Coffee visit in Southeast Asia-- Singapore Cafe

Tourists are often at a loss in front of a Southeast Asian coffee sign on the streets of Singapore, on the corner of Vietnam, Malaysia and other places. Although the transliteration of "coffee" was used by clever ancestors in the early years of its spread, Singaporeans always refer to coffee by Kopi, which is pronounced from Hokkienese, causing Kopi O and Kopi C to inexplicably become the signboards of many Southeast Asian cafes, replacing Espresso or Cappuccino.

Kopitiam (coffee shop in Singapore) is basically the transliteration of "coffee shop" in Chinese (Taiwanese dialect). As a matter of fact, these Southeast Asian coffee from Singapore, Malaysia and other places already have a deep relationship with China, and it is not just because of the large number of Chinese. At the beginning of the 20th century, many cafes were opened in Singapore, Malaysia and other places. Most of the people who opened and patronized the cafes were people from "Xia Nanyang". In order to integrate into the so-called English civilization world, the rich took Western civilization as the fashion trend. popular to coffee shop gathering, for a long time has become a kind of culture.

There are other advantages in these Southeast Asian coffee: at that time, most of the cafes were from Hainan, which was an interesting thing in Singapore at that time. At that time, Chinese people who went to Singapore always had different batches according to the provinces. Because Hainan people arrived last and most of the industries were already occupied by people from other provinces, Hainanese Chicken Rice became a famous local dish. These Hainan people who run cafes all have the same experience-they have worked on British ships and often helped in the kitchen, bringing back the British food culture.

At that time, there were many coffee seats in Southeast Asia, serving cheap breakfast or lunch with coffee. Although most of the traditional Singaporean Kopitiam have been revamped, there are still exceptions, such as the Zhenmeizhen Coffee and Western Coffee Shop on East Coast Road on the East side, which has not even installed air-conditioning in summer, and 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 spread thickly (or only with 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.

In these Southeast Asian cafes, coffee is never served regularly with milk and sugar. They are usually more processed when they are made, such as stir-frying with corn kernels and butter, which makes the coffee slightly sweet; in a cafe, baristas put processed coffee powder into a coffee filter made of fabric. over time, they infiltrate the taste of the coffee, then pour hot water into the coffee beans in the coffee filter and directly into the cup with condensed milk or milk and sugar. 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, it does not prevent it from continuing to be popular. Kopi O means black coffee (with sugar); Kopi Siutai means less sugar; and Kopi Kosong is coffee without sugar or milk, because kosong means "nothing" in Malay.

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 original function is to cool down, but this method usually creates a lot of foam in the coffee, just like a cappuccino, so they invented a new product, called Kopiccino, which is a genius idea. The reason why Southeast Asian coffee likes to use condensed milk instead of milk may be due to Robusta coffee, which is now more produced in Africa. This kind of coffee is better at resisting diseases and insect pests than Arabica coffee, but it tastes more bitter. Heavy taste naturally needs to be re-adjusted.