Boutique Coffee Culture Story Coffee Culture in Southeast Asia

I don't know how you are in other parts of Southeast Asia, but I am always at a loss on the streets of Singapore, on the corner of Vietnam and on a sign in Malaysia. Although transliteration of things like "coffee" was used "across the board" by clever ancestors in the early years of its spread, there is not much audio-visual barrier. Even if Singaporeans always call coffee by Kopi, which is pronounced from Hokkienese, it is not a big deal, but I am like the blond Europeans around me who are very confident about coffee. I don't know what happened to Kopi O and Kopi C to be decisively put on the sign of the cafe, which is usually the location of Espresso or Cappuccino at Starbucks.

Open the door to a coffee trip in Southeast Asia

Of course, I believe I am luckier than the one around me. At least, through the gray brain cells, I still understand what happened to the word Kopitiam, which is basically the transliteration of "coffee shop" in Chinese (Hokkienese). As a matter of fact, cafes in Southeast Asian countries such as Singapore and Malaysia already have a deep relationship with China, and it is not just because there are so many Chinese. According to K.F.Seetoh, founder of Makansutra, a famous food guide in Singapore, in the early 20th century, many local cafes were opened in Singapore, Malaysia and other places, and most of the people who opened and patronized the cafes were compatriots from "Xia Nanyang", and the rich came to the new world with full pockets. In order to integrate into the so-called English civilization world, Western civilization was the fashion trend and small gatherings in cafes accidentally became a kind of culture.

Of course, there are other advantages in the cafe that satisfy Chinese who are good at pragmatism. At that time, many of these cafes were from Hainan, China, which was also an interesting thing in Singapore. It is said that people who went to Singapore at that time always had different batches according to the provinces, but when people from Hainan finally arrived, most of the industries were already occupied by people from other provinces, so people from Hainan could only manage the catering industry. Hainanese Chicken Rice will become a famous local dish because of fate. Most of these Hainan people who run cafes have the same experience. when they work on British ships, they often help in the kitchen until "the leaves return to their roots" and return to land from the falling sea. It brought back the British food culture (which was obviously more popular than Chinese food in Singapore at that time).

In the cafes of that year, there were many seats, serving cheap breakfast or lunch with coffee. Although most of the traditional Singapore Kopitiam has been revamped, such as Yakun or Killiney Kopitiam, there are still exceptions. For example, Zhenmeizhen Coffee and Chin Mee Chin Confectionery, which opened on East Coast Road in the East, has always maintained its original appearance. In summer in 3/4, Singapore did not even install air-conditioning, which shows that cafes used to be not places of luxury and pleasure. It's just a transformation of the teahouse. But most of the menu is Western-style pie, and a typical breakfast (which will only flatten your pocket a little bit) includes a cup of coffee or tea, a hard-boiled egg, served with a plate and soy sauce. The typical way for local people to eat is to beat the eggs into a plate, then mix them with soy sauce and pepper, and eat them like pudding.

The reason why the imported product of coffee can enter Southeast Asia is due to Western colonialism.

Another indispensable part is the so-called Kaya Toast, which should be called coconut toast. Butter and homemade Kaya sauce are not put on one side for you to take, but are thickly smeared (or only Kaya sauce) in advance. Kaya sauce is a classic local creation, and this sweet and greasy coconut sauce definitely reflects the common interests of the people of all ethnic groups in Asia. The reason that Zhenmeizhen is still popular until now is that the half-cooked eggs are always just right and the Kaya sauce is always the most authentic. Kopi O or Kopi C mentioned earlier can actually be regarded as "slang".

The coffee here is never served properly with milk and sugar. They are usually made with more processing, such as stir-frying with corn kernels (some say sugar) and butter, which makes the coffee slightly sweet, says Seetoh. "in the old days, they were fried in lard, but now they don't." In cafes, baristas put processed coffee powder into long, thick "socks", a fabric coffee filter that over time infiltrates the taste of coffee (like a purple sand pot). Seetoh stressed that although those "socks" have to be washed thoroughly at the end of the day, they may not be clean.

Then, they will use hot water over the "socks" coffee beans, directly into the condensed milk or milk and sugar cup, there is another cup of "fragrant and strong" coffee. Kopi C refers to coffee with only milk, while C actually comes from Carnation (carnation), a canned milk brand chosen by most Singapore cafes. Although many cafes no longer use this brand, this "slang" continues to be popular. Kopi O means black coffee (with sugar). It is said that it means "black" in Minnan dialect, Kopi Siutai means less sugar, and Kopi Kosong means coffee without sugar or milk, because kosong means "nothing" in Malay. And if you just say kopi, then condensed milk and sugar are added, because that's how they add it all the time, and everything else is based on it.

The most interesting thing is Kopi Tarik, which refers to the kind of coffee that is poured back and forth in two cups before serving, and Tarik means "rewind". The initial effect was to cool down. Singapore is too hot for hot drinks, but this method usually creates a lot of foam in coffee, just like cappuccino, so they invented a new product, called Kopiccino, which is a genius idea. It is not easy to master these "slang", but we can try to learn. For example, if I want a cup of Iced Milk Tea with less sugar, then say, Teh C PengSiutai (really concise), Teh means tea, and Peng means ice in Minnan dialect. How, not difficult, that is, some word problems, has not yet risen to the level of grammar. But it can be pointed out that the reason why Southeast Asian cafes like to use condensed milk instead of milk may be because robusta coffee, which is now more produced in Africa, is better at resisting diseases and insect pests than Arabica coffee with a long history, but the taste will be more bitter, and it is reasonable that heavy flavors need to be re-adjusted.