How to order coffee in Malaysia

As a stereotypical Englishman, mastering the art of ordering tea and coffee is of course a priority for me when travelling. The relaxed atmosphere in the growing number of chic fashionable coffee shops in Malaysia provide a great place to begin speaking Malay to order food and drink.

Often life moves at a slower place in a traditional coffee shop, as compared with the hustle and bustle of a restaurant, where you might feel more pressure when ordering in a different language. Plus, due to less items you will be able to understand an entire drinks menu long before an entire food menu.

Jump to:

• Different types of coffee shop in Malaysia
• Understanding the menu
• Ordering a drink
• Table of key words to know

Different types of coffee shop in Malaysia

If you are looking for what you might define in the west as a traditional coffee shop on Google, you will need to search for coffee shop, not café. A café in Malaysia usually implies an open fronted restaurant, often serving food as their main business. In Malay, the word for “coffee” is “kopi” and the word for “shop” is “kedai”. It is not common to see a kopi kedai as logic would suggest, instead a popular term used around Malaysia is kopitiam. However, this term refers to a Chinese-Malaysian café. As discussed above, it will be more of a restaurant as you might know it in the west and will predominantly serve food.

Understanding the menu

As mentioned, “kopi” is “coffee”. In Dusun, the ethnic majority in Sabah, Malaysia, the word kopi is spoken phonetically as k-u-pi. Everyone will understand you regardless, but if you want to really speak like a local then give it a go. The word for “tea” is “teh”.

In coffee shops in Malaysia it is not taken as a given that you want to order a hot drink. Therefore, the word for “hot” is “panas” and the word for “cold” is “sejuk”. Menus will list their selection of teas and coffees under two clear columns – panas and sejuk.

Another popular drink at coffee shops is chocolate. In Malaysia, a hot chocolate, or cold chocolate, will be listed as Milo. Milo is simply a brand, but this brand is so popular and institutionalized that if you are looking for a chocolate drink you will be buying and ordering milo. There we are, the corner stones of a traditional coffee shop – tea, coffee, and chocolate. The words for latte and cappuccino remain the same.

Ordering a drink

Time to order. If you ask for a “kopi sejuk” –  you are asking for a “iced coffee”. Notice that the word for cold – sejuk, comes after word for coffee. This rule applies to all drinks, both hot and cold. To make life easier for ourselves, “ais” is the word for “ice”. So, you can also ask for “kopi ais” – also meaning “iced coffee”. This is a slightly easier way to remember how to ask for an iced drink as phonetically ais is spoken as i-ce. In a kopitiam, you will commonly hear the word “peng” – another word used around Malaysia for “cold”. Therefore, kopi sejuk – ais – peng all refer to an iced coffee – the same rule applies when ordering a tea.

Like me, you may not want sugar in your drink, and you may also choose to avoid the condensed milk that is frequently served with tea and coffee here, especially in a kopitiam. If you find yourself ordering a tea or coffee from a kopitiam you will most likely be given milk and sugar automatically. The word for “sugar” is “gula” and the word for “milk” is “susu”. To order a drink without milk or sugar we need to know the word for “without” – which is “tiada”. Therefore, a “kopi panas tiada gula, tiada susu”, is a “hot coffee without milk or sugar”.

To learn how to construct a polite phrase to politely order your food or drink in Malaysia, see this article on ordering food. Here I break down the phrases needed to really order like a pro.

Table of key words to know

Below is a table of the key words discussed above and how to pronounce them:

Below is a table of how you will see drinks listed in a kopitiam and what they mean:

*Kopi can be replaced with teh in the above table.

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