Ordering Local Drinks at Penang Coffee Shops

Coffee shops in Penang usually serve a selection of local drinks. As most of the coffee shops in George Town are managed by Chinese proprietors, the drinks are often known by their names in Penang Hokkien. There is usually a hot and iced version of each drink. The iced version has the word peng1 , which means "iced", suffixed to it. If you order without mentioning peng1, you will usually get the hot version.

Kopi Peng (19 May 2013)


Both coffee and tea come with milk by default. If you want it black, add the word or1 , as in ko3pi3 or1 and teh3 or1 . If you want it thick, you add the word kau3, so for thick coffee black, it is ko3pi3 or1 kau3 . On the other hand, if you want it with evaporated milk, say ko3pi3 see1 .

In today's increasingly health-conscious society, you can also order the drinks with less sugar or entirely without sugar. To ask for less sugar, you suffix the word cnia4 , which means "bland". Alternatively, you can also say kiam1 liau3 , which literally means "less substance", the substance being sugar. If you want the drink without sugar, then suffix the name with mai1 liau3 .

Barli Snui Kam Peng (19 May 2013)

Ordering Drinks at Penang Coffee Shops

Most of the coffee shops you are likely to encounter in George Town are managed by Chinese proprietors, with a smaller number by Malays, Indian Muslims and Indians. I have put together a list of Penang hawker food as well as list of Penang coffee shops. On a separate page we will look at how we order our meals in Penang coffee shops.

If you are a foreign tourist, the following are some phrases you might be interested to learn for ordering drinks at local coffee shops. Most sellers would be able to understand some English, so you shouldn't get into too much problem if you decide to use English. Nonetheless, you will certainly endear yourself to the locals if you try to speak some Penang Hokkien or Malay.

The waiter will ask you something along the lines of:
What drinks do you want?
Penang Hokkien: Ai1 lim3 ha1mik1? / Ai1 ciak3 ha1mik1 chooi4?
Malay: Nak minium apa?

There is no need to give a full-sentence response, just reply with the drink you want. The following are some of the drinks you may order, in Penang Hokkien and/or Malay. ¹ An alternative to saying "tak mau gula" is to say "tanpa gula". However, unless you can be sure your pronunciation is precise, avoid saying "tanpa gula" as it sounds quite close to "tambah gula" (more sugar).

² The term "teh2" in a coffee shop means tea with milk whereas "teh2" at a dimsum restaurant means Chinese tea, which never comes with milk.

³ Frothy milk tea is rarely available at Chinese-run coffee shops, but is almost always available at Malay and Indian Muslim outlets.

⁴ This iced drink combining coffee and tea is often available at Chinese-run coffee shops.

⁵ Kun1 chooi4 means boiled water. It is also the common term used by waiters carrying a tray of drinks if he wants to warn of his approach, and to get you to move out of the way.

⁶ Ais kosong is a common term in Penang Hokkien and Maly for plain ice water.

Milo mixed with Iced White Coffee (Mi1lo4 cham3 paek3 ko3pi3 peng1)
This drink is available at the Pitt Street Koay Teow Thng Coffee Shop on Carnarvon Street. It is indeed tasty, but at RM2.50 per glass, it better be tasty!

Milo mixed with iced white coffee (1 June 2013)

Fruit Juices

There's a wide range of fruit juices (Penang Hokkien: koay1chi1 ciap3) that are available at the coffee shops in Penang. Sugarcane Water (kam3cia1 chooi4)
Sugarcane water is one of the most common "fruit juice", if I can call it that. You can find it sold by pushcart hawkers on many roadsides, particularly at pasar malam. The price depends on whether you want it as it is or with ice. As with other drinks, the hawker often sweeten the drink with sugar, so you might want to specify mai1 liau3 if you feel the drink is sweet enough as it is.

Sugarcane water (30 June 2013)


Dragon Fruit Juice
This is certainly not a common drink in Penang. I learned about it at the New Lane Hawker Centre. It isn't cheap either, costing RM4.50 per glass.

Dragon Fruit Juice (16 August 2013)


Roselle Juice
This is another less common fruit juice. We ordered it at Kedai Makan Choo Kim Choon in Balik Pulau. I cannot remember how much was this, but not too expensive.

Roselle Fruit Juice (8 August 2013)


Passion Fruit Juice
We had this glass of passion fruit juice at the Pitt Street Koay Teow Thng Coffee Shop. It is tasty and sweet, and also not cheap (but cannot remember the exact price).

Passion fruit juice (1 June 2013)

Private Guided Tours of Penang

If you are seeking private guided tours of Penang, message Penang Tour Guides at penangtourguides@gmail.com and enquire with them.

 Buy, rent or sell properties in Penang

Do you have a property for sale or to rent out? Are you looking to buy or rent a property? Get in touch with me. WhatsApp me (Timothy Tye) at 012 429 9844, and I will assign one of my property agents to serve you. I will choose the agent for you, according to your property needs. So when you message me, provide me some details of what you need, whether to sell, to buy, to rent or to rent out, and what type of property, is it condo, apartment, house, shop, office or land.

Adakah anda mempunyai hartanah untuk dijual atau disewakan? Adakah anda ingin membeli atau menyewa hartanah? Hubungi saya. WhatsApp saya (Timothy Tye) di 012 429 9844, dan saya akan menugaskan salah seorang ejen hartanah saya untuk berkhidmat kepada anda. Saya akan pilih ejen untuk anda, mengikut keperluan hartanah anda. Oleh itu, apabila anda menghantar mesej kepada saya, berikan saya beberapa butiran tentang apa yang anda perlukan, sama ada untuk menjual, untuk membeli, untuk disewakan atau untuk disewakan, dan jenis hartanah apakah itu kondo, pangsapuri, rumah, kedai, pejabat atau tanah.

您有待出售或出租的房产吗？ 您想购买或租赁房产吗？ 与我联系。 WhatsApp 我 (Timothy Tye) 012 429 9844，我将指派一名房地产经纪人为您服务。 我会根据您的房产需求，为您选择代理。 因此，当您给我发消息时，请向我提供一些您需要的详细信息，无论是出售、购买、出租还是出租，以及房产类型，是公寓、公寓、房屋、商店、办公室还是土地。

 New Properties in Penang

Looking to buy property in Penang? Get the e-brochures right here without having to visit or contact individual developers.

 Latest updates on Penang Travel Tips

 Share your travels and/or ask a travel-related question

Join the Penang Travel Tips Facebook Group to share photos, tips and anything related to your travels, or ask travel-related questions.

Map of Roads in Penang

Looking for information on Penang? Use this Map of Roads in Penang to zoom in on information about Penang, brought to you road by road.

Discover with Timothy

Let me take you to explore and discover Penang through my series of walking tours on YouTube. You may use these videos as your virtual tour guide. At the beginning of each video, I provide the starting point coordinates which you may key into your GPS, Google Maps or Waze, to be navigated to where I start the walk, and use the video as your virtual tour guide.

Disclaimer

Please use the information on this page as guidance only. The author endeavours to update the information on this page from time to time, but regrets any inaccuracies if there be any.

Songs about Penang

About this website

Hello and thanks for reading this page. My name is Timothy and my hobby is in describing places so that I can share the information with the general public. My website has become the go to site for a lot of people including students, teachers, journalists, etc. whenever they seek information on places, particularly those in Malaysia and Singapore. I have been doing this since 5 January 2003, for over twenty years already. You can read about me at Discover Timothy. By now I have compiled information on thousands of places, mostly in Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore, and I continue to add more almost every day. My goal is to describe every street in every town in Malaysia and Singapore.