Singapore Coffee Made Easy

Recently there has been a campaign in Singapore Kopi education to reduce ignorance among tourists and business travelers by Coffee Toast, Ya kun Coffee and others. I must admit that this campaigning is really good and even myself discovered that there is much more than Kopi C or Kopi O in Singapore Coffee.

I should actually include Malaysia as well, although not sure if the names of Kopi are the same or not. To order kopi like a pro in Singapore is not easy if the pronunciation in hokkien dialect is not accurate. The best ever experience for me is to learn pronunciation skills from local colleagues in Singapore. Even my dearest friend from Switzerland can speak hokkien better than I do, simply because he has been living in this city since quite sometime and he counts as very experienced kopi drinker..

I guess that celebrity chefs like Gordon Ramsay or Jamie Olivier never heard of anything like this in the UK before and discovered kopi on their first visit to Malaysia and Singapore many years ago. The love affair with kopi o and kopi peng went on till Jamie launched his first restaurant at Vivo City in Singapore. Surely not for long and Gordon Ramsay will follow Jamies footsteps and launch his own Restaurant somewhere in Katong area where he did learn lots of skill and secrets in making Laksa and Chicken Rice.


Western coffee expressions such as “black”, ”cream and sugar”, “flat white” or just plain “coffee” will likely gain you little more than a confused look and unwelcomed libation at a hawker center in Singapore. These are just expressions of headless tourists not informing themselves before stepping foot in south east asia. Hello, south east asia is not all about surfing in Bali or snorkeling in Tioman ok!

Singapore Kopi Owl Brand since 1956

So take a moment to learn the lingo with our quick guide - starting with the four basics:

kopi = coffee with condensed milk

kopi-c = coffee with evaporated milk (sweetened)

kopi-o = black coffee with sugar 

kopi-o kosong = plain black coffee (unsweetened)

And then add additional expressions to adjust for your preference:

kosong = no sugar

ga dai = extra sugar

siu dai = just a little sugar

po = weakened with water

di lo = strong; no water added

peng = iced coffee

dai bao = take away

All that’s left to do now is slurp away (although take the first sip with caution – it can take a few attempts to find the perfect kopi for you!)

Wild Kopi Luwak from Indonesia