If you’ve been to any local coffee stalls to order coffee, you’ll realise the plethora of terms Singaporeans use to differentiate the type of coffee or tea they wish to order. It took me quite a while to memorise all the terms so here’s a reference guide for anyone who’s unclear.
Kopi – coffee with condensed mlk
Teh – tea with condensed milk
Kopi C – coffee with evaporated milk (the ‘C’ is derived from a brand of commonly used evaporated milk, Carnation milk)
Teh C – tea with evaporated milk
Kopi O – “O†refers to w/o milk
Teh O – tea w/o milk
Gau – strong / thick
Poh – thin
Kar Dai – (literally add base) = sweet
Siew Dai – (“less base) – less sweet
Using a combination of the above terms, you will be able to efficiently order your drink from the local kopitiam (literally coffeeshop).
For e.g., if you want strong tea w/o milk, it’s “teh O gauâ€. Slightly sweet and weak coffee would be “kopi poh siew daiâ€, and so on.
Got that sorted out now?
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