Walking through the streets and alleys of Southeast Asia, the words on café signs like Kopi O, Kopi C, and Kopi Tarik often leave outsiders completely bewildered. These seemingly peculiar names actually hide a century-spanning history of Nanyang coffee culture. From Hainanese immigrants who went to Nanyang and opened coffee shops, to the Western dining habits brought by the British, to the taste collision between Robusta beans and condensed milk, Southeast Asian coffee culture blends the multiple influences of Chinese, Malays, and Western colonizers. This article will take you into the world of traditional Kopitiam in Singapore and Malaysia, decipher the origins of those coffee slang terms, savor the authentic way to eat kaya toast and half-boiled eggs, and trace the historical stories and cultural threads behind this cup of Nanyang coffee.
On the streets of Singapore, at a corner in Vietnam, or in front of some signboard in Malaysia, I often feel utterly at a loss. Although the word "coffee" was widely used by our forebears in transliteration from the very beginning of its spread, so it does not sound too alien, and even though Singaporeans habitually use Kopi, derived from Hokkien, to refer to coffee, that is not much of a problem either. Yet, like the blond, blue-eyed Europeans around me who are quite confident about coffee, I have never been able to understand what exactly Kopi O and Kopi C did wrong to be so matter-of-factly printed on café signs—in the spot where Starbucks usually puts Espresso or Cappuccino.
Opening the Door to a Southeast Asian Coffee Journey
Of course, I am a bit luckier than that friend of mine, because at least with a little use of the little gray cells I can figure out what Kopitiam (the Singaporean term for a coffee shop) actually means—basically it is the transliteration of the Chinese (Hokkien) phrase "coffee shop." In fact, coffee shops in Southeast Asian countries such as Singapore and Malaysia have deep roots with China, and this is not just because there are many Chinese people. According to K.F. Seetoh, founder of the well-known Singapore food guide Makansutra, in the early 20th century many local coffee shops sprang up in places like Singapore and Malaysia, and the main force opening and patronizing them was precisely fellow countrymen who had "gone to Nanyang." Wealthy merchants came to this new world with bulging pockets, and in order to integrate into the so-called English-speaking civilized world and follow Western civilization as the fashion, they gathered in coffee shops, and imperceptibly a culture took shape.
Of course, there were other benefits in coffee shops, enough to satisfy pragmatic countrymen. Many of the people who opened coffee shops at the time came from Hainan, China, which is also an amusing anecdote in Singapore. It is said that countrymen who came to Singapore back then always arrived in batches by province, and the Hainanese were the last to arrive. By then most industries had already been occupied by people from other provinces, so the Hainanese could only take up the food and beverage business, and Hainanese chicken rice thus became a local famous dish by chance. Most of these Hainanese who opened coffee shops had similar experiences: they often helped in the kitchen while working on British steamships, and when they finally "returned to their roots," coming back from the drifting sea to land, they brought back British dining culture (which in Singapore at the time was obviously more marketable than Chinese food).
The coffee shops of those years had many seats and served cheap breakfast or lunch along with coffee. Although most traditional Singaporean Kopitiams have now changed beyond recognition—for example, Ya Kun and Killiney Kopitiam are both chain operations—there are still exceptions, such as Chin Mee Chin Confectionery on East Coast Road in the east, which has maintained its original appearance, and in Singapore, where it is summer three-quarters of the year, it does not even install air conditioning. This shows that coffee shops in the old days were not some luxurious pleasure palace, but merely a variation of the teahouse. Still, the menu was mostly Western in style: a typical breakfast (which will flatten your wallet only a little) includes a cup of coffee or tea and a half-boiled egg, served with a saucer and soy sauce. The typical local way to eat it is to crack the egg onto the saucer, mix in soy sauce, sprinkle on pepper, and eat it as if it were pudding.
The reason coffee, this imported product, could enter Southeast Asia owes much to Western colonialism
In addition, another indispensable item is the so-called Kaya Toast, which literally should be called kaya toast. The butter and homemade kaya spread are not placed on the side for you to take, but are thickly spread on in advance (or only kaya spread is used). Kaya spread is a localized classic creation, and this sweet, rich coconut jam absolutely embodies the common love of all ethnic groups in Asia. The reason that Chin Mee Chin is still packed to this day is said to be that the half-boiled eggs there are always just right, and the kaya spread is always the most authentic. The Kopi O or Kopi C mentioned earlier is actually something of "slang."
The coffee here is never served properly with milk and sugar. It is usually processed more during preparation, for example dry-fried with corn kernels (some say sugar) and butter. Seetoh says this gives the coffee a faint sweetness, and "in the old days they also fried it with lard, but nowadays that is never done anymore." In the coffee shop, the barista puts the processed coffee powder into a long, thick "sock," a coffee filter made of cloth that over time becomes steeped in coffee flavor (like a purple clay teapot). Seetoh stresses that although by the end of the day those "socks" always have to be thoroughly rinsed, they are not necessarily washed clean.
Then they pour hot water through the coffee beans in the "sock," directly into a cup that already contains condensed milk or milk and sugar, and there is another cup of "fragrant and strong" coffee. Kopi C refers to coffee with milk only, and the C actually comes from Carnation, a brand of canned milk chosen by most Singapore coffee shops. Although many coffee shops no longer use this brand now, that does not stop this "slang" from continuing to be popular. Kopi O refers to black coffee (with sugar), said in Hokkien to mean "black." Kopi Siutai means to add a little less sugar, while Kopi Kosong is coffee with neither sugar nor milk, because kosong in Malay means "none." And if you just say kopi, then what is added is condensed milk and sugar, because that is how they have always made it, and everything else is built on that basis.
The most interesting is Kopi Tarik, which refers to the kind of coffee that is poured back and forth between two cups before being served, and Tarik means "to pull back." Its original purpose was to cool the coffee down—Singapore is simply too hot for hot drinks—but this method usually creates a lot of foam in the coffee, just like cappuccino, so they invented a new product called Kopiccino, which really is a genius idea. It is not easy to master all this "slang," but we can try to learn it. For example, if I want an iced milk tea with a little less sugar, then I say, Teh C Peng Siutai (so concise and clear). Teh means tea, and Peng in Hokkien means ice. So, not hard, right? It is just a matter of vocabulary, and has not yet risen to the level of grammar. But one thing worth pointing out is that the reason Southeast Asian coffee shops like to use condensed milk instead of milk may be that the local coffee is now more often Robusta from Africa. Compared with the long-established Arabica, this coffee is better at resisting pests and diseases, but its taste is more bitter, and strong flavors naturally require strong adjustment, which is also reasonable.
The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
