Caffeine fix

How do you like your coffee?

Ask any coffee drinker that and you're bound to get very different answers. For me it's simple. I like mine thick and with enough condensed milk to just provide that lift to the flavour of the coffee. If I don't get what I want, I'd just have a few sips of the coffee and call the waiter for them to add whatever it is that was lacking. Of course, the coffee I'm talking about here is your kopitiam variety, not one of those fancy-schmansy designer places you pay top dollars for. While your local coffee shop may not have the extensive menu of places like Starbucks or Coffee Bean, you're not exactly short of choices. Just think of the ways you can order your coffee:

The base:

• Kopi O - Your locally brewed black coffee served with either sugar or no sugar.

Then, you have the add-ons to the basic drink:

• Kopi - The same coffee as above but with the addition of condensed milk. My kind of drink: smooth, and sweetish with just a hint of bitterness to it.
• Kopi/Kopi O Kaw - The same as either one of the drinks above, just with a bit more oomph. The 'kaw' literally means 'tall', which indicates you want your coffee to be stronger, thicker.
• Kopi/Kopi O Pok - Again the same drinks, but this time the opposite of 'kaw'. 'Pok' means 'thin', and so you want your coffee to be thin or weak, almost watery. (I can't understand how some people can actually drink this! You might as well be drinking water!)
• Kopi Susu - The same local brew served with milk instead.

All those choices are for the local brew alone. Now, if you're more the Nescafe kind of drinker, well the same choices are open to you! And let's not forget that highly original Malaysian concoction called Neslo: Nescafe and Milo.

Oh, if you're interested and you're in Kota Kinabalu, a Gloria Jean's Coffee outlet has just opened at Jesselton Point and is currently running a buy-one-free-one offer. The flyer says the promotion's on for a month.

Cup of hot java. I like.