Aloha!!! Can You Hear Us?
February 12, 2012 | 8,366 viewsDiB Coffees of Hawaii; a Deaf-In-Business (DIB) Project – Started in Jan 2012 in Damansara Perdana.
We are all privileged souls. With all 5 senses working perfectly, round-the-clock and without a hinge, we would never have imagined what life would have been had we lost one of those senses.
We lament when food tasted bad or not up to your esteemed standards. Or an award-winning movie heavily lauded by the critics as a breakthrough actually faltered miserably in terms of entertainment value. How it’s utterly irritating when a loved one continuously nag at you for not fitting into his/her expectations.
“But imagine you CANNOT taste the sweetness in the coffee. Or you can only listen to the dialogues in a movie without the blessing of actually being able to watch the scene. Or even have to resort to reading the lips of someone who’s talking to you, wondering how he/she sounds in reality.”
DIB Coffees of Hawaii is a project specifically tailored to the hearing-impaired community. At this cafe, the staff are deaf; yet well-committed to ensure an utmost pleasant experience for the customers. Full story ahead.
With tropical-inspired tunes humming from the background, and this large mural on the wall painted by one talented deaf ‘artist’, it’s hard not to feel at peace when you’re here.
DIB serves light bites like freshly-baked buns and pastries from the kitchen separated by a large glass panel; literally open concept where you see them knead the dough and such. Aside from those, they have reasonably-priced cakes (about RM6 per slice), desserts, sandwiches (tuna, chicken, or egg), and freshly-cooked soups.
Of course, ordering of food/drinks can be a slight deterrent factor if the whole place is only run by deaf staff. Hence, Tracy’s there to assist when a customer (nosy ones like us) wanted more information, recommendations or even grandfather’s stories behind the concept.
Started in January 2012 (relatively new, still in infantile age), DIB is the brainchild of Dr Allen Teh; based on his experience of working with the gifted ones at YMCA. The hearing-impaired ones live their lives just like any of us, and they should be given a fair chance at life. Both in terms of career and enjoyment. So there shouldn’t be any holding back in terms of privileges etc.
Everything served at the cafe is made from scratch. The coffee beans are sourced from the islands of Hawaii, and you can even purchase bags of the roasted beans back home if you wish. You can read the story of their coffee from THIS PAGE.
They offer quite an impressive array of freshly-brewed coffees (at RM10.50 per serving), Anu shakes (special iced, coffee shakes), teas and even smoothies and fresh juices.
We sampled the Cappucino (RM8.50) and Cafe Macadamia Latte (RM12.50), with a slice of Pumpkin Butter Cake (RM4.00), a piece of curry chicken puff (RM4.50) and a small tub of passionfruit mousse (RM3.00).
The Pumpkin Butter Cake was moist, dense yet with a right balance of sweetness and richness; while the passionfruit mousse with crunchy bits of the seeds adding texture to the creamy concoction.
Fresh buns and pastries from the kitchen; perfect as an on-the-go snack.
Here’s a Story Board of where the beans come from, and how the roasting process is done
The coffee served here reminded me of Bad Ass Coffee @ Tropicana City Mall, yet the latter has drastically reduced the food options from the menu, and gone haywire with their coffee the last I went. Tracy highly recommended us to sample their freshly-brewed coffee, yet I was adamant on trying the Macadamia Latte this time around to kickstart my day with. Maybe next round then.
Of Serenity, Coffee Beans & Sea Horses.
Sometimes, people do want to be heard amidst the silence. We were graced with the shocking revelation of the passing of another celebrity early this morning; Whitney Houston. Says a lot about treasuring life, doing what’s right and not neglecting the seemingly insignificant people in your life.
Go on … embrace the ones you love. It is never too late.
DiB COFFEES OF HAWAII (www)
11-A-1, Jalan PJU 8/5A,
Bandar Damansara Perdana,
47820 Petaling Jaya,
Selangor, Malaysia.
Tel No : +603-7710 4752/3152
GPS Coordinates : N 03 09′ 53.9″ E 101 36′ 22.0″
Business Hours : Mon-Thurs (9.30am – 10.30pm), Fri-Sun (9.30am – 11.00pm)

GOOD one!
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was there some weeks back and love the place. a good brilliant place with good food, drinks and most importantly a good mission!
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interesting…in fact at the first point i thought it has something to do with pizza 🙂
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What a brilliant idea.. Yes the news of the passing shocked me too. Life is really short! Treasure every moment and every one!
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love it when special people are given the opportunity to live a normal life like others. Will hope to enjoy the peacefulness if I get the chance to visit Damansara in my next KL trip
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J2Kfm Reply:
February 14th, 2012 at 4:46 pm
Yeah, indeed they should be treated just like all of us. Without the need to discriminate.
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The place was featured on TV3’s Buletin Utama this weekend. It’s simply a humbling and touching experience to watch it on TV. The flip side about the news article was that the location given was Damansara Utama, not Damansara Perdana.
Will make it a point to visit the place real soon!
PS: Have a soft spot for the OKUs…have a brother who’s visually impaired, yet he’s a successful teacher in Kelantan.
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J2Kfm Reply:
February 21st, 2012 at 10:06 pm
Oh …. how can this be in DU?! Hmm, they’d better get things right.
Yes, very meaningful venture, and a very very good place for the hearing-impaired to gather and work, while learning some skills in return.
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Dear Liwun,
You have written so wonderfully about DIB and I am truly touched by the way you wrote. Not just about our coffee and food alone, but also about the very reason why I setup DIB Coffees of Hawaii. My DIB staff are most appreciative to you for writing nice things about us. Hope to meet you one day at DIB. My number 019-3523082. Bye
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I always help Dr Allen Teh and Deaf staffs to promote DIB Coffees of Hawaii to the world. I also introducted this to my Hearing friends and colleagues too! 😀
As 1st Deaf blogge, I always wrote the details about this in my blogs; http://www.deafboleh.blogspot.com and http://www.selinawing.com to support OKU and Deaf community in Malaysia.
If you are blogger, please bring your friends come to DIB Coffees of Hawaii, Damansara Perdana! You will experience new when you can chat with Deaf staffs! 😛
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Just thought I’d share this here since I learnt that they will be relocating their PJU8/5A outlet to another part of Damansara Perdana (Menara Gamuda to be precise) the announcement and details can be found here https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=336847546435404&set=a.120895358030625.20584.103179303135564
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