Forget Starbucks!

Kopi from Yakun Kaya

I love drinking coffee!  I start and end my day with a nice cup of drip from the good old coffee maker or Starbucks back in Manila.  Never thought I'd sip a better one until the day I set foot in Singapore and tried their famous KOPI!

Kopi is Hokkien/Malau for coffee.  You can find kopi almost everywhere in Singapore.  In hawker centers, in food courts, and specialty kopi houses like Yakun Kaya Toast and Toast Box  So what is so freaking good about it?  It is so much richer than the usual coffee.  The aroma makes me feel like I'm drinking something traditional, something memorable.  Best of all, Its damn cheap!  There's this kopi shop in Maxwell Hawker Center that sells on cup of kopi for 60 cents!  In the m
ore commercialized coffee shops, kopi costs around S$1.20 to $S.180.  Still so much cheaper than Starbucks and tastes a lot better.


Now here's the fun stuff.  There are different kinds of kopi. (thanks to wikipedia)

• kopi oh = hot coffee (sweet)
• kopi oh peng = ice coffee (sweet)
• kopi oh kosong = hot coffee (unsweetened)
• kopi oh kosong peng = iced coffee (unsweetened)
• kopi = milk coffee (sweet)
• kopi peng - iced milk coffee (sweet)
• kopi 'c' - hot coffee with evaporated milk (sweet)
• kopi 'c' kosong - hot coffee with evaporated milk (unsweetened)
• kopi 'c' peng - iced coffee with evaporated milk (sweet)

Me enjoying my kopi!

I personally prefer just plain kopi.  Memorize your choice by heart cause the kopi uncle or auntie might find it hard to interpret your english and possibly give you a wrong one.

As far as I know, they don't have it in decaf.  So for those who can't sleep after drinkin a cup of coffee, you might want to start trying kopi earlier in the day.  I still have this fantasy of drinking kopi with kaya toast while cruising around Marina Bay on a traditional boat.  I might try it soon!

Lastly, if you love this coffee so much and still crave to sip one back in Manila.  You can always find a Toast Box at Trinoma, Yakun Kaya Toast somewhere in Ortigas and Kopi Roti at Mall of Asia.  Enjoy your KOPI!