Cafeography
Penang

Specialty coffee cafés in Penang

Roasters on Jalan Nagor and the Beach Street ghauts, pour-over bars in heritage shophouses.

Photo: Maksim Goncharenok, Pexels License

Penang's coffee shops were built on dark-roasted kopi, and third-wave cafés serving single-origin coffee opened beside them in the old shophouses.1 Kopi traditionally uses robusta beans, while the pour-over bars list single origins from Costa Rica, Kenya, Ethiopia and Colombia.23

Macalister Road & Burmah Road, with siTigun, Blvck Specialty Coffee and beAngels, has as many specialty cafés as the Armenian Street and Chulia Street lanes. North of the center, Tanjung Tokong has Fuji Coffee Roaster x Forage Place and a second Beangels.

Local tip: Hand-brew menus change with the beans: The Alley pours single origins and Lunabar Coffee rotates seasonal lots, so ask which coffees are on the bar that day.3

Where these cafés are: Macalister Road & Burmah Road (3), Chulia Street & Love Lane (3), Armenian Street & Beach Street (2), Tanjung Tokong (2), Pulau Tikus (1), Penang Road & Komtar (1).

At a glance

12Cafés listed
5With opening hours
08:00Earliest opening
19:00Latest closing
  • Opens earliest: Norm Micro Roastery, from 08:00 (Daily 08:00–18:00).
  • Closes latest: 2f+ C, until 19:00 (Daily 10:00–19:00).
  • Most common features: wi-fi (8%), card payment (8%), brunch (8%).

Nothing matches those filters here. See all cafés in Penang.

Roasting in George Town

siTigun Micro Coffee Roastery was started by Tigun Wibisana, a Filipino who traveled widely before settling in Penang, in a corner shophouse on Nagore Road.4 Macallum Connoisseurs converted a former factory at 1 Gat Lebuh Macallum into a café in 2015 and runs a coffee academy; of the cafés Sprudge covered in 2020, it was the only one roasting its own coffee.1

Forest Cloud Coffee Roasters, at 132 Jalan Penang, combines a café, roastery, coffee academy, research lab and machine-repair clinic, and roasts its house blend on site.3 Norm Micro Roastery, at 13 Gat Lebuh Gereja, is often packed despite seating about 100.5 Larghetto Coffee Roastery is in the lobby of Menara Boustead on Jalan Sultan Ahmad Shah.

Pour-over bars and competition baristas

Competition baristas run some of the bars. The Alley on Stewart Lane placed second at the Malaysia Brewers Cup 2022, and the team at ae Coffee on Lebuh Clarke was first runner-up in the Penang Barista Competition.3 Slow Coffee Person Coffee Bar, at 37 Church Street, opens only on weekends, 09:30–17:00, and pours filter coffee by hand.3

Ome by Spacebar Coffee was founded in 2014 by Joachim Leong and Shean Tan as a multi-roaster café on Lorong Toh Aka.1 When the World's 100 Best Coffee Shops list first appeared, in 2025, it ranked 56th.3

What specialty coffee costs in Penang

Multi-roaster bars buy in their beans. In 2020 Constant Gardener, on the ground floor of the Penang Chinese Chamber of Commerce building, poured coffee from Cloud Catcher, Factory Coffee, Artisan Roastery and The Roast Things on a modified Kees van der Westen Spirit.1

In February 2026, R Coffee Co. on Lebuh Chulia sold espresso from RM9 and Constant Gardener on Lebuh Light charged RM11, with lattes from RM14.3 Filter coffee cost more: from RM18 at Wells Cafe and Sweetbar Cafe, RM20 at Slow Coffee Person and RM21 at Ome.3 Reframe Coffee Roastery in Bayan Lepas was cheaper, with espresso and black coffee at RM8.3

Where the specialty cafés are

In the heritage zone, 2f+ Coffee Roastery is on Lee Jetty at 57 Pengkalan Weld, YD Coffee Lab at 23 Lorong Chulia and The Table Specialty Coffee at 39 Jalan Green Hall. Stairs Specialty Coffee is at 46 Lebuh Noordin, near Komtar.

West of the center, Blvck Specialty Coffee on Lorong Selamat opens 08:30–18:30 and closes on Thursdays, and beAngels is at 308 Jalan Macalister. siTigun, at 30 Jalan Nagor, opens at 08:00 from Tuesday to Sunday.

Sources

  1. The Sprudge Coffee Guide To Penang, Malaysia, Sprudge (Tung Nguyen, January 6, 2020), accessed October 2026
  2. Kopi (drink), Wikipedia, accessed October 2026
  3. 11 Coffee Shops In Penang Where Caffeine Lovers Can Level Up Their Regular Kopi, TheSmartLocal Malaysia (Jia-Ju, updated February 24, 2026), accessed October 2026
  4. siTigun, Penang Travel Tips (Timothy Tye, September 29, 2012), accessed October 2026
  5. 11 Best Penang Cafes To Visit In George Town, Eatbook.sg (Yoo Kyung, November 28, 2025), accessed October 2026
Keep exploring

Other ways to browse Penang

Wi-Fi

40 cafés

Open late

23 cafés

Bakery cafés

16 cafés

Brunch

10 cafés

By area: Armenian Street & Beach Street Chulia Street & Love Lane Penang Road & Komtar Macalister Road & Burmah Road Pulau Tikus

FAQ

Specialty coffee in Penang: questions

Which cafés in Penang roast their own coffee?

In George Town, Forest Cloud Coffee Roasters at 132 Jalan Penang roasts its house blend on site, and Macallum Connoisseurs, in a former factory on Gat Lebuh Macallum, roasts its own coffee. siTigun Micro Coffee Roastery is on Jalan Nagor, Norm Micro Roastery at 13 Gat Lebuh Gereja, and Larghetto Coffee Roastery in Menara Boustead on Jalan Sultan Ahmad Shah.

How much does specialty coffee cost in Penang?

In February 2026 an espresso cost from RM9 at R Coffee Co. and RM11 at Constant Gardener in George Town, where lattes started at RM14. Filter coffee started at RM18 at Wells Cafe and Sweetbar Cafe and at RM21 at Ome by Spacebar. Reframe Coffee Roastery in Bayan Lepas charged RM8 for an espresso.

Which Penang coffee shop is on the World's 100 Best Coffee Shops list?

Ome by Spacebar Coffee on Lorong Toh Aka in George Town ranked 56th when the World's 100 Best Coffee Shops list first appeared in 2025. Joachim Leong and Shean Tan founded it in 2014 as a multi-roaster café.

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