Kopitiam drinks: kurang manis, kosong, siew dai and calories

A kopitiam order is built from parts. You start with the drink, such as kopi (coffee) or teh (tea). Then you add words for the milk, the sugar, the strength and the temperature. Plain kopi or teh comes with condensed milk unless you ask for something else.

You can stack the words. Kopi C kosong is coffee with evaporated milk and no sugar. Teh O ais kurang manis is iced tea with a little sugar and no milk. Kopi siew dai is coffee with less condensed milk.

These are typical values for one cup or glass, from our drink pages. Each drink page shows a range, because every stall pours a little differently.

Dish	Calories	Protein	Carbs	Fat
Kopi1 cup (about 200 ml) with condensed milk	150 kcal	1 g	27 g	4 g
Teh tarik1 glass, hot (about 250 ml)	130 kcal	3 g	20 g	4 g
Hong Kong milk tea1 cup (250 ml), hot, with evaporated milk and 2 teaspoons of sugar	130 kcal	5 g	15 g	6 g
Ca phe sua da1 glass with about 2 tablespoons of condensed milk	130 kcal	3 g	22 g	3 g
Masala chai1 cup with milk and 2 teaspoons of sugar	90 kcal	2 g	14 g	3 g
Milo ais1 tall glass with ice (about 350 ml)	230 kcal	6 g	37 g	6 g
Thai milk tea1 glass, 16 oz with ice	250 kcal	5 g	42 g	7 g

The Ministry of Health Malaysia calorie list covers the lighter orders and a few more kopitiam drinks.

Without sugar or milk, kopi O kosong and teh O kosong add almost nothing. They are close to the Chinese tea in the list.

Coffee and tea on their own have almost no calories. The calories come from what goes in with them. The KOSPEN Plus calorie list from the Ministry of Health Malaysia builds each drink from its parts, which makes this easy to see.

• Plain tea or coffee. 0 kcal for a 200 ml cup.
• Sugar. Each 5 g teaspoon adds 20 kcal.
• Condensed milk. The list makes teh tarik with 29 g of condensed milk (96 kcal) and teh tarik kurang manis with 19 g (63 kcal).
• Evaporated milk. One 5 g teaspoon adds 7 kcal.
• Size and ice. Iced drinks often come in a bigger glass. A Milo ais has about 230 kcal, against 150 kcal for a hot kopi.

The World Health Organization advises adults to keep free sugars below 10% of daily energy, and ideally below 5%, which is about 25 g or 6 teaspoons a day. A few sweet drinks can use up that ideal limit before you count any food. Read the WHO guideline.

This is why the drink you order every day matters. Two sweet drinks a day add up over a week, even when each one looks small.

1. Kosong cuts the most. With no sugar and no milk, kopi O kosong and teh O kosong are close to zero.
2. O removes the milk. Kopi O with one teaspoon of sugar is 37 kcal in the MOH list, against about 100 kcal for kopi with condensed milk.
3. Kurang manis or siew dai keeps the drink you like with less sugar or condensed milk.
4. Hot instead of ais often means a smaller glass.
5. Skip ga dai. It adds more sugar or condensed milk to every cup.

Yes, if you order it every time. In the KOSPEN Plus list, teh tarik kurang manis gets 33 kcal less from condensed milk than a regular teh tarik. That is a small change in one cup. Two cups a day for 30 days comes to almost 2,000 kcal a month.

Malaysia's Ministry of Health ran a Kurang Manis (less sweet) pilot campaign in Putrajaya. Under it, several food courts in Putrajaya committed to using only one teaspoon of sugar per drink, according to Malay Mail.

In Singapore, HealthHub says many stalls serve kopi, teh and malted drinks siu dai by default, which makes them Nutri-Grade B. Grade B means more than 1 g and up to 5 g of sugar per 100 ml. Drinks with more than 10 g of sugar per 100 ml are grade D.

A photo shows the drink, but not how much sugar or milk is in it. So type the exact order, for example "teh C kurang manis" or "kopi O kosong peng". Nibbs counts the milk and sugar for that order, and you can edit the portion before you save.

If you drink the same thing every morning, save it as a saved food and log it again with one tap. Nibbs tracks sugar as well as calories, so you can see how much your drinks add to your day.

For the food that goes with your drink, see our Malaysian breakfast guide or the mamak food guide.