Many visitors make a stop to Antong Coffee Factory as part of a Taiping day trip from Ipoh.
What is so special about this place? And is it worth having a look-see?
Read about Antong Coffee Factory and what it has to offer in this post!
Table of contents:
About Antong Coffee Factory
Antong Coffee Factory is a traditional coffee mill in Taiping, Perak. They use wood to roast their coffee beans which they source either from Klang or Indonesia.
Visitors are welcome to the open-air factory daily from 8:30am to 5:30pm. Schools from Penang and even KL occasionally make visits to Antong Coffee Factory too.
Besides the on-site showroom behind the factory, there is a middle section that used to be where there were coffee samples to taste. At the moment, this is currently under renovation.
There is a heritage building (Changchun Garden or Chang Chun Pu) right next to Antong Coffee Factory as well, but it was not open when we visited.
Furthermore, the new coffee mill attached to the showroom is not open to visitors.
Entrance Fees At Antong Coffee Factory
There are no entrance fees imposed at Antong Coffee Factory.
The car park is free for visitors to use too.
Parking At Antong Coffee Factory
While you have to make an awkward turn from Taiping town to reach Antong Coffee Factory, finding parking is easy.
They have a spacious open-air car park right in front of the factory.
And since there are no other shops in the vicinity, you will probably still have a parking spot on a weekend.
What To Do At Antong Coffee Factory
Access to the heritage house (Changchun Garden) appears to be closed to visitors for now.
We recommend planning your visit toAntong Coffee Factory so that you go in the early morning. That is when the factory is most lively.
Because in the afternoon, there is nothing much to see besides the browsing the goods in the showroom.
And to take photos of all the vintage backdrops and murals they have on the grounds.
1. Learn How They Make Coffee Beans
There are two ways to do this:
Seeing the process through the actual work that goes on in the factory.
Or through the informative video that they have playing in a loop at the front of the factory.
The latter is not as interesting as a live demonstration. So, if you want to see the factory in action, be here early in the morning. As there is nothing going on in the late afternoon besides shifting of goods and raw materials.
2. See The Difference Between Coffee Trees
The plants that are scattered between the factory and the showrooms are not there just for show. They are coffee trees. And they are labelled accordingly too.
It is purely your luck if there are any flowers or coffee cherries/ berries to see on the trees.
3. Take Photos
There are a good number of attractive corners to take a selfie.
The side of the factory is covered in murals. With 3D art and vintage collectibles to supplement the wall paintings.
You can’t miss the giant murals in front of and beside the showroom too.
4. Visit The Showroom
The showroom features multiple products under the Antong label. Including civet coffee and durian white coffee. Coffee products have the Jakim halal logo.
And some of the counter staff are Malay too (we presume this was intentional to ease the worries of Muslim visitors).
You can buy bottled iced latte for RM10 from a fridge. And also, espresso ice cream.
5. Have Espresso Ice Cream
They only have one flavor of soft-serve ice cream for sale at Antong Coffee Factory and it is the triple expresso ice cream.
You can buy the ice cream in cones from the counter in the showroom. One cone of ice cream costs RM5 and it is nice and worth trying.
Summary Of Antong Coffee Factory
What we like about Antong Coffee Factory:
- Free entry
- Nice car park that is also free to use
- Informative video is in multiple languages
- Espresso ice cream
- Many photo opportunities
- They sell many different types of coffee
- Heritage building close by (rumoured Taiping residence of Dr. Sun Yatt Sen)
What we do not like about Antong Coffee Factory:
- Limited signage – can’t learn about the founder, or what their signature products are, etc
- No signage or schedule for the different stages of coffee processing at the factory
- No guided tours
- Not fully covered from rain or air-conditioned
- Not interesting for kids
Conclusion
Unless you do plan to buy something at Antong Coffee Factory or have a keen interest in coffee and history, a visit here might be an underwhelming experience.
We find that there is a general lack of exhibits and information. And not having an on-site café seems like a wasted opportunity.
But it does cost nothing to visit Antong Coffee Factory. And it is one other thing to do in Taiping. If you do go, visit it in the morning, so you can see the coffee roasting preparation live and not through a video.
PS: The mushroom farm in Taiping is quite interesting and also free of charge to visit.
