UNINESS

Upon stepping into the new village of Batang Kali, without any hustle and bustle of the city, all peace and tranquility throughout the small village. Gazing down from Fu Quan Miao temple on the slopes, rows and rows of new village houses were built neatly in accordance with the slope, clearly layered. As times progress and emigration of the population, currently about 600 people remain in the village, most of them Hokkien. Situated within is Swee Len Food Industries which is established for ninety-odd years, specializing in manufacturing traditional wedding treats for Hokkiens marrying a daughter —— “mua lao” and “lao huei”.

Having been working in Singapore for quite some time, a few years back the third generation owner Leonard Oh and wife decided to return to his hometown with the intention of succeeding his family business, sustaining traditional handcrafted goods with the flavour of remembrance, preserving his grandfather’s painstaking efforts in the craft of mua lao and lao huei. The production of mua lao and lao huei are renowned for the complicated handiwork and procedures involved, from the processes of milling, steaming, drying, cutting, frying and many more, the entire production operation spans over a week until completion. Nonetheless Leonard Oh and wife both stick to authentic hand crafting throughout the process, even the sesame and rice puffs dredged on in the final step were stir-fried in person, instead of using ready-made products.

Week-long process in return for three flavours, husband and wife taking a firm stance in remaining true to traditional handcraft, perceiving tradition as loyalty to artistry, essentially shouldering the duties of heritage and promoting cultural norms.

Text: Daniel Lim & Pua Hui Wen

有你 UNI Production
Producer : Mok Yii Chek
Coordinator : Daniel Lim
Cinematographer : Amelia Lim / Evon Pang
Video Editor : Evon Pang
Music : Can You Hear Me from Felt Music

COPYRIGHTS 2018 ECHINOIDEA SDN BHD

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A charcoal fire which has never died down in 60 years, with smoke diffusing throughout the coffee shop, delivering wafts and wafts of coffee aroma. Since founding till now, Chuan Hoe Coffee Factory located in Klang retains the traditional production method, persists in using firewood as fuel, using a charcoal fire in roasting coffee beans with a unique wood fired smokiness. Among the two remaining old coffee shops in Klang, they are the only coffee bean supplier which still uses wood fire to roast coffee beans, continually providing supplies to local shops and stalls, as well as selling packaged coffee powder with a better quality.

Despite his elderly age, the owner Mr Tan Loon (transliteration) still performs each task by hand, especially the most important task of roasting coffee beans. Experience is crucial in exercising precise control over timing and temperature, in which the most challenging procedure is adding brown sugar to roast together with the roasted coffee beans. His son Eric Tan is in charge of sales and marketing, including advancing into online marketing and opening the factory to the public, in order for consumers to have the opportunity to visit and understand the production process of the traditional coffee industry.

At the moment traditional coffee production factories face several challenges, especially profits. Eric dejectedly expresses that in terms of selling price and production scale, they are unable to compete directly with big brands. The entire handmade process is time-consuming and produces limited quantities, the cost of firewood increases constantly, and wood-fired roasting production time takes an additional three to four hours compared to using gas. Moreover, there are fewer and fewer who mastered the craft of wood-fired roasting coffee beans, and the younger generation are not interested in this industry.

Chuan Hoe Coffee Factory persists in pursuing the traditional way to continue roasting aromatic coffee powder.

Text: Daniel Lim & Pua Hui Wen

有你 UNI Production
Producer : Mok Yii Chek
Coordinator : Daniel Lim
Cinematographer : Amelia Lim / Evon Pang
Video Editor : Evon Pang
Music : Everything’s Changed from Felt Music

COPYRIGHTS 2018 ECHINOIDEA SDN BHD

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