What is kopi? Or do you mean “copy”? No—kopi means coffee in the Hokkien dialect. If you’re a coffee drinker, it’s worth learning the different types of kopi, especially in Singapore and Malaysia.
Since I was young, I’ve always struggled to remember the different coffee names, and even now I still get confused. To be honest, coffee isn’t really my thing, so I’ve never felt the need to learn. Whenever I’m at a kopitiam (coffee shop) or food court, my mum will ask me to buy her a kopi, and I’ll have to ask her repeatedly before I remember the term kopi-O. She only drinks kopi and never makes it at home—it’s part of her daily routine: one cup every morning.
It’s been a while since I last shared a blog post about Chinese culture and my home country, Singapore. This time, I’m focusing on Singaporean food and drink. I’m really looking forward to going back to Singapore in August to enjoy my favourite dishes—seafood hor fun, sambal kang kong, ice kacang, and many more. Maybe I’ll even order kopi 一杯—if I remember how! Just be prepared: when the aunties and uncles shout out your drink order, it can get very loud.
Growing up in Singapore, I never saw local kopitiams/coffee shop use fresh milk. Fresh milk in coffee is common at places like Starbucks, Coffee Bean, McDonald’s, KFC, and Burger King. However, the kopitiams I grew up with typically use either condensed milk or evaporated milk. I’m not entirely sure why fresh milk isn’t used—perhaps it doesn’t keep well in the heat, or maybe people prefer the sweetness of condensed milk in strong, bitter coffee. It could also be a cost factor.
Without further ado, here are the common types of kopi you’ll find in most kopitiams:
Standard Type – with condensed milk
- Kopi: Coffee with condensed milk
- Kopi Gao: Strong coffee with condensed milk
- Kopi Di-Lo: Extra strong coffee with condensed milk
- Kopi Poh: Weak coffee with condensed milk
Black Type – without milk
- Kopi-O: Black coffee with sugar
- Kopi-O Kosong: Black coffee without sugar or milk (my mum’s favourite, as she is diabetic and needs to watch her sugar intake)
- Kopi-O Siew Dai: Black coffee with less sugar
- Kopi-O Ga Dai: Black coffee with more sugar
Brown Type – with evaporated milk (Evaporated milk is unsweetened and thinner than condensed milk)
- Kopi Kosong: Coffee with evaporated milk, no sugar
- Kopi-C / Kopi-Si: Coffee with sugar and evaporated milk
- Kopi-C Kosong: Coffee with evaporated milk, no sugar
- Kopi-C Siew Dai: Coffee with less sugar and evaporated milk
- Kopi-C Ga Dai: Coffee with more sugar and evaporated milk
Cold Type
- Kopi Peng: Iced coffee with sugar and condensed milk
“Peng” means ice or cold in Hokkien. Personally, I don’t usually order this in hot weather, as the ice melts quickly and dilutes the coffee, making it taste weak. Sometimes you can even see the separation between the water on top and the coffee below. In those cases, I prefer ordering chilled coffee from Western-style drink stalls.
How would you like your coffee?
[…] is imported. Hence cow milk is not widely available. Instead of putting fresh cow milk into our coffee or tea, we used condensed milk, Coffee-Mate or UHT (Ultra High Temperature) milk in our drinks. As […]