Credit: Asean Food & Travel View Original Threat
Jungle House has officially launched its brand in Malaysia. Touted as the first honey speciality store in Malaysia, Jungle House stands unique with the tagline “All Things Honey” – advocating appreciation for honey and cultivating a honey culture for health-conscious Malaysians.
It also marks the introduction of Jungle House’s 9th outlet – the first with a café concept at Bangsar, Jalan Telawi 3. The quaint-looking Bangsar outlet is a quintessential lifestyle haven with an alfresco and in-door setting where customers can leisurely enjoy a wide repertoire of honey-inspired F&B items including Honey Breakfast Oats, Russian Honey cakes, varieties of Croffles (a cross between croissant and waffle), honey coffee, tea and juices – all paired with specific types and flavours of honey.
The new café allows many busy Malaysians to stop by for a quick bite and sip of their favourite honey cakes and beverages in a cosy therapeutic environment. They can also shop afterwards from Jungle House’s retail which offers a repertoire of honey products, beverages, honeycombs to various thematic and beautifully-crafted gift sets and personal care items like honey soap series, face masks and other merchandise to boot.
The other Jungle House outlet is currently in One Utama Shopping Centre, Mid Valley Mega Mall, Pavilion Elite, Central I-City, D Pulses, IOI City Mall, & Queensway Mall. These outlets come with only a retail section.
At the media launch recently, co-founders and owners Mr Paul Poh and Ms Ashley Lam took the opportunity to introduce its new food & beverage item “Honey-misu” – a healthier but just as delicious dessert, its signature honey – Royal Black & Royal White and Signature Honey Variety pack gift set.
According to Chief Executive Officer Paul Poh, Jungle House aims to bring raw unadulterated honey from hive to home, working with the indigenous communities mainly from the wild jungles of Indonesia and some from Thailand and Malaysia. Jungle House believes in improving and sustaining the bee industry, protecting the world by teaching the right beekeeping methods to save the ecosystem through bee population protection.
Jungle House has more than 10 types of natural flavours – mono-floral, raw, pure, natural honey without any addition of artificial flavouring such as Royal Black (nectar extracted from Mahoni tree), Royal White (Kiawe flower nectar), Jungle’s Heart (Strawberry flower nectar), Yellow Love (Linden flower nectar), Sweettooth (mango flower nectar), Jungle’s Eye (longan flower nectar), Pink Lady (cotton flower nectar), Roast Cube (coffee flower nectar), Citrus Bloom (orange flower nectar) & Fruit Boss (durian flower nectar).
“We provide daily as well as highly concentrated premium wild jungle honey such as Royal Black and Royal White honey which are very rare and contains high medicinal nutrition to benefit health immensely. Each drop of honey is precious and rare due to low supply from the wild jungles, and not harvested in farms. Hence, we need to preserve the bee colony so that both the ecosystem and business are sustainable,” explained Paul.
“Our passion is to make the enjoyment of raw honey easily accessible and affordable to all Malaysians. We also moot the enjoyment of honey as a lifestyle experience on a daily basis for good health in a natural way.
The story of how Jungle House started is as interesting and sweet as the honey it carries. What began as an adventurous trek into the deep jungles of Garut in West Java, Indonesia many years ago has ignited Paul and Ashley’s passion for honey as they chanced upon a company of indigenous bee hunters who offered them a taste of fresh, jungle honey. The honey was pure, organic, unadulterated, raw honey, flavoured only by the flowers that the honeybees visit for nectar and pollen, unlike the honey they have tasted previously.
Back then while Paul was new to the honey business, Ashley was involved in the honey retail business since 2007. In 2014 she met Paul who was in the engineering field then. Hence began a love story that not only saw their love blossom but also gave birth to a business partnership that started Jungle House in 2018.
Chief Business Officer Ashley Lam explained, “Besides bringing this healthy, delicious honey to urban cities and the rest of the world, Paul and I were touched by these kind and generous bee hunters, seeing their challenges, difficulties and dangers of the job that brings little income, yet still committed to their craft. We want to help these hardworking bee hunters to make a proper living while harvesting honey responsibly,” said Ashley.
Ashley added, “In the current endemic situation, we have to live with Covid hence it’s important that we build up our body’s immunity level by taking superfood like honey. Meanwhile it is our vision to have Jungle House’s presence in major cities in the country and region through carefully- planned expansion. And we are committed to making the world a better place, as we bring you the gift of 100% pure, natural, raw, organic honey direct from jungles of the world to homes”.
During the event, consultant dietitian, Ms Indra Balaratnam shared about the nutrition and benefits of honey as it is known as one of the superfoods which help boost the body’s immunity. “Honey comes with many nutritious benefits, being a powerhouse of minerals and vitamins, antioxidants and enzymes compounds which assist our body to increase its immunity and protect our health. Besides that, honey has properties which make it antibacterial and antimicrobial so it’s good for the body and helps to soothe coughs and sore throat which make it useful to combat covid symptoms,” said Indra.
Indra also demonstrated two honey recipes i.e Quinoa Chicken Salad With Jungle House Royal Black Balsamic Vinaigrette and Jungle House Overnight Oats. She said honey is highly versatile and can be incorporated into many recipes to enhance the taste or be used as a key ingredient. It augurs well for the culinary creativity, the tastebuds and health all at the same time,” quipped Indra.
Mr Deden Hamdan, who was a former banker before becoming a bee-hunter for the last 10 years explained that the four elements, which are the bees, the flowers, the jungles, the weather, and the delicate ecosystem must harmoniously thrive to contribute to the delicious taste, distinct flavours and amber tones of the honey that is harvested. He has been collaborating with Jungle House on the supply of raw honey for the company since 2018.
Deden said “The challenges of bee industries are nature elements such as climate change & forest reduction and unscrupulous vendors that temper with the quality of honey through adulteration. That is why we take extra care that the quality of our honey is of the purest & freshest and it is being collected, stored and transported in the most efficient and hygienic condition”
