You can get a kopi for around the price of a bus ride. Walk a few streets over, order a latte, and suddenly you’re looking at six, seven, maybe eight dollars.

Same molecule. Same city. Very different receipt.

So what happened?

They’re not really the same drink

The easy answer is “hipster tax”. The more useful answer is that you’re not really comparing like with like.

Traditional Singapore kopi is typically made from dark-roasted coffee blends, often containing robusta, brewed through a cloth sock and served with condensed or evaporated milk. It is fast, efficient and designed to produce a strong, familiar cup at relatively low cost.

A specialty latte starts somewhere else. Specialty cafés generally work with higher-cost coffee, fresh milk and espresso prepared to order. Then there is the espresso machine, grinders, water filtration, maintenance and a barista making your drink one cup at a time.

But the coffee isn’t the expensive bit

The beans and milk alone don’t turn a cheap drink into an $8 drink.

The price also has to help pay for rent, wages, training, equipment, utilities — and the café itself.

And Singapore rent has never been known for its sense of humour.

So is an $8 latte worth $8?

Wrong question.

If you want caffeine before your 9am meeting, the humble kopi may be one of Singapore’s greatest inventions.

If you’re drinking an interesting coffee prepared well, sitting somewhere pleasant for an hour while somebody else pays the rent and washes the cup afterwards, you’re buying something different.

Neither needs to defeat the other.

Some mornings call for specialty coffee.

Some mornings call for kopi.

Some mornings call for both.

C₈H₁₀N₄O₂ doesn’t judge.

Still deciding?

Find specialty coffee near you →

Or embrace tradition: learn how to order kopi properly →