This October, Citadines is celebrating International Coffee Month across its participating Citadines properties in Singapore by inviting you to go on a coffee adventure with an exclusive local Nanyang coffee roastery tour and exciting coffee workshops.
Prior to its launch in October, we were invited by The Ascott Limited, to experience the adventure for ourselves with a 3D2N stay at Citadines Rochor Singapore, an integrated mixed development with 320 minimalistic modern designed apartments that is located as part of Tekka Place.
Unlike typical hotels, Citadines properties offer lodging not just for short-term guests but also those staying for a longer term. As such, each property has a specially curated set of amenities and signature programming to provide guests with an opportunity to live, work and play during their stay.
This includes their exclusive “For the love of coffee” program which offers guests at Citadines Rochor Singapore the chance to learn about coffee making and coffee mixology, in complimentary coffee workshops such as DIY Coffee Scrub, How to Make Bullet Coffee, and traditional coffee appreciation sessions (at selected Citadines properties).
In addition to the activities available, upon arrival at Citadines’ properties, you will receive a complimentary cold brew Kopi-O Kosong, a Welcome Kopi Postcard filled with recipes and tips to navigate the local coffee scene, and a special Citadines “For the Love of Coffee” Limited Edition Welcome Kit — complete with coasters and a custom-designed Jute Bag.
As a guest staying at Citadines, you will also get to enjoy a complimentary Kim’s Duet to-go cuppa every Tuesday morning and Thursday evening.
In terms of the rooms offered, Citadines Rochor Singapore has numerous room layouts to accommodate to each individual’s needs. For our stay, we were provided with a Studio Twin that came with a kitchenette — which was exceptionally convenient as it was equipped with an electric kettle, microwave oven, mini refrigerator and dining utensils!
The property also comes with a suite of amenities that includes an outdoor swimming pool with jacuzzi, a residents’ kitchen, and a 24-hour fully equipped fitness corner.
Sign up for a complimentary Ascott Star Rewards (ASR) membership and enjoy exclusive benefits all year round.
LOCAL NANYANG COFFEE ROASTERY TOUR
As part of our programme, we were treated to a unique experience visiting a local Nanyang coffee roastery where we witnessed coffee roasting first-hand.
Located at the JTC Bedok Food City in Bedok North, Kim Guan Guan Coffee was first established in 1988 and has been around for more than 30 years as a certified roastery in Singapore and supplier of quality traditional coffee powder.
It was no surprise then, as we all disembarked the mini van for the tour, that the smell of coffee roasting lingered in the air even before we stepped foot into the roastery.
The tour began with a short introduction into the history of Kim Guan Guan and its origin before we stepped into the roasting floor where we were greeted by huge machines that were responsible for roasting the coffee beans into Kim Guan Guan’s signature roast.
One of the fun facts that we learned during the tour was how the machines were actually assembled by founder Jason Soon and his team, and not the professionals who had been unable to travel to Singapore from Malaysia during the pandemic.
Aside from seeing the staff go about their duties, we also saw how the coffee beans, in their original state, were sifted through a machine to distinguish the good and bad beans, before they were sent through a pipe to the roasting machines.
The next step in the roasting process was grinding them down into coffee powder. Unlike coffee beans which you find available for sale outside which you can roast at home, Kim Guan Guan’s coffee beans had to be grinded down using professional industrial machines.
This is because the beans have been hardened during the caramelised stage and would actually break a normal home coffee grinder.
The tour took about 30 minutes and concluded with a special coffee tasting session on the second floor of the roastery, where Mr Soon prepared coffee — the traditional way — for us, using the stainless steel pots that are reminiscent of coffee-brewing in the yesteryears.
As the craft of kopi-pulling is no longer common at coffee shops in Singapore, it was truly a memorable sight to see Mr Soon and his son taking turns to “pull” the coffee as they made Kopi-O Kosong and Kopi for us to try using their traditional roast coffee powder.
Unlike a Western cup of black coffee with no sugar, Kim Guan Guan’s traditional cup of Kopi Kosong not only tasted less bitter and acidic but had a tinge of a butter after taste, thanks to the margarine that was added into the coffee beans during the roasting process.
After the taste test, we were invited to try our hands at “Kopi Pulling”.
While it looked incredibly easy to do for Mr Soon and his son, it was a challenge for us to replicate, especially when there were quite a few factors to consider when attempting to create the perfect cuppa Nanyang coffee.
A lot of us ended up either spilling our coffee during the “pull” or steeping our coffee for too long but we definitely found it an enjoyable experience that only made us appreciate this traditional cup of coffee even more.
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