Kopi Gu You
Also butter kopi, kopi gu yu
Kopitiam coffee with a slice of butter melting into it, Southeast Asia's original butter coffee.
RegionalServed hotFrom Singapore
- Volume
- 190ml6.4 US fl oz
- Espresso
- 0shots
- Caffeine
- 60mgderived, USDA FDC
- Coffee to milk
- 1:0.2
The build
Watch it made, step by step- Sock-brewed kopi150 ml79%
- Condensed milk30 ml16%
- a slice of butter melted…10 ml5%
- Volume
- 190ml
- Caffeine
- 60mg
- Espresso
- 0shots
Scales every component together, so the ratio holds; caffeine scales with the coffee.
Kopi with a pat of butter floated on it; an old kopitiam order that predates Western butter coffee by decades.
Caffeine
Derivedin a 190 ml kopi gu you
USDA FoodData Central SR Legacy caffeine per 100 g scaled to the coffee volume in components, assuming 1 g per ml. FDC 171890 (Beverages, coffee, brewed, prepared with tap water) 40.0 mg/100 g x 150 ml.
USDA FoodData Central record 171890 · read 2026-10-26
A derived figure: the reference food's caffeine per 100 g scaled to the coffee in this build. Real cups vary with the coffee, the dose and the shot.
Variants by country
1| Name | Country | How it differs |
|---|---|---|
| Bulletproof coffee | United States | Modern butter coffee from the US. |
History
Popular accountAn old-fashioned kopitiam order; not confirmed by a primary source.
Singapore and Malaysia; Hokkien for 'cow oil', i.e. butter.
Parts of this story are repeated widely but were not confirmed against a source this atlas accepts. They are kept as the story people tell, not as fact.
Related drinks
Malaysia's half-coffee, half-tea with condensed milk, served hot or iced at kopitiams.
Regional Cà Phê Muối (Salt Coffee) 190 ml · 48 mgHuế's salt coffee: strong phin coffee topped with a salted sweet cream. The salt rounds off bitterness and became a nationwide trend.
Regional Ipoh White Coffee 190 ml · 60 mgIpoh's lighter-roasted sock coffee with condensed milk. 'White' describes the roast without sugar, not the colour of the drink.
Regional Kopi (Nanyang Coffee) 190 ml · 60 mgThe kopitiam coffee of Singapore and Malaysia: dark sugar-roasted beans brewed in a cloth sock over condensed milk, ordered with a code of suffixes.
Regional Kaffeost 200 ml · 60 mgLapland's coffee with cheese: cubes of bread cheese dropped into hot boiled coffee and eaten as they soften.
Regional Kopi Joss 200 ml · 80 mgYogyakarta's charcoal coffee: a glowing coal dropped into sweet black coffee for a hiss and a smoky, less acidic cup.