The family and I went on a one-day trip to Malacca for a short holiday trip on Sunday. While we were there, we managed to drop by A&W for lunch. My mom, the coffee drinker in the family, ordered a cup of coffee. The cashier then asked whether she would like "white coffee". My mom said yes (though I have the lingering suspicion that she had no idea what "white coffee" is).
And I saw a couple of signs on the ride back that advertised "white coffee" as well.
So I then went on to Google (Bless Google) and searched for white coffee. One interesting thing that happened was that as I was typing "white coffee", the auto-search presented "white coffee malaysia" for me! So I was thinking that "white coffee" is more of a Malaysian lexicon rather than a Singaporean one, since I have not in my 21+years of existence come across "white coffee" in Singapore.
Anyway,
Wiki says that
In English-speaking countries, "white coffee" is used to refer to regular black coffee that has had milk, cream or some other "whitener" added to it.And lest you confuse it with cafe au lait,
White coffee should be distinguished from cafe au lait, in that white coffee uses room temperature milk or other whitener, while café au lait uses heated or steamed milk.I also found an entry on Ipoh white coffee!
Wiki says that
Ipoh "white" coffee is a popular coffee drink which originated in Ipoh, Malaysia. The coffee beans are roasted with palm-oil margarine, and the resulting coffee is served with condensed milk. The term "white coffee" originates from the literal translation of its Chinese name, which was introduced in the 19th century by Chinese migrants who came to work in the local tin mines.Traditionally, Malaysian style "black" coffee roast is produced by roasting the beans with sugar and margarine. "White" coffee, on the other hand, is produced with only margarine and without any sugar, resulting in a less dark roast.
Ohhhhh.. And now we know :) So if you're in Malaysia, or an English-speaking country, by any chance, when the waiter/cashier asks if you'd like "white coffee", you'll know exactly what he means :)
