Where is coffee beans grown for Nanyang-style coffee?

Nanyang Coffee is a drink found in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand, and it is the ancestor of Chinese-style coffee. In the 19th century Hainanese immigrants combined Chinese cooking methods with coffee roasting, adding butter, sugar and salt to soften the bitterness of Robusta beans. The result is a rich, deeply roasted cup that later spread to Hainan, Hong Kong and Macau.

The beans behind it are lowland Robusta, grown across Southeast Asia rather than the high-altitude Arabica regions; Liberica, another lowland species, follows a similar logic of heat tolerance. Because the roast is so bitter, local Chinese developed an ordering system from Hokkien pronunciation, including Kopi, Kopi C and Kopi O, which later produced variants such as White Coffee and Oliang even as specialty coffee became popular.

Nanyang Coffee is a coffee beverage found in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, and Thailand, and it is also the ancestor of Chinese-style coffee. In the 19th century, after Hainanese immigrants moved to Nanyang, they combined Chinese cooking techniques to roast coffee beans, adding butter, sugar, salt, and other seasonings to reduce the bitterness of Robusta beans, creating a unique flavor that is rich and deeply roasted. To balance the extremely bitter taste, local Chinese developed a whole ordering system such as Kopi, Kopi C, and Kopi O, all derived from Hokkien pronunciation. This method of making coffee later spread back to Hainan, Hong Kong, and Macau, and evolved into variants such as White Coffee and Oliang in different regions. Today, even with specialty coffee in vogue, Nanyang Coffee remains an important bond of working-class Chinese culture in Southeast Asia.

When it comes to Chinese-style coffee, many elders first think of Nanyang Coffee.

Last night I made my grandfather at home a cup of coffee, and as he drank it, he recalled many memories of Nanyang Coffee. "The coffee we drank back then was especially strong, and the taste was a bit rough, but it was a flavor that several generations of Chinese had figured out, and one I have never been able to forget."

My grandfather's mother came from Singapore, where she was born and raised, and only returned to Nanpanshun (the area around Guangzhou and Foshan in Guangdong) when she married, bringing the method of making Nanyang Coffee back to her hometown as well. My great-grandmother used to say that this was the taste of home, and that it also carried the hardships of the Chinese who went to Nanyang, and she hoped every generation would remember it.

"Nanyang Coffee," as the name suggests, refers to the coffee beverages of Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, and other places. Because both the roasting and the preparation methods differ greatly from today's freshly ground coffee or specialty coffee, "Nanyang Coffee" is also used to refer to the coffee-making methods originating from the Singapore-Malaysia region, which later spread to Hainan, Hong Kong, and Macau.

During the Ming dynasty, the population grew rapidly, and many people along the southeastern coast could only keep moving south and west in search of new farmland and places to live, taking boats to the coastal areas of Indochina, the Philippine archipelago, the Indonesian archipelago, and other places to trade, work, and even marry locals and settle down. This phenomenon is collectively called "going to Nanyang."

Nanyang, as a new world for Han Chinese immigrants, thus gained a clear scope and concept. As large numbers of Chinese continuously migrated in, Chinese footprints spread across almost every part of Nanyang, making them an important part of the ethnic composition of Southeast Asian countries today, and Chinese dietary habits were also brought to Nanyang.

Strictly speaking, Nanyang Coffee was first invented by Hainanese people. As early as the 1850s, the owners of coffee shops in Singapore were basically all Hainanese.

In 1819, Stamford Raffles, an employee of the British East India Company, landed in Singapore and established a free trade port. After that, merchants from various countries came and went frequently, the population kept growing, and Singapore gradually became a base for trade between Asia and Europe, requiring a large amount of labor.

During the early immigration era, Hainanese people accumulated experience in Western cuisine cooking and the preparation of coffee and Western-style tea by working for foreigners, which also laid the foundation for their later involvement in the coffee and food business. As the role of domestic servants was gradually taken over by Cantonese amahs, the Hainanese gradually became "unemployed," so they began opening coffee shops one after another. In order to cater to Chinese tastes, they adapted both coffee and Western food in a Chinese style.

The Chinese who migrated to Singapore in the early period mostly relied on clan and hometown ties and spontaneously pulled one another along in order to make a living, often banding together locally to survive and develop, thus forming occupational groups based on geography and kinship. By the 1850s, it was already quite common for a Hainanese family to own more than one coffee shop.

The reason the coffee made by Hainanese people became so popular in Singapore lies in their bean-roasting technique, which can very effectively reduce the unpleasant flavors of low-quality coffee.

The term specialty coffee only began to receive widespread attention after 2000. Before that, coffee bean quality varied greatly, and most were Robusta or Liberica varieties grown at low altitudes, which were almost unpalatable when simply roasted and brewed into coffee.

In order to reduce the unpleasant taste of coffee, Hainanese people combined Chinese cooking techniques and added seasonings during the roasting process. They would first roast the coffee beans until they were about 70 to 80 percent done, then add butter, sugar, salt, and other ingredients, making the beans sticky and giving them a burnt aroma. Because of the added sugar and oil, the beans had to be ground into granules immediately after coming out of the pan, otherwise they would become even harder to handle once cooled.

Speaking of this, have you all heard of "White Coffee"? After the Hainanese way of roasting coffee was brought to Malaysia by other Chinese, it underwent new improvements, and "White Coffee" actually refers to removing sugar from the sugar-roasted coffee bean method and roasting it a bit more lightly, so that overall it does not taste as rich as sugar-roasted coffee beans. It is not called White Coffee because non-dairy creamer is added to black coffee.

Back to the topic. Although sugar is added during roasting, the resulting coffee is not actually sweet, because the sugar also caramelizes with roasting time. Robusta varieties are already high in caffeine, and to prevent pest damage, the coffee itself contains a large amount of chlorogenic acid. Combined with extremely dark roasting, the coffee is inherently very bitter.

To make the richness of the coffee reach its extreme, the coffee is also brewed very strong... If you drink a cup directly, not only does the caffeine perk you up, but the extreme pure bitterness also makes you feel "refreshed and uplifted." My grandfather said, "The first time I drank Nanyang Coffee, it was like drinking strong liquor."

With coffee this bitter, it is impossible to drink a cup straight. So local Chinese also developed a whole "system" of tricks for the way they drink coffee. Local Chinese call coffee kopi, but Kopi does not mean black coffee; rather, it is diluted with water and by default comes with sugar and condensed milk.

So: Kopi = black coffee + water + sugar + condensed milk Kopi C = black coffee + water + sugar + evaporated milk Kopi O = black coffee + water + sugar Kopi C Kosong = black coffee + water + evaporated milk Kopi O Kosong = black coffee + water Kopi Gau = a stronger Kopi Kopi Poh = a weaker Kopi Kopi Peng = Kopi with ice Kopi Siew Dai = Kopi with less sugar Kopi Ga Dai = Kopi with more sugar... These coffee names all come from Hokkien pronunciation.

"Food can not only satisfy an individual's needs and preferences, but also carries the meaning of expressing identity and symbolizing power relations." Under the broad premise of coffee cultural identity, Nanyang coffee shops expanded strongly, and Nanyang Coffee, which is closer to Chinese tastes, quickly became a bonding agent for Singapore's immigrants. Soon, this way of making coffee spread to other Southeast Asian regions and was also brought back to Hainan as well as Hong Kong and Macau.

After reaching other regions, local Chinese improved the bean-roasting method and the coffee-brewing method according to different climates and tastes more suited to local Chinese. As mentioned above, some Chinese in Malaysia do not add sugar when roasting coffee.

Some Chinese in Thailand add spices and grains when roasting coffee, and this coffee is called oliang; according to my grandfather, after it reached Hong Kong, people added baijiu when roasting coffee beans to remove the astringency of the coffee and enhance the aroma. If baijiu is added, then sugar and oil are not added.

No matter which method of making Nanyang Coffee it is, it has been passed down from generation to generation. Anthropologist Chang Kwang-chih said, "One of the best ways to reach the core of a culture is through the stomach." (Or perhaps through the taste buds or the memory of flavor.) Food, in time and space, constructs the way of life of a place and a city. In the hearts of many Chinese who grew up in Southeast Asia generation after generation, the traditional Kopi Tiam (coffee shop) and the rich Kopi always hold a place.

Today, although specialty coffee culture is spreading at an ever-accelerating pace, the position of Nanyang Coffee has always been an important part of working-class culture and an emotional bond in Chinese society. A cup of Kopi can let everyone start a new day full of energy, and also let everyone feel the hardships of generation after generation of Chinese.

Once the pandemic fades, everyone should go to Southeast Asia and experience the charm of Nanyang Coffee for themselves～

Image source: Internet

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The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.