Fancy a cuppa? Fans queue 6 hours for a taste of JJ Lin's Miracle Coffee

SINGAPORE – To be one of the first few to taste the offerings from local Mandopop star JJ Lin’s coffee chain Miracle Coffee, some fans flocked to its pop-up at ArtScience Museum before dawn on Friday, way ahead of its opening to the public at noon. 

Ms Isabel Lim, 20, and Ms Jaz Tay, 21, were the first in line among the 100-strong crowd. The pair of friends arrived at around 5.30am, half an hour before anyone was allowed to queue for the pop-up.

But the six-hour wait was worth it. Not only did Lin, 41, show up to wave to his fans, but the cuppas did not disappoint either.

Ms Lim, a part-time barista, praised the pourover coffee, cold brew coffee and the Singapore-exclusive Kaya Cloud – an Americano topped with kaya-flavoured fresh cream and shaved gula melaka.

She says: “I really like the nutty aroma of the pourover coffee made with Costa Rica beans. And usually cold brews can be quite acidic, but this one was very light and easy to drink. I found the Kaya Cloud very creative too – it’s like an Americano with that layer of ‘nai gai’ (milk cover) you see in bubble tea stores.”

Ms Tay, a university student, adds: “We’ve been waiting for the past two to three years to try Miracle Coffee. We know his chain opened in Taiwan, but we didn’t get a chance to try it because the pandemic hit and we couldn’t travel.”

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Miracle Coffee was started in late 2017 by Lin in Taipei. It currently has three stores in Taipei and one in Shanghai. The pop-up in Singapore will run till Dec 29 and a flagship cafe is scheduled to open in the ArtScience Museum in 2023.

Lin launched the pop-up at a preview event on Friday morning before it opened to the public, which was attended by local celebrities such as music duo Carrie Yeo and Chen Diya of The Freshman and singer Hong Junyang.

Lin flaunted his coffee-making skills by brewing pourover coffee for Mr Paul Town, chief operating officer of Marina Bay Sands, and event host and radio deejay Kimberly Wang.

While the singer is a self-confessed coffee aficionado, he says he is not personally licensed as a food handler who can serve paying customers.

“Drink at your own risk,” he jests prior to his pourover demonstration.

Lin also attracted screams when he waved to fans in the queue and thanked them for coming out to support his brand.

A fan who travelled far for the coffee is Ms Meng Yuan, who is originally from Beijing and studying music in Italy. She has been on vacation in Singapore for about a month and arrived at the ArtScience Museum around 4am with her friend Ms Wu Bihua, 30, to also catch a glimpse of her idol. They joined the queue after it opened at 6am.

Ms Meng, 27, says: “We’ve been his fans for a long time. We basically grew up listening to his songs and we have tickets to his November concert at the National Stadium as well.”

She also gave her seal of approval to the Kaya Cloud she ordered.

“It’s not as sweet as kaya toast and there’s a really nice smell of milk in it too.”

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This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.