Coffee meets pastry at homegrown chain ZUS Coffee’s new concept cafe in 1 Utama Shopping Centre. Its name? Well, Coffee Meets Pastry.
Unlike your usual ZUS café, Coffee Meets Pastry features some unique interior choices, such as the huge croissant structures found around the store.
We headed over to check out the space for ourselves—here’s what we think.
A museum concept
Overlooking FlowRider, which offers boardsport activities, as well as the Skate Park, Coffee Meets Pastry features a “mini theme park museum” concept.
This is according to a post by Michelle Lim, ZUS Coffee’s Brand Manager.
Michelle described the space as featuring “larger-than-life sculptures” of ZUS’ signature pastry. “These extended into giant pastry tables and wall-art that pays an homage to the humble croissant,” the Brand Manager wrote.
“It was a feat for us to realise a new brand and concept (including renovations) in under three months, but the final result is worth the challenges faced,” Michelle also wrote about the space.
Featuring a minimalistic vibe, the space mainly features white and brown colours, making the navy shade of the ZUS packaging stand out.
Having had the privilege to witness some pretty out-there cafés in the past, I’d say that the Coffee Meets Pastry outlet isn’t overly decked out, but rather just more of an elevated and conceptual space.
With lots of natural lighting and the unique structures, though, there’s definitely a bunch of photo-worthy spots here.
An exclusive menu
Of course, there’s more than giant croissants here at Coffee Meets Pastry. To feed the stomach, there’s an assortment of delicious pastries on display, but the exclusive items here are the Flat Croissants dipped in signature Spanish Latte and Buttercreme cream.
Flattened croissants seem to be all the rage nowadays, so it’s interesting to see how ZUS has put their own touch to it.
For drinks, there were three exclusive options we saw:
- Osmanthus Apple Espresso (RM13.90): Sparkling blend of apple juice and espresso, infused with the delicate aroma of osmanthus flowers
- Camellia Blossom Cham Latté (RM14.90): Sweet creamy milk and fragrant camellia tea, and a touch of espresso
- Key Lime Pie Frappé: Zesty lime balanced with creamy coconut milk and bursts of juicy lychee
We tried the Camellia Blossom Cham Latte as well as the Osmanthus Apple Espresso, opting for LYDIA beans (which has more fruity and floral notes compared to the BOSS beans) for both drinks.
We absolutely loved the cham latte—the fragrant camellia blossoms paired so beautifully with the aromatic LYDIA coffee. Even with regular sugar levels, it wasn’t too sweet.
The Osmanthus Apple Espresso fell a little short from our expectations, but that might be because we’re fans of milk-based coffee drinks. Carbonated and fruity, the drink was closer to a sparkling, apple-flavoured americano with punchier acidic notes. It’s ideal for those who want something more refreshing.
There’s also an assortment of parfaits, affogatos, soft serve, and hot foods, which is only available in selected stores.
That said, the store doesn’t appear carry some of the iconic drinks such as CEO Latté, Buttercrème Latté, or Thunder. But signatures like the Spanish Latté are still on the menu.
A third space
Although spacious, there aren’t a lot of tables at the café, so it might be challenging if you’re looking for a spot to chill and hang out for hours. There’s also not a lot of plug points that we could see, so it’s not really the go-to location for digital nomads, either.
Having worked there ourselves, though, we will say that the ample lighting and speedy WiFi made for some pretty productive hours, but the lack of chairs with backrests meant it wasn’t exactly ergonomic.
Last month at the Tech in Asia Conference in Kuala Lumpur, COO Venon Tian had said that ZUS Coffee wasn’t particularly focusing on going down the route of “third spaces”.
In sociology, third spaces are environments that aren’t the workplace or home. Aside from coffee shops, this might include churches, libraries, gyms, bookstores, parks, and more.
Coffee Meets Pastry’s departure from the more convenient, grab-and-go concept that ZUS Coffee typically adheres to may be a part of the brand’s continual effort to enter different verticals. The chain has already delved into ready-to-drink products and instant coffee mixes, as well as merchandise like tumblers and clothing.
There haven’t been any additional announcements on the direction ZUS will be taking with its Coffee Meets Pastry brand.
In any case, we think this first 1 Utama location is worth checking out, especially if you’re down to try some Flat Croissants and exclusive fruity and floral drinks.