What’s New
Sign up with us to receive periodic new updates from Highlander Coffee™.
27 May 2006: NUSS Gourmet Specialty Coffee Appreciation Course @ Highlander Coffee Bar
18 May 2006: IBM Forum VIP Lounge @ Suntec Convention Halls
25 – 28 Apr 2006: Food & Hotel Asia 2006 Exhibition & Convention @ Singapore Expo
11 & 24 Mar 2006: Tanjong Pagar Community Club - DIY American Gourmet Coffee Seminar
10 Feb 2006: NTUC Income Sports Recreation Club – Coffee Talk with Latte Art
9 Feb 2006: Telok Kurau Primary School – Parent & Teacher Interaction Night
9 Feb 2006: ITE (Bukit Batok) ‘Speed Dating, Espresso Speaks’
6 Jan 2006: Demystifying "Old Wives' Myths" in Coffee @ SGH
2 Dec 2005: Learn to make Great Specialty Gourmet Coffee @ Deloitte Consulting
30 Nov 2005: 1st Anniversary of Trainee Coffee Barista Workshop in Singapore
1st June 2005: Making the Most Outta Coffee Beans by Her World June Issue Pg 314
12th May 2005: Interview by The New Paper on Career Choice as A Barista Trainer
3rd March 2005: Highlander Coffee Barista Centre @ Kampong Bahru Road
1st November 2004: Singapore’s First and Only Trainee Coffee Barista Workshop
24 April 2004: All about Making Italian Espresso Coffee Workshop
27 May 2006: NUSS Gourmet Specialty Coffee Appreciation Course @ Highlander Coffee Bar
 A usual Saturday with anticipated enjoyment in learning about coffee was turned into an unexpectedly overwhelming coffee appreciation course. The Highlander Coffee Bar was literally crowded with 26 attendees and they were thoroughly pleased with the 2-hour coffee know-how talk and hands-on presentation. Questions posed by the attendees were lively and interesting with marvelous sense of grace. Every attendee walked away with a nice goody-bag, choice of their coffee drinks and a freshly served hot brownie!
^Top
18 May 2006: IBM Forum VIP Lounge @ Suntec Convention Halls
 It was a day of freshly barista-made coffee indulgence at the IBM Forum for VIPs at Suntec Convention Hall lounge. Special customers of IBM were delightfully surprised by being custom-served with their choice of cappuccinos, café latte and long black (Americano). Everyone walked away deeply satisfied after drinking coffee produced by the Highlander Coffee team. It was probably the first time in any forum in Singapore that guests had the fresh taste of traditional espresso machine-powered produced coffees in a lounge!
^Top
25 – 28 Apr 2006: Food & Hotel Asia 2006 Exhibition & Convention @ Singapore Expo
 In cooperation with Kerry Foodservices Asia Pacific (manufacturer of DA VINCI GOURMET), Highlander Coffee served various “yummylicious” coffee drinks made possible with DA VINCI gourmet flavoring syrups and sauces. DA VINCI gourmet, a company born 1989 in world’s gourmet coffee capital Seattle, is committed to passionate perfection in creating unparalleled distinctive flavored syrups, sauces and confections at distinguished value; ultimately enabling customers to experience how life can be wonderfully flavorful.
During FHA, visitors were pleasantly delighted when offered sampled coffee drinks made with artistic inspiration of absolute DA VINCI flavors. Visitors were also tastefully informed of the sophisticated and variety of coffee drinks they can enjoy by recipes of DA VINCI gourmet syrups and sauces.
^Top
11 & 24 Mar 2006: Tanjong Pagar Community Club - DIY American Gourmet Coffee Seminar
 Overwhelming number of attendees to participate in these 2 seminars at different dates which were conducted in the Art Gallery at Tanjong Pagar Community Club. Attendees were delightfully surprised with the generous goody bags given and enjoyed an evening of learning the “truths” of coffees and creative coffee making which was simply practical. Home-made cappuccinos and café latte drinks were taught in ways that amazed and amused the attendees. At the end of the seminar session, attendees were able to discern to a certain extend what they liked in paying and drinking a cup of gourmet coffee in coffee chains.
^Top
10 Feb 2006: NTUC Income Sports Recreation Club – Coffee Talk with Latte Art
 With overwhelming response, coffee fans aka staff in NTUC Income enthusiastically attended this Friday’s workshop organized by their Sports Recreation Club. The new found knowledge in the workshop was displayed and whipped up by Highlander Coffee with visually artistic and flavorfully great-tasting gourmet coffee like Irish Cream & Kahlua. Participant: “We can’t wait to try our hands on making gourmet coffee at home with the coffee powder and the Da Vinci coffee syrups from the goody bag provided. What a wonderful workshop!”
^Top
9 Feb 2006: Telok Kurau Primary School – Parent & Teacher Interaction Night
 It was an evening of coffee & music appreciation for both parents and teachers group in Telok Kurau Primary School which has a completely “Zen” setting environment. The purpose of this gathering is to enable like-minded interaction of parents and teachers to foster exchanges for the excellence of pupils and the school. All thoroughly enjoyed the Highlander Coffee talk and what better way to enhance the evening with listening to classical music pieces and savoring a cup of compatible coffee!
^Top
9 Feb 2006: ITE (Bukit Batok) ‘Speed Dating, Espresso Speaks’
It was an innovative and fun afternoon in ITE where lovebirds had a preview for Valentine’s Day. About 20 couples came together for a speed date with invited special guests, the lecturers. Highlander Coffee taught the essence of espresso (meaning express in Italian) and creative drinks making for coffee carts or café. All the couples participated in a dating game and placed special order of the coffee drinks of their choice. The students were pleasantly delighted to learn that Cedric, the Barista Trainer, was a former student in ITE and now an entrepreneur. From this learning experience, students were inspired to be creative and lecturers impressed with this short but meaningful workshop.
^Top
6 Jan 2006: Demystifying "Old Wives' Myths" in Coffee @ SGH
It was a relaxing late afternoon on Friday at SingHealth SGH where everyone was looking forward to the weekend...but 17 staff took time to attend Highlander Coffee's Coffee Appreciation workshop. All the enthusiasts were delightfully surprise with the knowledge and demonstration taught. The facts and fallacies of coffee were separated and "old wives' myths" demystified. Each attendant thoroughly enjoyed the workshop, so much so that they offered to wash-up the cups and equipment for Highlander Coffee!
"We finally unveil the kept secrets of coffee; from where it came from to how it had became so popular today. Thru the enjoyable Coffee Appreciation Workshop, many of us gain invaluable insights about Coffee, and learnt the process of making gourmet Coffee. It's truly an aromatic experience. Special thanks to Cedric and Phil for their time."
Swee Beng, Information Technology, Singapore Health Services Pte Ltd
^Top
2 Dec 2005: Learn to make Great Specialty Gourmet Coffee @ Deloitte Consulting
 In a busy and bustling afternoon at Deloitte's office, various participants from the South East Asia countries came together to enjoy a 2-hour course focusing in learning to make great specialty gourmet coffee by Highlander Coffee. This concise course for the busy executives imparted simplified knowledge of Trainee Barista Workshop on the art and science of gourmet coffee. At the end of the course, participants were happily enjoying their choice of coffee drinks and also completed with a bring-home goodie bag of coffee, Da Vinci Gourmet beverage syrups and coffee complements.
^Top
30 Nov 2005: 1st Anniversary of Trainee Coffee Barista Workshop in Singapore
 Highlander Coffee celebrated the 1st Anniversary of Trainee Coffee Barista Workshop in Singapore with having more than 150 participants trained. The past 1 year saw various workshop participants from all sorts of background aspiring to be barista wannabes and encouragingly some even went on to be cafe or coffee kiosk owners. Many from far and wide came to be trained in Singapore: Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Myanmar, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Sri Lanka and India. In the coming year, new participants to this workshop will expect new exciting training methods and in-depth practices. For celebrant evidence of this high standard quality workshop, read the satisfied participant's testimonials. The best is yet to be!
^Top
21st August 2005: Latte Art that is Visually Flavorful to Enjoy @ Channel U News Club Sunday 7.30PM
  Click to view Channel U’s feature
 View article in pdf
Highlander Coffee Barista Instructor Mr Cedric Ho shared with the news team the secrets and skills of producing Latte Art in Café drinks that is visually flavorful to enjoy. The founding principles to the art and science of creating a MARVELICIOUS cup of cappuccino or café latte are: (1) Disciplined technique and timing for making an espresso (2) The “sound pitching” of smooth frothed milk in precise range of temperatures (3) The practiced-made-perfect pouring, positioning and perfecting timing of frothed milk into harmonizing the espresso cuppa (4) The high iconic skills of barista to “draw” the flavor of the coffee drinks to satisfy the wholesome want of customer’s enjoyment. Many who saw Cedric’s latte art thought it was easy to emulate but it was otherwise when they tried to do it by themselves. Therefore, to be able to produce latte art in coffee drinks, it is best to get trained in a professional workshop for true understanding and to gain real practical skills under instructional guidance.
Sign Up in the One & Only Trainee Coffee Barista Workshop Course in Singapore now!
^Top
16th July 2005: Coffee Appreciation @ PSA Club
 Highlander Coffee was privileged to be given the opportunity to conduct a weekend coffee appreciation course at the PSA Club. Topics explored were: Brief History of Coffee. The Coffee Bean - Seed to Export. The Art of Roasting & Blending. The Various Ways of Preparing Coffee at Home. Art of Preparing Espresso & Beverages using the Espresso Machine. Important Tips in making a Good Cuppa. Participants were most excited when the hands-on making of espresso was demonstrated and latte art presented. Each participant left the course satisfied with never-before discovered knowledge and practices in gourmet coffee.
“Hi Phil, Thank you for conducting the workshop, I am sure the participants had enjoyed themselves and had learnt something out of the workshop as well. I had received favourable feedback from some of them too... Thank you and have a nice week ahead!”
Warm regards, Philemon
^Top
1st June 2005: Making the Most Outta Coffee Beans by Her World June 2005 Issue (Pg 314)
Phil Ho, Highlander’s Coffee’s founder was asked by Her World Magazine (June 05) writer on the tips in getting the fresh fragrant blend brew of coffee. Phil’s advised the 3 DO NOTS in Coffee Beans grind and storage: (1) Don’t Stock up packets of beans. To savor freshness, it is best to consume the beans 2-10 days after roasting. (2) Don’t Laze by putting all the beans in a grinder. Beans weaken in aroma and flavor when left exposed to oxygen. They further weaken after being ground and not consumed within 30 minutes. (3) Don’t Store beans in the fridge. Beans will absorb the fridge’s funny moist and smells. Keep beans in airtight container away from sunlight and heat. This will help in getting a fragrant brew.
^Top
12th May 2005: Interview by The New Paper on Career Choice as A Barista Trainer
 View article in pdf
Cedric Ho, Highlander Coffee’s experienced overseas certified professional Barista was interviewed by The New Paper on Career Choice as a barista trainer. The Career Choice special column on every Thursday of TNP covers the relevance of the career of the interviewee and the market. Some of the areas mentioned in the article on Cedric’s interview include: (a) Tips on making a good cup of espresso (b) Coffee appreciation and discernment in Singapore (c) Barista’s contribution to the coffee culture in Singapore (d) Essential barista training to sustain professional coffee standards. This compact article gives a clear and concise overview of a coffee barista, coffee culture and disciplines.
^Top
3rd March 2005: Highlander Coffee Barista Centre @ Kampong Bahru Road
Highlander Coffee continues to focus passionately on raising the gourmet coffee culture in Singapore by settling Singapore’s First Coffee Barista Centre for training and discovery at 47-AA Kampong Bahru Road. Since the launch of Singapore’s only Trainee Coffee Barista Workshop in 1st November 2004, Highlander Coffee has been training and imparting practical knowledge and skills to gourmet coffee enthusiasts and explorers. With the Coffee Barista Centre located conveniently next to Chinatown, Central Business Districts and near to Outram MRT station, getting acquainted with gourmet coffee and learning related know-how on machine and supplies are made conducive. Catch the video on-line by watching the clips http://www.highlandercoffee.com/./html/baristaworkshop.htm for preview of some skills taught in such fun, exciting and unique workshop!
^Top
1st November 2004: Singapore’s First and Only Trainee Coffee Barista Workshop
 Highlander Coffee is pleased to be Singapore’s First in conducting the Only Trainee Coffee Barista Workshop. For anyone who appreciates coffee and want to learn from an overseas certified professional Coffee Barista on the foundational & practical art and science of all about gourmet coffee; Highlander Coffee workshop assures each trainee all of that plus conferring high standards and perspectives held by the Italian, American and Australian Coffee Institutes. For anyone who is thinking of starting own café or currently working as a Coffee Barista with “inherited training from some seniors” or simply interested in discovering all about gourmet coffee; this half-a-day complete yet comprehensive workshop will definitely prove to be highly valuable in many aspects.
^Top
27 July 2004: Breakfast Xchange organized by Malay Chamber of Commerce
 This bimonthly refreshing breakfast event aims to cultivate entrepreneurial ideas exchanges within the Malay Chamber of Commerce and other chambers contact networks.
The Breakfast Xchange at Fig & Olive on 27 July 04 got a morning kick-start with “All about Gourmet Coffee” Concise Chat by Phil Ho, Director of Highlander Coffee Pte Ltd. Some queries were “Which is the best coffee?” or “What makes the best cuppa?”
There is no perfect answer for the perfect coffee due to the fact that coffee, like wine, is a beverage based on personal preference or lifestyle for that matter. Like rocket science, the subject of coffee can be dwelt with complexly – from the attributes of its original lands of cultivation, to the processing, to the types of roast and storage and grinding, to brewing techniques and to the complements in blend. On the simplified note, individual perfect cup can be concise broadly base on the choice of coffee beans i.e. Arabica or Robusta and the place of origin. For Kopitiam coffee, it is basically called local traditional blend and graded according to its contents.
^Top
24 April 2004: All about Making Italian Espresso Coffee Workshop
 This 3-day workshop was conducted by Humber Lincoln Resources. Key speaker and workshop leader features the renowned Mr Vincent A. Gabriel, book author of “Success in the Food Business”. Highlander Coffee boosted the finale with a three-hour hands-on all about making Italian Coffee. The 13 attendees had an enjoyable time taking turns to role-play as a barista and seeing the “coffee of their labor” when impressive cappuccino, latte macchiato and café au lait were produced.
The emphasis of Italian Coffee making foundationally begins with the perfect brew of the espresso cuppa summarized by 4M: La Macchina (the machine); La Miscela (the blend of coffee); La Macinadosatore (the grind and dose); La Mano (the barista). From a perfect brew of an espresso, countless gourmet coffee drinks can be pleasingly created and enjoyed!
^Top
16 April 2004: CARIMALI (Your First Choice Café Machine in Food & Hotel Asia 2004)
Carimali, founded since 1919 in Milan , was one of world’s first and major manufacturer producing high-quality and reliable coffee machines. With its long history and heritage specializing in product technology and design , Carimali is competent to meet every cafe machine requirements with Total Customer Care & Support.
The Carimali Professional Range of Café Machines are Versatile in making any type of coffee and milk-based drinks: Latte Macchiato, Café au lait, Cappuccino, Espresso Macchiato, Classic Espresso & Long Black Coffee. The Carimali Café Machines enable success to any Café setting from bustling busy to calm corners; to produce gourmet cuppa every time!
HIGHLANDER COFFEE™ is privileged to be Partner to Carimali S.p.A. in Singapore. Visit us at Carimali’s Exhibition Booth 2H2-07 within the ITALIAN PAVILION to discover more on the Carimali café marvellous machines!
^Top
27 Mar 2004 - Start Your Own Café Workshop
 This 1-day workshop was organized by Jelina Household Station and supported by HIGHLANDER COFFEE™ with a bonus 2-hour “Making Italian Espresso Beverages – The Italian Way” Compact Course.
The 18 participants were from various backgrounds – 90% had no experience in starting a café business while 10% had started or going to start a café. There were many positive feedbacks from the participants on the benefits of step-by-step guide and practical Workshop. They were able visualize the big picture café business and the know-how to go about starting their own café.
^Top
12 Mar 2004: Berita Harian feature of Highlander Coffee™
View article in pdf
Front Page Title : A to Z Guide for Café Business (Malay Translation)
Photo Title : Under one roof information: (from left) Mr. Phil Ho, Mr. Cedric Ho and Miss Grace Ho want to expedite the learning curve for prospective entrepreneurs who want to open café through internet.
First Interview Title : A to Z Internet Ready Guide to start a Café Business
Do you plan to open a coffee outlet but do not know the know-how of starting the business?
Now an internet web site is available to provide complete information from A to Z, from obtaining a license to open a café, a guide to choose the equipment, to video clip on how to make coffee the right way.
A coffee research web site address www.highlandercoffee.com provides facilities for free and is possibly the only website in Singapore to provide such services.
It is established by the company, Highlander Coffee that supplies coffee and coffee equipment locally.
The owner of the company, Mr. Phil Ho was keen to build the web site because of difficulty to get references when opening a business a year ago.
“I understand the difficulty of prospective operator that needs to get information from many sources when opening a café. What I did was gather information into one place,” said Mr. Ho, 38 years of age, who quitted his previous career as an engineer solely to start a coffee business that he likes.
He had personally travailed as far as to Italy to learn how to operate coffee makers and techniques of making espresso and latte the traditional way.
Miss Grace Ho and Mr. Cedric Ho are siblings who assisted him. It took them six months to put up the internet website. The website also links to the government network regarding labour law and café licenses, information on operating multi-outlets and a list of supplier needed when opening a café.
He is prepared to work with the Malay organization that are assisting the unemployed as well as those who are interested in opening a café.
Highlander Coffee supplies all kind of high grade coffee beans from Sumatra Mandheling and Arabica as well as branded coffee makers like La Pavoni, Rancilio and Carimali.
If needed more information, you can contact Mr. Ho at 9818 8056.
Second Interview Title : New Entrepreneur obtains much useful information
Keen interest in opening a café leads Miss Karen Yong to start café sandwich Love Bites early this year.
But without any information on how to start up a business, she acquired the services of Highlander Coffee.
“There are numerous aspects of business that I did not know and there are a lot to learn. Using the Highlander Coffee web site can reduce by almost half the time of the learning process,” said Miss Yong, 37 years of age. She quitted her career in IT to start a café located at Circular Road with a start-up capital of $150,000.
According to her, the web site is useful because it teaches her about coffee making and choosing a commercial coffee maker.
Owner of My Cup of Tea Café, Mr. Joseph Wong, was attracted to the Highlander Coffee web site because it “provides information under one roof”.
“Half of your questions are answered when you surf the web site. It is a guide for new café business.”
“In fact, I was surprised that it provides a list of various suppliers needed to open café,” said Mr. Wong who opened a café at Clementi Avenue 3 four months ago. As the web site is created locally, he said that it directly benefits the prospective entrepreneurs.
“Most of the information about starting a café is provided by other countries hence it cannot be used fully by local entrepreneurs,” said Mr. Wong who invested $50,000 in his café.
^Top
7 Mar 2004 - Launch of Highlander Coffee™ Homepage
Highlander Coffee™, a home-grown entrepreneurial start-up coffee and espresso machine distributor since 2003, announces the launch of its new web site.
The objectives of our Coffee Discovery Centre are to help Singapore's growing internet savvy visitors gain from the FREE information resources to effectively start their own cafe and acquire more knowledge about gourmet coffee and espresso machines.
At the click of a mouse, our Coffee Discovery Centre aims to assist:
The employed Singaporean who has a dream of starting their own cafe one day but clueless as to how.
The self employed Singaporean who is contemplating of starting their food business but don't know where to begin.
Existing cafe owners who wish to expand new outlets but wish to learn more and keep their options opened.
Coffee lovers who want to learn more about coffee and how to make a good cuppa at home or office.
Why visit www.highlandercoffee.com?
- This web site is uniquely FIRST of its kind in Singapore and all information downloads and new updates are FREE.
- It offers generous servings of gourmet coffee and espresso machine facts in a-la-carte manner (video clips included). Users can choose and benefit from what they want and not be overcrowded with irrelevant information.
- This web site provides useful kick-start links and guides on how to start your own cafe or food business in Singapore.
^Top
|
