Ewan Saufi Abas

From setting up the wildly popular Podgy and The Banker to cycling 80 km to Bentong for durians, Ewan Saufi Abas strives to achieve everything he sets his mind on.

Ewan Saufi Abas is certainly a man of many interests and talents. By trade, he is the Chief Finance Officer for the construction subsidiary of Kumpulan Parabena Sdn Bhd managed by his mother, Datuk Raziah Mahmud-Geneid, but he also dabbles into a variety of other activities. For one, he is a budding coffee connoisseur who has teamed up with two like-minded friends to open Podgy and The Banker, the popular artisan café in Sri Hartamas.

So, how did a CFO like Ewan Saufi Abas end up in the artisanal coffee industry?

An accidental encounter with coffee
Ewan was never an avid coffee drinker. While he did consume the occasional cup at local kopitiams and cafés, he could hardly be considered a fan. 

Ewan laughed and said, “I only drink it once a month or at most once a week when I'm at Chawan, where my mother-in-law is a big fan of.”

It all came down to a chanced encounter three years ago when his wife, Mariam Teh, accidentally ordered a cup of the aromatic beverage during their trip in Melbourne and that changed everything.

Ewan explained, “It tasted so different from what I had in mind for a cup of coffee. I got hooked after that cup and I drank a minimum of three cups a day during the entire trip. Somehow it became a coffee tour where we tried to find the best ones in the city.”

After his return from Melbourne, Ewan began hunting down all the artisan coffee houses in KL for his caffeine fix and when two of his friends approached him to start a coffee house, he jumped at the opportunity but on one condition – it had to be the exact location that he wanted. 

Ewan stressed on that requirement, “If I do it, I want to take it seriously as a business and I will only open it at this location. I found this shop lot in Hartamas through my evening runs and I think it’s perfect for a café business.”

As luck would have it, they managed to secure the location and that marked the start of their coffee adventure.

From coffee cups to bicycle pedals
Aside from his new venture into coffee, Ewan also has a knack for anything athletic and his latest pursuit takes him to the old saddle and pedals.

Back in his schooling years in Australia, Ewan dabbled in a variety of sports from football, futsal, water polo to track and field sports like triple long jump and running.

But all was put to a halt when he injured his knee. After his recovery, he stopped participating in most of his competitive sports but he held on to running, which slowly progressed into half and full marathons.

“After some time, I stopped running for marathons because I lost the excitement and it became a robotic routine. It was also because long distance running puts too much strain on my knee and that made it uncomfortable and hard to enjoy,” he said with a sigh.

That was when he discovered the world of cycling when he joined a few friends for a short 20 km in the city and he never stopped.

Ewan chimed in, “Cycling is fun because you get to go on an adventure from one city to another and my motivation for it is always food. For example, if I feel like eating durian, I would cycle down to Bentong (that's 80 km one way) for it. After all, I get to burn out some calories before eating more.”

While it might seem like all fun and games, the man takes the sport rather seriously. Over the last few years, he banded together with a group of cyclist to start a club that had participated in competitions and cycling tours all over the world from local events like Tour de Bintan and Ipoh Century Ride to international races like the OCBC competition in Singapore and cycling tours in Europe.

For Ewan, having a competitive nature is a great thing as it pushes him forward to greater heights no matter what he does, from his professional career, his coffee venture to his cycling activities.

“Being competitive is good, which is what I try to instill it to my children, especially in sports. My eldest plays a lot of tennis and my second son loves rock climbing. As for my newborn, I’m already training him to walk,” said Ewan with a triumphant look.

With that ambitious personality, he has already planned a list of goals to achieve for the months ahead.

“First, I want to improve my cycling and win some races with my team. I am also planning a trip to Melbourne to learn more about coffee and maybe I will open another café in Kuching. It makes life so much easier for me to get a caffeine fix when I’m in town,” said Ewan thoughfully.

 

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