Ordering coffee and tea in Singapore is a special art form because it blends together all the local languages. This is, then, your authoritative guide of how to order coffee or tea in Singlish.
For starters, coffee is
known as kopi and tea is known as teh. The milk used is NEVER fresh milk but either condensed milk or evaporated milk. (Evaporated milk
is simply fresh, homogenised milk from which 60% of the water has been
removed. Condensed milk is milk
with water removed but with sugar added.)
Coffee
Kopi - "white coffee". You would expect this to be plain coffee, but no, "plain coffee" in Singapore is coffee with condensed milk. So Kopi or Straits Coffee is basically a thick and
strong cup of Cappuccino. In Southeast Asia, before there was Cappuccino, there was KOPI. Kopi is
typically made from Robusta beans. Robusta beans are known for their
higher caffeine content and as their name suggests; a robust flavor.
Maize, sugar and margarine are added to the roasting process. This
unique roasting process gives Kopi a thick and notorious sweetness.
Kopi has an age-long tradition of being brewed through a steep metal pot
with a cotton "sock" filter. The water-filtered black coffee is
accompanied with sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk and sugar
which usually remain unstirred so that customers can adjust the taste of
their coffee to their desired sweetness.
Kopi-O (or kopi oh) - coffee with sugar, this is the colloquial black coffee (with sugar :) ), commonly served in Malaysia and Singapore
Kopi-C - coffee with evaporated milk and sugar, which is normally a redundancy, because Kopi is with evaporated milk, which is naturally sweet or is sweetened.
Kopi-O-kosong - coffee without sugar or milk, i.e. the true "coffee" or "black coffee" ("kosong" means empty or nothing in Malay)
Kopi-C-kosong - coffee with evaporated milk but no sugar
Kopi-gau - strong brew of coffee with condensed milk ("gau" Chinese: 厚; pinyin: hòu; means thick or rich in Hokkien)
Kopi-poh - weak brew of coffee with condensed milk ("poh" means thin or diluted in Hokkien)
And the other variations :)
Kopi-O-kosong-gau - a strong brew of coffee without sugar or milk
Kopi-peng or Kopi-ice - coffee with milk, sugar and ice
Kopi-siu-dai - coffee with less sugar ("siu" is the cantonese pronunciation of subtract or less)
Kopi-gah-dai, coffee with extra sugar ("gah" is the cantonese pronunciation of add or more)
Kopi-O-peng - iced black coffee with sugar
Kopi-O-kosong - black coffee without sugar
Kopi-O-kosong-peng = iced black coffee without sugar
Kopi-C-peng - iced coffee with evaporated milk and sugar
Kopi-C-kosong - coffee with evaporated milk without sugar
Tea
Teh tarik - Teh or Malay tea, literally means pulled tea. Pouring tea through the air (hence pulled tea) cools the
tea and produces a foamy head. Typically served in a clear
glass so that the mixture can be seen and appreciated.
Teh-C - tea with evaporated milk and sugar
Teh-C-kosong - tea with milk and no sugar
Teh-C-peng - iced tea with evaporated milk and sugar
Teh-O - tea with sugar only
Teh-O-kosong - tea without milk or sugar
Teh-O-peng - iced tea without milk
Teh-peng - tea with milk and ice, also known as Teh-ice
Teh-O-kosong-peng - iced tea without milk or sugar, plain iced tea
Teh-siu-dai - tea with milk and less sugar
Teh-gah-dai - tea with milk and more sugar
Other drinks
Milo - chocolate and malt powder which is mixed with hot or cold water and/or milk to produce a beverage, originally developed in Australi, pronounced 'my-low'
tut kiu - Milo, from the Hokkien for kicking a ball, as retro Milo tins often feature a soccer player kicking a ball on their labels
Milo Dinosaur, or Milo Dino -
an extra large cup of Milo, with Milo powder added as a topping. Some
more creative shops also serve Milo Godzilla or Milo T-Rex, in which
other toppings such as whipped cream are added to the Milo.
Tiao hee / tiao her / tiao yu - Chinese tea (Hokkien for fishing, reference to dipping a tea bag)
Teh halia - tea with ginger water
Halia-O - ginger water, plain ginger drink without coffee or tea.
Cham - mixed of coffee and tea with milk and sugar, i.e. Kopi and Teh Tarik mixed (鸳鸯)
Cham bing - iced Cham
Yin yong / Yin-Yan / Yuan yang - same as Cham
Michael Jackson - mixed of soy milk and grass jelly (black and white)
