BURSTING with the delicious aroma and rich flavours of roasted Colombian coffee beans, it is hard to tell that Chek Hup’s latest Colombian coffee range is actually instant coffee.
Chek Hup Sdn Bhd Managing Director Joseph Tan Huang Kew said the company’s latest offerings, Chek Hup Colombian Cappuccino, Chek Hup Colombian Latte, and Chek Hup Colombian Mocha, allow coffee lovers to enjoy their favourite gourmet coffee in an instant.
“It saves coffee lovers the time and hassle of having to run to a café.
“Chek Hup’s Colombian coffee series is the solution to the coffee drinker’s need for gourmet coffee but at more affordable prices,” Tan said.
Launched early this year, each box of six-sachet microground coffee with six sugar sticks costs slightly more than RM13.
As for taste, Tan said, “On a scale of one to 10, I would place our range of Chek Hup 3-in-1 coffees at six. Our Colombian coffee series, I would say, is an eight.”
Originally a producer of rock sugar and plastics, Chek Hup ventured into the three-in-one coffee business in the late 1990s.
It later expanded its product range to include instant teh tarik and hot chocolate before launching its first instant gourmet coffee – the Black Mandheling Coffee.
Black Mandheling, made from medium roasted and ground Arabica beans from Indonesia and served in a filter bag sachet with rock sugar stick, became the first instant gourmet coffee to hit the local market at the time of its launch in 2014.
To date, Chek Hup is not just a main player in the local three-in-one beverage market but is also a major exporter of the product to Hong Kong, China, Macau, Taiwan, Singapore, Indonesia, Brunei, Thailand, the Philippines, the US, Canada, the UK, Australia and New Zealand.
Only recently, Chek Hup received the “Brand of the Year” and “Brand Leadership” awards at The Brandlaureate SMEs Bestbrands Award 2015-2016, adding to the numerous awards it had already garnered over the years.
The two awards, according to Tan, were not expected.
“In terms of volume, we are not the biggest. In terms of brand awareness, we are not the strongest. There are bigger and better players out there.
“But we take it as a bonus. We are indeed very happy because it allows us to further promote Chek Hup’s belief in coming up with products that are delicious naturally,” said Tan, stressing that Chek Hup products have neither additives nor artificial flavourings.
“Moving forward, since our calling is to make food that is delicious naturally, we will be further exploring other non-coffee products.
“The products are still in the research and development stage but for sure, they must be convenient products,” he added.
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