Drinks guide
How to Order Kopi Like a Local in Singapore
Walk up to a drinks stall at any hawker centre and you will hear orders that sound like a secret code: "Kopi O kosong peng!", "Teh C siew dai!". It is not as hard as it sounds. Once you know about ten words, you can order exactly the drink you want, anywhere in Singapore.
Start with the drink
- Kopi: coffee. On its own, it comes with sweetened condensed milk, so it is rich and sweet.
- Teh: tea, also with condensed milk by default.
- Milo: the chocolate malt drink every Singaporean grew up on.
Local kopi is not like a café latte. The beans are usually roasted with sugar and butter or margarine, then brewed through a long cloth filter that looks like a sock. The result is dark, strong and slightly caramel-like.
Then choose the milk
- (nothing): condensed milk. Kopi = coffee with condensed milk.
- O: no milk, but with sugar. Kopi O = black coffee with sugar.
- C: evaporated milk and sugar. Kopi C is lighter and less sweet than plain kopi. The "C" is often said to come from a popular brand of evaporated milk.
Then the sweetness
- Kosong: no sugar. Kosong means "zero" in Malay.
- Siew dai: less sweet.
- Ga dai: extra sweet.
Then the strength and temperature
- Gao: stronger, more coffee or tea.
- Po: weaker, more water.
- Di lo: the strongest. Straight from the filter with no water added.
- Peng: iced. Add it at the end of any order.
Put it together
Order in this sequence: drink + milk + sweetness + strength + peng. Leave out anything you don't need.
Kopi O kosong = black coffee, no sugar.
Kopi C siew dai = coffee with evaporated milk, less sweet.
Teh peng = iced milk tea with condensed milk.
Kopi gao siew dai = strong coffee, less sweet.
Teh O kosong peng = iced black tea, no sugar.
A few more favourites
- Teh tarik: "pulled" tea, poured from a height between two cups until frothy. Usually found at Malay and Indian drinks stalls.
- Teh halia: ginger tea.
- Yuan yang (or cham): coffee and tea mixed together.
- Milo dinosaur: iced Milo with a mountain of Milo powder on top.
- Tak kiu: an old Hokkien nickname for Milo.
Taking it away
Say "tapao" or "da bao" and your drink comes in a cup or, at old-school stalls, a plastic bag with a string handle. Hang it on your finger and go.
The perfect pairing
Kopi tastes best with the classic local breakfast: kaya toast, two soft-boiled eggs with dark soy sauce and white pepper. For the afternoon, try it with a curry puff or goreng pisang.
Not sure? Just say what you want in plain English. The uncles and aunties have heard every version, and they will get you sorted.
Hawker Fantasy is made in Singapore by a small team from the F&B industry who spend a lot of time in hawker centres. We never rank individual stalls. Every centre has its own favourites.
