All you need to know about kopi

Craving a strong hit of caffeine in a toe-curling brew? A cup of local coffee (kopi) at one of Singapore’s more than 3,000 kopitiams (coffee shops) could set you back as little as a dollar, says VERNE MAREE – especially if it’s in a heartlands market or housing estate. At famous chains such as Killiney Kopitiam and Ya Kun Kaya Toast, it starts from around two dollars.

Making kopi

In traditional style, the beans are wok-roasted with sugar, margarine and sometimes also pineapple skin and maize, to a dark black brown, then ground and brewed with a sock-like cotton strainer in watering can-sized pots.

Both Killiney Kopitiam and Ya Kun Kaya Toast were started by Hainanese immigrants; Killiney’s roots go back to the Killiney Road shop established in 1919, and Ya Kun’s to 1926. Killiney makes its coffee from a blend of Colombian Arabica coffee beans and also Indonesian Robusta coffee beans “to create an alluring aroma and mesmerising taste”.

How is a kopi-C made in-store? After heating the cup by pouring hot water into and over it, the server adds evaporated milk and sugar, pours in the coffee, tops it up with a little hot water and serves it with a teaspoon on the side.

Wherever you go, thick white china cups are mandatory, with or without the traditional blue-and-white pattern. However, if you ask for tapau or da bao (“takeaway”), your coffee comes in a polystyrene cup or a plastic bag – fine to drink from, but not great for the environment.

What to eat with kopi

Standard breakfast fare is the Hainanese-Western half-boiled eggs, kaya toast and coffee set. You’re supposed to break your own very runny eggs into a bowl and season them to taste with soya sauce. Kaya is coconut jam made from coconut, eggs and sugar.

This writer tends to prefer the kaya toast at Ya Kun: light brown instead of soft white, each slice of bread is toasted, then split into two thin, crispy halves that are sandwiched with a spread of kaya and a couple of generous slabs of cold butter. That said, we’ve had our best-ever kopi and kaya toast at a Good Morning Nanyang Café outlet.

And for an East Coast hangover, you can’t beat the addictively spicy chicken curry at Killiney Kopitiam in Siglap. Along with a cup or two of whatever form of kopi takes your fancy, it’s guaranteed to set you to rights.

How to order

By default, a coffee or kopi (say ‘kaw-pee’) comes with condensed milk and also sugar at the bottom of the cup. Or you can ask for:

• Kopi: Black Coffee with condensed milk
• Kopi Peng: Sweet black coffee with condensed milk and ice
• Kopi-O Siew Dai: Black coffee with less sugar
• Kopi-O: Sweet black coffee
• Kopi Kosong: Unsweetened black coffee
• Kopi Kosong Peng: Unsweetened black coffee with ice
• Kopi-O Peng: Sweet black coffee with ice
• Kopi Gah Dai: Black coffee with extra condensed milk
• Kopi Po: A weaker coffee with condensed milk
• Kopi Gau: Strong coffee with condensed milk
• Kopi-C: Coffee with unsweetened evaporated milk (the C is for Carnation); they’ll still add sugar
• Kopi Da Bao: To-go

Tip: If you’re with a friend, you can try ordering ‘kopi sua’ – two regular coffees.

Terminology

• O: Black with sugar
• C: With evaporated milk and sugar instead of condensed milk
• Kosong: No sugar or milk added
• Gah Dai: Extra condensed milk
• Siew Dai: Less sugar
• Po: Thinner coffee
• Peng: Iced

Where to get good kopi and kaya toast

• Tong Ah Kopitiam
• Killiney Kopitiam
• Heavenly Wang
• Ya Kun Kaya Toast
• Toast Box

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