Coffee Shop Culture in Singapore and Malaysia - a Different Art of Coffee Drinking

Before there are Starbucks, Coffee Bean & Tea Leaves, most people in the region of Singapore and Malaysia know only kopi, a Baba Malay language for coffee.  Kopi is basically robusta coffee.  Espresso and cappuccino are extravagant coffee in the early days, meant for the rich, and only available in hotels.

Today, a cup of espresso coffee or any other gourmet coffee still costs a few dollars, and a cup of kopi is only between 70 and 90 Singapore cents.

Latte or long black is unknown in local coffee stalls and kopi tiam.  Tiam means shop in Hokkien, a Chinese dialect.  Instead it is commonly called kopi, kopi-o, and kopi-c.

Kopi is not brewed in coffee maker, but steep in a tall metal pot with a long spout with a cotton coffee filter, a long cone bag, within.  Milk and sugar are not served separately on the table.  When you order your kopi, you have coffee with condensed milk, a sweetener, and sugar, already added.

Kopi-o is black coffee, with sugar added.  O sounds like black in Hokkien.

Instead of condensed milk, Carnation evaporated milk is added to kopi-c, with sugar.  The c stands for Carnation, a brand, even though some have replaced it with other brands.

Most of the early kopi tiam are started by Chinese who are Hainanese.  Today their lingo still stays.  Ask for kopi-c siu tai, it is coffee with evaporated milk and less sugar in the cup.  More sugar, ka tai.  But for no sugar, it is kosong, a Malay word which means nothing.

Sarabat stalls are coffee stalls run by Indians and Malays.  They are famous for their teh tarik.  Teh means tea, and tarik means pull back.  A cup of tea with milk and sugar added is then juggled between two cups at an altitude.  The original purpose is to lower the temperature of very hot tea for easy drinking on a hot day, for the climate in Singapore and Malaysia most of the year is of summer.  However, the action has also produced a foamy top for the tea, much like cappuccino.  This spurs the creation of kopiccino, using the same method but instead of tea, it is coffee.

Many migrants came from China in the old days.  Chinese meal will always have a cup of Chinese tea besides their food.  It is not surprising to find in the local coffee shop and food court, too, that coffee and tea are usually ordered together with meals, much like having a cup of Chinese tea, or ice water in western meal.  But for some, hot kopi is still best reserved after a meal.

Nevertheless, for those who still crave for a piece of cheese cake with gourmet coffee, it is still Starbucks, hotels, or café.  For others with a budget, Ikea offers value for money for a cup of brewed coffee with cheese cake.

Any opportunities to travel to Singapore and Malaysia, kopi with roti kaya is a must.  Roti is bread in Malay, and kaya is a coconut egg jam.