Nanyang coffee is roasted and prepared differently from other types like American, French, Italian etc. Just like your Latte, Flat White, Long Black, Cuppaccino, Espresso, Machiato...etc, our Nanyang coffee has its own labelling which might be a mouthful for unsuspecting foreigners and even locals who are not familiar with kopitiam/kopi culture.
For a start Kopi is coffee in Malay.
Kopi-O : 咖啡乌- local coffee without milk with only sugar. O is 乌(in Chinese and Hokkien) means black
Kopi-C : local coffee with evaporated milk. Smoother and less sweet compared to Kopi. I am not sure, I suspect the "C" comes from"Carnation" which is a brand of evaporated milk.
Kopi-Gau : Coffee strong brew (Gau is 厚 in Hokkien)
Kopi-Po: Coffee weak brew (Po is 薄 in Hokkien)
Kopi-Peng: Coffee with sugar, milk and ice aka Ice Coffee (Peng is 冰in Hokkien)
Since Nanyang/local coffee comes with sugar and/or milk, the following variation is to help you get the right cuppa:
Gai-dai : more sugar/ sweeter
Siu-dau: less sugar/less sweet
Kosong: Kosong in Malay is nothing/zero, so it means without any sugar
So you can have the same combination with tea (teh), milo, horlick etc.
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wow, so informative.
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