Labelled as Muar’s Starbucks, 434 coffee shop (a.k.a Sai Kee) is a place to have excellent quality meals and coffee at a reasonable price. Not only they have unique interior decorations, but what’s even more impressive is their silent determination for cultivating coffee plants. In the 30s, the founder of this shop came from Hainan to Muar and serve as waiter in one coffee shop, roasting coffee and sells them too. He did odd jobs at a coffee shop and roasted coffee at home which he would later sell to the village.
Later on, he opened his very own business, named “Sai Kee”. During that period, customers were very familiar with the shop’s phone number – 434, and so they became famously known as “434 Sai Kee”.



In the 80s, after the owner handed his business down to his son – Mr. Kuo Yuan Bo, who was very committed to produce coffee powder, went to the capital of coffee – Italy, himself in the year 2000 to learn the art of coffee production. (including in the year of 2000 they import their coffee bean to Italy) When he was back from Italy, they launched a modernized coffee shop with a touch of European decor, yet without forgetting their customers, the pricings were set at a reasonable price, so that customers would be able to enjoy the best of both worlds – beautiful environment at a reasonable price.

In the market, there are 3 types of coffee - Arabica, Robusta and Liberica, whilst the kind of bean that commonly found in market is arabica and robusta. Malaysia Coffee drinkers mostly go for Robusta. But here in Sai Kee, the "elephant coffee" is its most distinguishing feature. Excuse me?? what do you mean by "Elephant Coffee"?  After some explanation from the owner, we have learned that Malaysia’s elephant coffee bean is Liberica that originated from Africa a century ago. When the coffee beans were first introduced into our peninsula, it was due to the tropical weather, massive rainfall and high-quality soil that provided the Liberica coffee a new land for good growth. Not only did the beans flourish but they grew twice as big as the other coffee beans, such as: Robusta and Arabica. Yet it was because Liberica’s production of crops were low and it’s managing process is far more complex than the other coffee bean species, the plant was not favored by farmers, causing it to reduce and is now even on the verge of extinction.

But the elephant coffee bean has a delicious sweet, non-acidic taste and a unique aroma, making it irreplaceable. It does not have the acidic taste like Arabica, but has a sweet aftereffect that will linger in your mouths.



It was because the 2nd generation owner – Mr. Kuo Yuan Bo had been in the coffee business for more than 10 years and could not bear to see good things go to waste. And since Malaysia has good land to richly grow elephant coffee beans, he decided to resurrect the Liberica elephant coffee beans that were facing extinction.

They became famous for their very own homemade “434 coffee ‘o’”, all roasted and brewed by them. In 1960, Hainan coffee were actually the elephant coffee and the shop now aims to restore its original flavor, a precious memory that belongs to our very land, Malaysia.

They also have different methods of brewing coffee, one of them is called the “coffee flower”, it is brewed by using the aroma of coffee flowers. This so called "Queen Coffee" has a unique aroma

Coffee lovers, you will not want miss out this precious place. This is a coffee shop with an ambition – they do not just brew coffee; they literally advocate coffee with their lives. A true Malaysian representative in the coffee world!