Kopitiam Drink Calories: Kopi, Teh, Milo & More

Kopitiam drinks range from almost nothing to a full meal. Kopi-O kosong is about 33 kcal, a regular kopi with condensed milk about 190 kcal, teh tarik 120 to 150 kcal per 250 ml glass, and a Milo dinosaur about 500 kcal with roughly 12 teaspoons of sugar. Ordering kosong or kurang manis is the easiest calorie cut in Malaysian food.

The trouble with drinks is that they do not feel like food. Two teh tarik and an iced Milo across a day can add 400 to 500 kcal, more than a plate of nasi lemak, without anyone thinking they "ate" anything. You do not have to give them up. You just need to know which ones are cheap and which are expensive.

How many calories in kopitiam drinks? The full table

These figures are from Singapore's HPB Food Insights Database (SG FoodID), which lab-tests and lists local drinks by their kopitiam names. We converted sugar to teaspoons at 5 g per teaspoon, the same conversion HPB uses for white sugar. "Sugar" here is total sugar, which includes a little natural milk sugar in the milky drinks.

Drink	Serving	Calories	Sugar	Teaspoons of sugar
Teh-O kosong	250 ml	~5 kcal	<1 g	0
Kopi-O kosong	250 ml	~33 kcal	0 g	0
Teh-O	250 ml	~48 kcal	10 g	2
Teh-C kosong	250 ml	~55 kcal	3 g	<1
Kopi-O	250 ml	~78 kcal	12 g	2.5
Kopi-C kosong	250 ml	~93 kcal	4 g	<1
Teh tarik	250 ml	120–150 kcal	16–23 g	3–5
Teh-C	250 ml	~125 kcal	18 g	3.5
Kopi-C	250 ml	~130 kcal	15 g	3
Bandung (sirap bandung)	400 ml	~140 kcal	26 g	5
Teh (condensed milk)	250 ml	~150 kcal	23 g	4.5
Kopi (condensed milk)	250 ml	~190 kcal	19 g	4
Iced teh (teh ais)	400 ml	~190 kcal	29 g	6
Milo (hot)	250 ml	~235 kcal	28 g	5.5
Iced kopi (kopi ais)	400 ml	~240 kcal	24 g	5
Iced Milo (Milo ais)	400 ml	~290 kcal	35 g	7
Milo dinosaur	550 ml	~500 kcal	62 g	12

What do kopi, kopi-O, kopi-C and kosong mean?

The kopitiam ordering code is really a calorie code:

• Kopi / teh: with sweetened condensed milk. The sweetest base, because condensed milk is about 54% sugar by weight (USDA).
• -C (kopi-C, teh-C): evaporated milk plus sugar. A little lighter than condensed milk.
• -O (kopi-O, teh-O): black, with sugar only.
• Kosong: no sugar. "Kopi-O kosong" is black coffee with nothing added.
• Kurang manis / siu dai: less sugar.
• Peng / ais: iced. Usually a bigger cup with more milk and sugar to match, so iced drinks carry more calories than hot ones.
• Tarik: "pulled" for froth. Teh tarik is made like teh, with condensed and evaporated milk.

So the order of calories, from lowest to highest, is almost always: -O kosong → -C kosong → -O → -C → plain kopi or teh → iced → Milo.

How many calories in teh tarik?

A typical 250 ml glass of teh tarik is about 120 to 150 kcal with 16 to 23 g of sugar, roughly 3 to 5 teaspoons. HPB lists a small 150 ml teh tarik at 72 kcal and 10 g of sugar; scaling that to 250 ml gives about 120 kcal. HPB's 250 ml teh with condensed and evaporated milk, the same recipe without the pull, is 150 kcal and 23 g of sugar.

Mamak glasses are often bigger than 250 ml, and a "teh tarik ais" in a tall glass is closer to HPB's 400 ml iced teh (about 190 kcal, 29 g of sugar). Our mamak food calories guide puts this next to roti canai so you can see how the drink compares to the food.

How much sugar is too much?

The World Health Organization recommends keeping free sugars below 10% of daily energy, and ideally below 5%, which is about 25 g or 6 teaspoons a day for an adult. The Malaysian Dietary Guidelines similarly advise choosing foods and drinks low in sugar and drinking plenty of water.

Put that next to the table:

• One teh (condensed milk) is about 23 g of sugar, close to the full 25 g ideal on its own.
• One iced Milo is about 35 g.
• One Milo dinosaur is about 62 g, more than double the ideal daily amount in a single cup.

None of this means a teh tarik is off limits. It means it is worth knowing that two or three sweet drinks a day is where a lot of Malaysian sugar intake comes from.

Milo ais, Milo dinosaur and Milo godzilla

Milo is the most calorie-dense drink on the kopitiam menu because it combines malt powder, condensed milk and sometimes an extra scoop of powder on top. On HPB data:

• Milo (hot), 250 ml: about 233 kcal, 28 g sugar.
• Milo ais, 400 ml: about 288 kcal, 35 g sugar.
• Milo kurang manis (siu dai), 250 ml: about 200 kcal, 23 g sugar. Iced, 400 ml: about 248 kcal.
• Milo dinosaur, 550 ml: about 501 kcal, 62 g sugar, from the heaped spoon of Milo powder on top.
• Milo godzilla, 500 ml: about 380 kcal, with ice cream on top.

Since a Milo dinosaur is roughly the calories of a light meal, it is easiest to treat it that way: a treat, logged like food.

Sirap bandung, sirap and limau ais

• Bandung (rose syrup with evaporated milk), 400 ml: about 140 kcal and 26 g of sugar on HPB data, about 5 teaspoons.
• Sirap (rose syrup drink), 250 ml: about 108 kcal and 27 g of sugar. All of its calories come from sugar.
• Limau ais (lime juice or calamansi drink), 250 ml: about 113 kcal and 25 g of sugar. It tastes light, but it is sweetened with syrup.
• Barley ais, 400 ml: about 128 kcal and 24 g of sugar.

Fruit-tasting drinks can be just as sweet as milky ones; they just do not look it.

What about 3-in-1 sachets?

Office 3-in-1 sachets are smaller than kopitiam cups. HPB lists them per 200 ml cup:

• 3-in-1 coffee: about 102 kcal, 12 g sugar.
• 3-in-1 milk tea: about 118 kcal, 14 g sugar.
• Milo 3-in-1: about 96 kcal, 12 g sugar.

Two or three sachets a day at your desk adds up to 200 to 350 kcal. Switching even one to plain black coffee or tea makes a difference over a week.

How to order smarter: a kurang manis guide

You do not need to drink kopi-O kosong forever. Try stepping down one level at a time:

1. Kopi or teh → kopi-C or teh-C. Saves about 25 to 65 kcal per cup.
2. -C → -C kurang manis. Teh-C or kopi-C with less sugar. HPB lists kopi-C siu dai at about 113 kcal and 11 g of sugar.
3. -C kurang manis → -C kosong. Kopi-C kosong is about 93 kcal; teh-C kosong about 55 kcal. You keep the milkiness.
4. -O kosong for daily cups. Save the sweet ones for when you really want them.
5. Hot over iced. Iced versions come in bigger cups with more milk and sugar.
6. Milo as a treat. One Milo dinosaur is about as many calories as 15 cups of kopi-O kosong.

Taste buds adjust. Most people who step down over two or three weeks find the old drink too sweet.

How drinks fit into weight loss

A 300 kcal daily drink habit is about 2,100 kcal a week. That is a large share of a typical weekly deficit for weight loss. If you are not sure how big your deficit should be, start with the TDEE calculator and our guide on how many calories to eat to lose weight. Forgetting to log drinks is also one of the most common reasons progress stalls; see calorie-counting mistakes that stall weight loss.

The simplest fix is logging the drink as you order it. In Berry Best, snap a photo of the cup or just type "teh tarik kurang manis", and Berry gives you the calories and sugar estimate along with the rest of your day.

If you have diabetes or prediabetes, are pregnant, or have another medical condition, speak with your doctor or a registered dietitian about sugar and drink choices. These figures are general estimates, not medical advice.

Sources

• Health Promotion Board Singapore: Singapore Food Insights Database (SG FoodID)
• Health Promotion Board Singapore: About SG FoodID
• World Health Organization: guideline on sugars intake for adults and children
• FAO: Malaysian Dietary Guidelines key messages
• USDA FoodData Central: Milk, canned, condensed, sweetened

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