Motormouth From Ipoh – Malaysian Food & Travel

DiB 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)