As dawn breaks, Leon Foo’s day — along with millions of others who stir from slumber — begins with the ritualistic brewing of coffee. Beyond the sip and stir, Foo has been living and breathing coffee — having been in the coffee industry for almost 14 years. “I’m fanatic about what coffee culture permits, like design, art, or lifestyles. I’m obsessed with how coffee has the power to glue all these together,” muses Foo as we chatted over coffee (what else) in MORNING’s new retail location.

Those in the know regard Foo as one of the stalwarts of Singapore’s coffee industry as he established PPP Coffee (formerly known as Papa Palheta) and set up Chye Seng Huat Hardware. Others may know him for MORNING, a coffee-tech company he co-founded in 2018.

MORNING began in 2018 when Foo started an online marketplace for speciality coffee capsules. The MORNING Machine was the next crucial puzzle piece — or capsule, for that matter — as Foo and co-founder Bowen Chiou built an entire ecosystem centred around capsule coffee brewing. Intuitive programming and coding allow homebrewers to control the machine’s brewing parameters through an app or access preset recipes from coffee roasters (almost 120-strong) of MORNING partners. Amongst competition dominated by bigger household brands, MORNING’s entrant into the scene was a breath of fresh air as — with the machine — homebrewing is now limited by one’s imagination.

Since then, MORNING has grown steadily, making its presence felt on the international stage. The homegrown brand surpassed the 10,000 machines sales mark and sold more than 120,000 boxes of capsules to coffee enthusiasts worldwide, which charted a course towards a bright future. Opening a physical experience space in Singapore’s newest creative enclave — New Bahru — is MORNING’s latest puzzle piece. Here, coffee enthusiasts and curious onlookers alike can experience the machine firsthand, which Foo felt is crucial for the brand. “I like to give an analogy similar to buying a car — you can read and watch all the review articles, but ultimately, you need a test drive before purchasing it,” shares Foo.

A celebratory collaboration with TANCHEN Studio marks this milestone as the MORNING Machine Lite is rendered in a fresh palette of colours alongside a host of TANCHEN Studio-designed homeware. Men’s Folio caught up with Leon Foo about his outlook on the coffee industry, thoughts on seeing MORNING going international and what the future holds for the homegrown brand.

Leon, we hear you are a coffee fanatic. How do you rate your fanaticism on a scale of one to ten, and to what extent are we talking about?

I would say between seven and eight. What I’m crazy about and obsessed with is coffee culture and having a good cup of coffee with that conversation or company that you have. I’m fanatic about what coffee culture permits, like design, art, or lifestyles. I’m obsessed with how coffee has the power to glue all these together; I’m concentrating on the drinking and not so much going crazy over the coffee-making process.

Given the brand’s name, what is your morning ritual to start the day on the right note?

You know how most people wake up to the phone, right? Besides waking up to the usual (morning) stuff, I try waking up to people. One of the things was to ensure — regardless of how tired I am — I send my kids off to the school bus so at least the first few interactions that my kids have is with me.

The one thing I do for myself afterwards is make a cup of coffee at home. Even though it’s a 10-minute window, it’s sacred. I keep telling people I’m not just a home brewer but a very lazy one. I’m particular about my coffee, but I want to put in the least effort to get it right. Unless it’s the weekend, my coffee is made with the MORNING Machine by default.

Unlike other capsule coffee machines in the market, was it intentional that MORNING and the MORNING Machine do not have an Italian connotation to them?

Since we came up with the hardware, there was a certain DNA that we wanted to portray, which is more engineering-focused. The naming convention had to grow so that we could build on the technical side of it. We planned for the machines to be timeless instead of coming up with a new version every year, and we wanted to go with numbers rather than Italian names. For instance, we reference the flagship model internally as the MM730. Since we started as a brand nobody knew, it was deliberate to reference the machine as the MORNING Machine. Why 730? Because the most common time people have their morning coffee at home is about 7:30 a.m.

There are a couple of milestones to celebrate. The first is MORNING’s first retail experience store, six years after the company was founded. Was having a brick-and-mortar space always in the pipeline from the beginning?

I wouldn’t deny that it wasn’t in the back of my head, though it had to be introduced at the right time. We were methodological with the approach. We’ve been natively an online company, but this space allows people to touch and feel the (MORNING) machine and taste the coffee with the different recipes. I like to give an analogy similar to buying a car — you can read and watch all the review articles, but ultimately, you need a test drive before purchasing it.

This space was meant to create that “aha” moment with the coffee-making experience. However, we had to ensure MORNING had built a certain level of presence in a particular market before opening a physical store. We understand there are a few thousand machines in Singapore already, and since the relationship within Singapore is at least two degrees, there will be enough people who have tried or at least seen the machine in their friend’s homes.

How do you feel knowing the brand has gone international?

It’s a good question. The response has been overwhelming and positive whenever we are overseas for tradeshows or meeting new people. The MORNING Machine opened up the market and made it accessible to a different clientele that coffee shops used to have, and people felt excited about it. For them to know it’s a Singapore brand makes me proud, and even though we’re not selling everywhere — selling with accolades, awards, praises, and admiration makes it even more meaningful.

Apart from the retail and experience concept, how else do you see this space being utilised?

One of the most exciting activities would be bar takeovers by visiting coffee roasters. Even though the space is small, it’s intimate and allows for high touch points. There will be physical collaborations and launches which need to be authentic and not slapping two brands on a product.

We’ll also engage the community differently, such as utilising it as the flag-off point for cyclists and runners. It’s about using MORNING as a betterment: to seize the day in the morning or associate the brand with rituals you perform — whether as a community, a group or alone.

Is this a space that breaks down the — at times daunting, at times snobbish — barrier into the world of speciality coffee?

I wanted the space to be welcoming, hence the warm lights and interior. You saw the engagement with some clientele who said, “I’m really into coffee, but I don’t know where to start. I want simplicity, but I also want quality, and I want it to be approachable and available.” This is happening around the world — not just in Singapore, where we find and talk to such customers more often. Another thing we noticed is that we’ve been so approachable that more females are getting interested in coffee even though they are upfront by saying, “I don’t want it to be too complicated.”

It has been very encouraging because we’ve seen many different walks of life at various age groups when profiling our customers. We are witnessing the ends of the spectrum, and it was very interesting because they all are trying to avoid the snobbishness you asked in your question. Changing those technical parameters is now done with a touch of a finger. MORNING is easy to use and not intimidating, making cafe-quality speciality coffee approachable and accessible at the home level. We’re trying not to eat the pie but to grow the pie.

As an OG of Singapore’s third-wave coffee scene (14 years in the industry), how has Singapore’s coffee culture evolved over the years from when you began, and where does MORNING and this space fit into the current evolution phase?

When I first started, I was very fortunate because I was in the right place at the right time. The whole wave of speciality coffee consumption was happening not just in Singapore but worldwide. There were a few such places back then — but suddenly, there are many now. You can get very good coffee in many places that are not just bound to coffee-centric cafes, and finding skilled baristas who understand their craft is relatively easy now, unlike in the past. The coffee industry has come a long way and is now more inclusive with competition.

COVID-19 also accelerated the change as more people were brewing coffees at home. The morning coffee ritual has gone to another level because people can get cafe-quality coffee at home. Once again, we happened to be at the right place at the right time, where we came up with the MORNING ecosystem — which made coffee a bit more accessible to discover and exciting. We’re going after the convenient coffee drinker who wants convenience and quality. We made choice discovery, convenience, and quality coexist. We’re in a new era of coffee culture where great coffee is more accessible by the industry — especially in Singapore — and home coffee has a new spectrum. The resurgence of great coffee pods is building and even though it will not take over all coffees, it will have a good place.

The other milestone is launching the “PressPause” collaboration with TANCHEN Studio (founded by Sanchia Tan and Amber Chen). When did you first come across TANCHEN Studio, and what led to the collaboration?

I’ve been admiring TANCHEN Studio’s work — spanning homeware, kitchenware and fashion — from afar. Their design, aesthetics, attention to detail and colour usage align with what we believe in. Similarly, they were looking at MORNING and the homeware segment. When the opportunity to open the store presented itself last year, I approached them because I wanted to launch a limited edition collaboration to mark the store opening. The collaboration is an interesting take with TANCHEN Studio’s DNA incorporated into the MORNING Machine, but there are other accompanying offerings — such as the chair and coasters. The pieces are very beautiful; we’re very excited to have worked on this, and I’m proud of this collection we’re releasing together.

“PressPause” lineup by MORNING and TACHEN Studio including textiles, affogato set & signature MAZHA stool.

Tell us a little more about the collaboration’s “PressPause” name and the significance behind it.

There were a few names, but this captured the essence of what we tried to convey. We realised that the things that both MORNING and TANCHEN Studio were doing were very fast-paced. The campaign was based on “press pause” because having a coffee or tea encompasses that. We didn’t think twice when we said press pause because the truth is everybody should take a bit of time off to recollect. Everybody can relate to it, and it resonates with the campaign. On a personal level, I definitely need to press pause. [Laughs] Given the mental health aspect, pressing pause and taking a breather is significant — whether within a day, a month or a year.

What is next for yourself and MORNING?

There’s programming until the end of the year; the fourth quarter will be big for us. The store’s opening was very exciting, and we needed to get it right with the (New Bahru) development and being part of their enclave of creatives. On the non-store front, we’re launching two new machines — the MORNING Dream milk steaming machine in two months and the MORNING Mini at the end of the year.

More efforts will be put in with our overseas partners, starting with a London pop-up in July. Research and development for next year has commenced as well

This article was first seen on Men’s Folio Singapore.

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