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Origins

Alicafé emerged from Malaysia’s premixed-coffee market and developed a distinctive proposition around Tongkat Ali and ginseng. The brand’s own history identifies 2003 as the year of Alicafé’s launch, describing it as Malaysia’s first premix coffee featuring Tongkat Ali and ginseng.

There are also secondary descriptions of the wider business tracing the origins of the concept to the late 1990s in Johor Bahru. Because those accounts do not perfectly match Alicafé’s current official timeline, the safer distinction is that the Alicafé brand launch is officially dated to 2003, while the underlying business and product-development story predates that launch.[1]

Early growth

During its early years, Alicafé used large-scale marketing, national campaigns and sports sponsorships to establish itself in Malaysia. According to the brand’s official timeline, 2004 was an important year for national exposure.[1]

The strategy was significant because Alicafé was not marketed solely as another conventional 3-in-1 coffee. Its differentiation came from the association of coffee with traditional Malaysian herbal ingredients.

International expansion

Alicafé subsequently expanded outside Malaysia. The company’s official history identifies 2009 as a major expansion period into Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. Alicafé says it later achieved the No. 1 position in instant coffee in Qatar according to Nielsen’s 2022 measurement.[1]

Power Root’s broader business strategy has historically placed considerable emphasis on exports, particularly to the Middle East.

Alicafé is a brand within Power Root Berhad, a Malaysian beverage manufacturer and marketer.

Power Root’s corporate structure includes several subsidiaries involved in manufacturing, marketing and distribution. Its official contact information identifies Power Root Manufacturing Sdn. Bhd., Power Root (M) Sdn. Bhd. and Power Root Marketing Sdn. Bhd., with operations based in Johor and Kuala Lumpur.[1]

Power Root’s beverage portfolio has included brands such as:

• Alicafé
• Alitéa
• Ah Huat
• Frenché Roast
• Oligo
• Per’l
• Extra Power Root

Alicafé is therefore best understood as a major brand within a larger Malaysian beverage group, rather than as an independent coffee company.

The defining feature of Alicafé is its Tongkat Ali & Ginseng (TAG) formulation.

Tongkat Ali is a plant native to Southeast Asia, particularly associated with Malaysia and Indonesia. Its botanical name is Eurycoma longifolia. Ginseng, meanwhile, is another traditional botanical ingredient commonly associated with vitality and energy.

Alicafé combines these ingredients with coffee to create what it calls a functional coffee. The brand’s marketing emphasizes stamina, focus and the ability to keep going through demanding days.[1]

Importantly, these are brand positioning and marketing claims, rather than a statement that drinking Alicafé medically treats fatigue or disease.

Alicafé’s current product portfolio is broader than its original signature coffee.

Tongkat Ali & Ginseng Series

The core TAG range includes products such as:

• Alicafé TAG Original – 30 g
• Alicafé TAG Original – 20 g
• Alicafé TAG Lebih Pekat
• Alicafé Karamel
• Alicafé Hazelnut White Coffee
• Alicafé TAG Original ready-to-drink cans
• Alicafé TAG Kurma Madu ready-to-drink cans

The brand therefore offers both instant-powder sachets and ready-to-drink canned coffee.[1]

Warung Series

Alicafé has also developed a Warung range intended to evoke the familiar Malaysian warung or casual coffee-shop experience.

The current range includes:

• Alicafé Warung Kopi O
• Alicafé Warung Klassik
• Alicafé Warung Kopi Putih
• Alicafé Warung White Coffee Kaw

This gives Alicafé a more conventional coffee proposition alongside its functional TAG products.[1]

Product innovation

Power Root has continued to introduce new Alicafé variants. For example, its FY2024 reporting mentions Alicafé TAG Hazelnut in Malaysia, as well as Alicafé Indulgence variants in export markets.

This illustrates an important part of the brand strategy: maintaining its recognizable functional-coffee identity while experimenting with flavours and contemporary coffee formats.

Alicafé occupies an interesting position between three categories:

1. Traditional instant coffee

It competes with ordinary 3-in-1 and premixed coffee products on taste, convenience and price.

2. Functional beverages

Its Tongkat Ali and ginseng ingredients allow it to distinguish itself from ordinary coffee and associate the product with stamina and vitality.

3. Malaysian cultural identity

Tongkat Ali is strongly associated with Southeast Asian traditional herbal culture, while coffee-shop and warung references connect Alicafé with everyday Malaysian drinking culture.

The resulting identity can be summarized as:

Coffee + Malaysian herbal tradition + energy-oriented lifestyle.

That combination is arguably the central idea behind Alicafé’s branding.

Alicafé uses the concept “Tenaga Legenda™”, roughly meaning “Legendary Energy.” Its official website describes the brand around the idea of combining coffee with traditional ingredients to support an energetic lifestyle.[1]

This gives the brand a distinctive narrative: Tongkat Ali is not merely treated as an ingredient but as part of Alicafé’s cultural and product identity.

Marketing has played an important role in Alicafé’s development.

During its earlier expansion, Power Root used television advertising, celebrity ambassadors, roadshows and sponsorships. For example, Power Root’s 2014 annual report records Fahrin Ahmad as an Alicafé ambassador and describes nationwide roadshows used to promote the brand.

The brand has continued this celebrity-oriented approach.

Khai Bahar

Malaysian singer Khai Bahar was associated with Alicafé in the early 2020s and appeared in brand campaigns and promotional activities. Power Root’s 2025 annual report notes his participation in Alicafé activities during the transition to a new ambassador.

Remy Ishak

In June 2025, Malaysian actor Remy Ishak became Alicafé’s new brand ambassador. Power Root described the appointment as a way to keep Alicafé prominent among Malaysian consumers.

The current brand communication uses the theme “Kuasa Kau, Kaw”, with Remy Ishak representing a more contemporary image centered on strength, confidence and modern masculinity.[1]

One of Alicafé’s more interesting characteristics is how it incorporates Malaysian cultural references into a mass-market FMCG product.

The brand does not rely exclusively on Western-style coffee imagery. Instead, it draws on:

• Tongkat Ali and other regional botanical traditions
• Malaysian coffee-drinking culture
• Warung culture
• Local-language advertising
• Malaysian celebrities
• Sports and national events
• Family-oriented campaigns

A notable example was the “Alicafé Umrah Tabung Haji” campaign in 2017, which connected the brand with Malaysian Muslim families and religious travel.[1]

This is part of why Alicafé can be viewed as more than simply an instant-coffee product: its branding is strongly tied to Malaysian cultural context.

Alicafé describes itself as Malaysia’s No. 1 Tongkat Ali & Ginseng Coffee. It has also stated that it became Malaysia’s No. 1 functional coffee brand in 2021 based on Kantar data. These are brand/company claims based on particular market research measurements, so they should not automatically be interpreted as meaning Alicafé is the largest coffee brand in Malaysia overall.[1]

Its strongest differentiation is therefore not necessarily sheer coffee-market size, but its position in the functional premix coffee segment.

Although Alicafé is distinctly Malaysian in its branding, the brand has developed a significant export business.

The Middle East has been particularly important. The company identifies Qatar, the UAE and Saudi Arabia among its expansion markets, while Power Root’s corporate reporting has continued to discuss its MENA distribution operations.[1]

This international strategy makes sense for the product because Alicafé’s formulation combines a familiar global product—coffee—with an ingredient, Tongkat Ali, that gives it a distinctive Southeast Asian identity.

Alicafé is primarily designed for convenience.

Its traditional format is the individual sachet: consumers mix the premixed powder with hot water to produce a ready-to-drink coffee. The company has subsequently expanded into canned ready-to-drink products.[1]

The brand also promotes both hot and cold consumption, making it adaptable to different climates and drinking habits.[1]

A simplified analysis of Alicafé’s identity looks like this:

As of 2026, Alicafé remains one of Power Root’s important beverage brands. Its portfolio spans the traditional Tongkat Ali & Ginseng proposition, flavoured coffees, white coffee, ready-to-drink cans and the newer Warung line.[1]

The brand is also continuing conventional mass-market marketing: Power Root’s FY2025 report notes highway billboard campaigns and the appointment of Remy Ishak as ambassador.

1. About Alicafe TAG – Alicafe – Tongkat Ali and Ginseng