactivating our white blood cell which in turn boosting our immune system. And there are people who believe that coffee will give them more energy to have a great start in the morning but research on people who drink decaf coffee produces the same result since it is our mind that associates coffee with the ability to give us a boost and not so much the effect from caffeine.

At the end of the day, no one can really tell you for certain which is better. To save us time and trouble, let’s just forget about all those scientific review and simply follow our heart as to which we I like best. I for one am a coffee person who must have at a cup per day. However, ever since I’ve tasted the tea at Winter Warmers; I no longer so sure that I’ll stick to coffee alone!

There are many Winter Warmers outlets in Penang such as at Queensbay Mall, Juru Autocity and Sunway Carnival. The one that I went to is at Gurney Plaza; located on the ground floor facing G Hotel. The interior is decorated with English countryside theme with lots of rose patterns on wallpaper, tea cups, teapots and table cloth. Yes it does feel a bit feminine but soothing at the same time. The settings provide a serene atmosphere for people to lay back and enjoy their English teas.

The only thing I ordered there is their Rose Tea. The rose infused tea smell so nice that its fragrance lingered on in my mind long after I left the place. It is this combination of smell and taste that makes this drink so special. I can never have enough of it every time I go there.   

Of course Rose Tea is my biased recommendation for Winter Warmers but there is actually a wide range of selection for you if you prefer others. They also have Herbal Tea, Hot Milk Tea and Iced Fruit Tea. The tea comes in fine loose leaves form in a pot.

If you seriously are not a tea person and will not try other thing besides coffee, they also have heaps of choices for you. They serve Midnight Kiss Iced Coffee, Milan Iced Coffee, Night Shadow Iced Coffee, Rose Iced Latte, Green Tea Coffee, Rose Coffee, Lavender Coffee, Chocolate Mint Coffee and the more common Espresso and Cappuccino. Food wise, they have sandwiches, scones, cakes, dessert and fresh fruits.

Enjoy your coffee!

Can coffee really keep the doctor away? 

While recent findings have been encouraging, there is still a long way before these prove conclusive. 

By Michael Lim

Not all coffees are the same

The universe of research data on coffee is dotted with contradictions on outcomes. Other than methodology and size of studies, some of these differences may be due to the different ways in which coffee is prepared. 

Unfiltered coffee contains chemicals called diterpenes such as kahweol and cafestol, which are associated with an increase in 'bad' cholesterol and hence an increase in risk of heart disease. Some studies suggest that drinking unfiltered boiled coffee can increase cholesterol by as much as 10 per cent.

These chemicals can be removed with a paper filter. The most well-known chemical in coffee is caffeine. 

On the average, one cup of brewed or one shot of espresso has about 100mg of caffeine.

Decaffeinated coffee contains a few mg in each cup. The equivalent of a lethal dose of caffeine will be akin to drinking 100 cups of coffee.

Will my heart skip a beat?

It is a common perception that drinking coffee can cause your heart to skip a beat. Perception appears to be different from reality. A Canadian study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine in January 1991 reviewed five studies of people with abnormal heart rhythms and found that drinking up to five cups of coffee a day did not worsen the heart rhythm.

Interestingly, a study of about 130,000 Kaiser Permanente health insurance members showed that those who were drinking up to three cups of coffee a day were 20% less likely to be hospitalized for abnormal heart rhythms than non-drinkers.

While the Harvard study on 45,000 healthy men in the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 1990, found that coffee drinking had no effect on the risk of heart attack or stroke, studies in the last few years have put a positive spin on coffee.

A more recent study of more than 81,000 men and women in Japan published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health showed that drinking one or two cups of coffee a day was associated with up to a 23% risk reduction of death from heart disease.

Another large 2008 Spanish study in the Annals of Internal Medicine that tracked 129,000 men and women over two decades found that

- women who drank four to five cups per day were 34 per cent less likely to die of heart disease, while

- men who had more than five cups a day were 44 per cent less likely to die. 

Is coffee good for my brain?

It appears that the benefits on the heart seen in recent large trials appear to extend to the brain as well. 

A 2009 Harvard study of 83,000 women published in the journal Circulation showed those who drank two to four cups of coffee a day had a 19 to 20% lower risk of stroke than women who drank less than one cup a month.

The data was supported by a 2011 Swedish study of 34,670 women published in Stroke journal that found women who drank more than a cup of coffee each day had a 22 to 25% lower risk of stroke than women who drank less coffee.

  

This benefit is not gender-specific and a 2008 Finnish study of more than 26,000 male smokers found that the men who drank eight or more cups of coffee a day had a 23% lower risk of stroke  than the men who drank little or no coffee.

Coffee and other health benefits

Possible benefits that appear to be associated with regular coffee drinking include lower risk of developing 

- diabetes mellitus,

- gallstones, liver damage, 

- dementia,

- Parkinson's disease and

- colon cancer.

In addition, it also appears to be associated with 

- improved cognitive function and

- performance in physical endurance activities.

Should I start drinking coffee?

Before you start recommending coffee to your friends as a health drink, you will need to answer this question: Can coffee be harmful to health?

Most of the purported benefits of regular coffee consumption are statistical associations and researchers have yet to be able to produce definite evidence that coffee has a direct causative effect for these benefits.