Edward Choo didn’t grow up loving coffee. Like many kids in Malaysia, his drink of choice was Milo. Whenever his parents ordered coffee at a local kopitiam, he would secretly take a sip out of curiosity. It never tasted good. “Yo, it’s yuck. Bitter and intense. Not something I would really enjoy.” Coffee, at that time, was simply something adults drank.
More than a decade ago, Edward was still bouncing between construction and warehousing jobs, completely outside the industry. What began as simple curiosity slowly became something deeper. He started noticing flavors he had never experienced before.
“The fruitier the coffee, the more I realized… this is the true taste of coffee.”
The beginning of Edward Choo’s coffee journey
That realization began a journey he never expected. Around 2014 or 2015, he signed up for the Malaysian National Barista Championship, thinking competition would be the fastest way to learn. Instead, it showed him how little he knew.
“I thought my coffee was amazing. But the judges gave me a two, maybe a two and a half. I didn’t understand why.”
He reached the semifinals and finished ninth. It was decent — but it left him with more questions than answers. So he did something unusual. He decided to become a judge himself.
“I wanted to understand what was happening inside the judges’ heads.”
That first time behind the table changed everything. Edward discovered that judging wasn’t just about scoring coffee. It was about feeling the stories baristas pour into every cup — sometimes without a single word exchanged.
“Without having to interact with you, I can feel the emotions they are trying to share.”
Edward-Choo
Over the past ten years he has judged at the highest level, including the World Barista Championship, World Brewers Cup, and World Latte Art Championship. He has tasted coffees from champions around the world and witnessed stories shaped by different cultures and backgrounds.
Sometimes those moments stay with him forever. He still remembers watching Indonesian champion Mikael Jasin guide the judges through a presentation that felt less like a competition and more like a quiet walk through a garden.
“In that moment, I didn’t feel like I was sitting at a judging table anymore. I felt like a customer being guided through a journey.”
Being a judge is powerful — but it is also silent. You sit with a clipboard, give scores, and the barista never hears your thoughts. Edward wanted a place where he could actually share everything he had learned. That place became his small roastery in Petaling Jaya.
He called it Toothless Coffee. The name carries the same warm invitation as his whole approach:
“From a teething child to an elderly person with missing teeth — no matter who you are or what stage of life you’re in, you can stop here, drink a cup of coffee, and just enjoy it.”
Running the roastery while judging international competitions and coaching competitors (his latest student, Bella from Vietnam, will represent her country at the 2026 World Barista Championship) is not easy. Travel, roasting, cupping new harvests, creating drinks with his team, and weekend tasting sessions all pull in different directions.
Edward Choo
So every evening after closing, Edward heads out to play pickleball or padel. “It’s my way to decompress and keep balance,” he says with a smile. Exercise, coffee, judging, and coaching — he has learned to let all of it coexist without letting any one part take over. After more than a decade of twists and turns, Edward has watched trends come and go. But for him the real future of coffee is simpler.
“How do we help more people truly experience what baristas want to share?”
Because in the end, coffee is not only about taste. It’s about people. And every cup carries someone’s story.
“Just keep an open mind. Coffee tells many different stories.”
Editor’s Note The meaning of life isn’t staying loyal to the first dream that found you. It’s having the courage to let it evolve.
Coffee was never the whole story for Edward Choo. It was just the first perfect sip that taught him how to keep tasting everything else life had to offer — from construction sites to judging tables, from silent score sheets to a little roastery where anyone is welcome. And that, more than any world-stage moment or single-origin pour-over, is the part worth remembering.
If you enjoyed Edward’s story, you’ll love Jimmy Adame’s too → The meaning of life isn’t staying loyal to the first dream that found you
