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Kopi
KO-pee
Traditional coffee with condensed milk
Kopi-O
KO-pee oh
Black coffee with sugar
Kopi-O-kosong
KO-pee oh KO-song
Black coffee, no sugar
Kopi-C
KO-pee see
Coffee with evaporated milk
Singapore's traditional coffee: robusta beans roasted with butter and sugar, brewed through a cloth sock filter, served with condensed milk. Rich, sweet, and intense.
Black coffee with sugar only. The 'O' stands for 'black' in Hokkien.
Coffee with evaporated milk and sugar. The 'C' stands for Carnation (the evaporated milk brand).
'Kosong' means 'empty' in Malay — black coffee with no sugar at all.
Standard espresso drinks at modern specialty cafes. The quality is world-class.
Kopi ordering has its own elaborate code: Kopi = condensed milk + sugar, Kopi-O = black + sugar, Kopi-C = evaporated milk + sugar, add 'kosong' for no sugar, 'gao' for strong, 'poh' for weak.
Kopitiams (traditional coffee shops) are where locals drink kopi. They're casual, communal hawker-style spaces — usually with shared tables.
Kopi is brewed through a cloth 'sock' filter — the long cloth bag looks like a sock and gives the coffee its distinctive texture.
The specialty coffee scene in Tiong Bahru, Kampong Glam, and Jalan Besar is excellent and coexists peacefully with traditional kopi culture.
Chope your seat at a kopitiam by placing a packet of tissues on the table — this is a uniquely Singaporean reservation system.
Singapore's hawker culture is UNESCO-listed. Kopi is an integral part of the hawker experience.
Not expected. A 10% service charge is usually included at restaurants and upscale cafes.
S$1.20-2.00 for kopi at hawkers, S$5.50-8.00 for specialty cafe drinks
Did you know? The kopi ordering system is so complex that Singaporeans have created cheat sheets. The base modifiers (O, C, kosong, gao, poh, di lo) can be combined — 'Kopi-C-kosong-gao' means 'strong coffee with evaporated milk and no sugar'.