In fact, nasi lemak has even caught the attention of the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), which featured this “national dish of Malaysia” on its World Factbook page on Facebook on April 20!

In March, another local favourite, Ipoh white coffee, found its way onto a list of elite foods and beverages: it ranked on the list of Top Coffees in the World by TasteAtlas, an online “encyclopaedia” of flavours, traditional dishes, local ingredients, and authentic restaurants.

The ranking placed Perak’s capital city on the global coffee lovers’ map, and white coffee manufacturers are, of course, over the moon.

One of the earliest producers of Ipoh white coffee, Chang Jiang International Sdn Bhd, can be traced back to 1988. Its managing director, Kong Kin Loong, said at the time, he and his father had tried to introduce white coffee from China’s Hainan province in their coffee shop, Kedai Kopi Chang Jiang, on Jalan Pasir Puteh here.

“Before that, I researched its history and found that, in order to make the coffee creamier and more caramelised, the coffee beans need to be roasted with margarine,” he told Bernama recently.

Kong, 47, said to make the beverage tastier, he also experimented by adding a bit of margarine and condensed and evaporated milks into the coffee when it was being brewed. Just before serving, the coffee was “pulled” to make it frothy.

“The result was noticeably more delicious and had a creamy and slightly salty taste to it,” he said, adding that their very first white coffee product was eventually developed based on the feedback from their customers.

He said in the early days of learning to make white coffee, among the complaints he would receive were that the beverage was not strong enough (“tak kaw”), or was too milky, or did not have enough coffee powder.

For authentic creamy and slightly salty white coffee, besides using margarine-roasted coffee beans, it is also crucial to get the proportions of condensed milk and evaporated milk, as well as the water temperature, right.

The unique taste of the white coffee served at Kedai Kopi Chang Jiang was well-received by customers. To meet demand, Kong opened a factory in 1990 to produce white coffee powder bearing the Chang Jiang Ipoh White Coffee trademark, named after China’s longest river Yangtze.

“Among the people of China, the Yangtze River is also known as Chang Jiang,” Kong explained.

His factory, which has 200 workers, specialises in producing ready-to-brew white coffee powder and other coffee products, with the coffee beans sourced from Indonesia and Vietnam as well as locally.

“I made many improvements to the original recipe to ensure our customers can enjoy the best taste of white coffee,” he pointed out.

So, does he have a secret ingredient for his brand of white coffee? “Our coffee beans are mixed with margarine, sugar and salt, then roasted. There is no secret ingredient because the distinct taste of our coffee powder lies in the technique and proportions of ingredients we use during brewing,” he said.

Chang Jiang International is behind 80% of the coffee powder supplied to retailers in Ipoh, in addition to establishments nationwide and overseas that use their brand.

Their coffee products have penetrated markets in Indonesia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Australia, the United States, Canada and England, with their annual export value estimated at RM5 million.

The company has also ventured into the café business, with Kafe Chang Jiang Ipoh White Coffee now having four outlets in Ipoh.