Stories
We did not go to MAHA 2026 to sell coffee. Here is what we learned
Our second MAHA and our first booth of our own: what ten days in front of the public, and one Sunday afternoon on the Main Stage, taught a small coffee company from Shah Alam.
A mother is at the touch screen with her children, and the children are choosing. Hot or iced. Coffee, an iced latte, matcha, or the pink one. Nearby, three young visitors pose with an iced drink at the #COFFEESTAR sign. Nobody at Booth K41 is asking anyone to buy anything.
That was Booth K41 for ten days, 28 August to 6 September. Someone stopped. Someone chose a drink. Someone took a photo, cup in hand. Then the next person. The booth was never quiet.
We packed up yesterday. MAHA, the Malaysia Agriculture, Horticulture and Agrotourism Exhibition at MAEPS Serdang, drew, by the organiser’s count, more than four million visitors. Our booth stood in Laman HPM KUSKOP, the Hebatkan Perniagaan Malaysia pavilion of the Ministry of Entrepreneur and Cooperatives Development.
We did not go to sell. MAHA is a public exhibition, not a trade show. A small company from Shah Alam cannot buy recognition. It has to be earned face to face, one cup at a time.
The aim: let as many Malaysians as possible meet the brand, taste the coffee, touch the screen, and remember the name on the day their office, cooperative or agency needs coffee. We went so that Malaysia could meet us.
This was our second MAHA. In 2024 we were the refreshment sponsor at the booth of MADA, the Muda Agricultural Development Authority. This year, for the first time, the booth was ours.
From all walks of life
This is what sets MAHA apart. People came from everywhere: families with children, students, cooperative members, agency officers, farmers, exhibitors from the booths around us, old friends, and customers who came specially to try an Auto-Barista.
At the Auto-Barista XL Coffee Bar kiosk they chose their own drink on the touch screen, hot or iced. A Coffee ATM stood beside it. Many then paused at the #COFFEESTAR sign for a photo and the #coffeeSelfieChallenge.
The coffee in every cup was Puro: Fairtrade and organic, roasted in Belgium by Miko, and Halal-recognised. We are particular about that; the people who grow and roast our beans deserve looking after too.
Yet what we remember most is not the coffee but the faces of those trying it. Ten days taught us one thing again: coffee brings people together. A family with children and a Minister with an iced drink stood at the same counter for the same reason.
Distinguished visitors
Then the cameras came. The KUSKOP Minister, YB Tuan Steven Sim Chee Keong, tried a Coffee Star iced drink with our CEO, the media all around. You cannot script that. You can only make sure the cup in a Minister's hand comes from the same machines and beans as the cup in a student's hand. Ours did.
He was one of five distinguished guests who came to hear our story. We are grateful to each of them:
- YB Tuan Steven Sim Chee Keong — Minister of Entrepreneur and Cooperatives Development (KUSKOP Minister)
- Dato' Sri Khairul Dzaimee bin Daud — Secretary-General (KSU), KUSKOP
- Encik Rizal bin Dato' Nainy — Chief Executive Officer, SME Corp Malaysia
- Datuk Seri Dr. Abdul Fattah Abdullah — President of ANGKASA
- Prof. Madya Dato' Dr. Abdul Rahman Abdul Razak Shaik — Deputy President of ANGKASA
Habis Madu Kopi, Sepah Dibuang Jangan: our CEO on the Main Stage
On the final Sunday, 6 September at 3 pm, our CEO, Raja Ahmad Fauzan, took the Main Stage of Laman HPM KUSKOP for a sharing session, streamed live on TikTok by Institut Koperasi Malaysia.
The title turns a Malay proverb on its head: when the coffee is done, do not throw the grounds away.
The title was about coffee grounds. The story was about business.
Through Bean2Blossom, our coffee-grounds composting programme, spent grounds from our machines become compost instead of waste. The programme was named National Winner, SME ESG Challenge 2025/2026 (SME Corp Malaysia × UN Global Compact Network Malaysia, Brunei & Cambodia) for Bean2Blossom.
Then the bigger question: how do you run a business that looks after the planet and looks after people? Three things Coffee Star has learned, shared from the stage: do business honestly and openly; talk with customers, suppliers, staff and the people around you; choose suppliers who also look after the environment and their workers.
None of these is a slogan. Honesty is a daily discipline: say what you can do, say what you cannot, and say it the same way to a Minister and a student. Ten days at a booth are one long conversation. And who you buy from is a decision about people you will never meet.
The closing slide, "Jemputan Kami" (our invitation), said it in one sentence: "Looking after the planet and looking after people is not just right — it is also good for business in the long run."
For an office, a cooperative or an agency, the practical part is simple: grounds from your coffee machine can feed plants instead of filling a bin. Where do yours go?
Thank you to MAHA 2026, and to Laman HPM KUSKOP, whose Main Stage it was, for handing a small business the microphone and giving our CEO the opportunity to share.
Thank you
Platforms like this let a small business stand in front of the public. Our thanks to:
- KUSKOP — the Minister, the Secretary-General and the whole Laman HPM team — for the space and the trust;
- SME Corp Malaysia;
- Bank Rakyat;
- INSKEN, Institut Keusahawanan Negara;
- Institut Koperasi Malaysia, which streamed our session live;
- ANGKASA;
- the organisers of MAHA 2026, especially for the Main Stage opportunity;
- our fellow exhibitors at Laman HPM, our neighbours for ten days;
- and most of all, everyone who stopped, tasted, asked, took a photo and went home with the name Coffee Star in their memory.
MAHA 2026 is over, but the stories from Booth K41 come home with us to every office, cooperative and agency we serve. The team rests first. Then, later this month, MIHAS 2026, the Malaysia International Halal Showcase: MITEC Kuala Lumpur, 23 to 26 September, Booth 006, Pavilion KUSKOP. We will certainly be back at MAHA.
If you did not get the chance to stop by, the invitation stands: book a free coffee tasting at your office on WhatsApp +6016 277 0080 or at talktous@coffeestar.my. The next cup is on us!
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