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Makan Notes · 001

A morning at the kopitiam

Pagi di kopitiam

One brew of kopi becomes many orders. Here it is three ways: as a flow, as a place, and as a morning. Pick your order to see its path.

What’s your kopi order?

Apa pesanan kopi anda?

Drink · Minuman
Sugar · Gula
Hot or iced · Panas atau ais
Here or to go · Sini atau bungkus

Kopi and teh tarik are sweet from condensed milk, so in this chart kosong is for kopi O and kopi C.

Pick a drink to see its path.

Pilih minuman untuk melihat laluannya.

Your order stays in this page and its link. This page stores nothing about you and sets no cookies of its own.

One brew, many orders: a chart of kopitiam drinks Your order goes one of two ways: kopi powder through the cloth sock, or tea leaves through the sock. Black kopi becomes kopi (with condensed milk), kopi O (sugar, no milk), kopi O kosong (no milk, no sugar), kopi C (evaporated milk and sugar) or kopi C kosong (evaporated milk, no sugar). Black tea with condensed milk, pulled, becomes teh tarik. Every drink is then served panas (hot) or peng (over ice), and minum sini (in a glass, at the table) or ikat tepi (tied in a plastic bag to take away). Below, for comparison, espresso becomes an Americano, a long black or a latte. Makan Notes · 001 · Flow A morning at the kopitiam Pagi di kopitiam kopi powder, through the cloth sock serbuk kopi, ditapis kain tea leaves, through the sock daun teh, ditapis kain + condensed milk + susu pekat manis + sugar + gula no sugar tanpa gula + evaporated milk and sugar + susu cair, gula + evaporated milk no sugar + susu cair, tanpa gula + condensed milk, pulled + susu pekat, ditarik in a glass dalam gelas into a plastic bag, string tied on top diikat dengan tali Your order Pesanan anda Black kopi Kopi hitam Black tea Teh hitam Kopi Kopi O Kopi Okosong Kopi C Kopi Ckosong Teh tarik Panas hot Peng over ice · dengan ais Minum sini drink here Ikat tepi take away, tied in a bag For comparison: café cousins Sepupu kafe, sebagai perbandingan + hot water onto hot water + steamed milk Espresso Americano Long black Latte Kopitiam kopi drips through a cloth sock, from beans often roasted with sugar and margarine. Café coffee starts as espresso, pushed through finely ground beans by a machine.

Tap a drink to trace its path. Each step’s words sit beside its thread.

The kopitiam: the coffee station, kaya toast, half-boiled eggs and the tables A drawing of a kopitiam from above at an angle. On the tiled counter: long-spout kettles, the cloth sock over a pot, glasses on saucers, and tins of condensed and evaporated milk. Ikat tepi bags hang on a hook at the end of the counter. On the floor: round marble tables with stools, one with kaya toast and half-boiled eggs. Makan Notes · 001 · Place The kopitiam Kedai kopi The coffee station Kaunter kopi Where the kopi is made, all morning. Long-spout kettles Cerek muncung panjang Hot water poured from high, into the sock. The cloth sock Kain penapis kopi Kopi powder goes in, hot water goes through, again and again. Glasses on saucers Gelas atas piring Kopi, kopi O, kopi C, teh tarik, all waiting for a table. Condensed and evaporated milk Susu pekat dan susu cair The sweet one makes kopi. The thin one makes kopi C. Ikat tepi bags Kopi ikat tepi Tied with a string, hung on the hook, carried to work. Marble table Meja marmar Round, cold to the touch, with a wobble. Another table Meja lain Share it with an uncle and his newspaper. Kaya toast Roti bakar kaya Toast, kaya and a slab of cold butter. Half-boiled eggs Telur separuh masak Two eggs, soy sauce and white pepper. Stir, then slurp. Every kopitiam is a little different. This one is drawn from many, not from one shop. Setiap kopitiam sedikit berbeza. Yang ini dilukis daripada banyak kedai.

Tap or focus a label to bring it forward.

A morning at the kopitiam, from 6 AM to closing A timeline. 6 AM: shutters up, the first kopi through the sock. 6:30: the regulars. 7:00: kaya toast on the grill, eggs into hot water. 7:30: the breakfast rush, with ikat tepi bags on the hook. 9:30: it calms down. 12 PM: lunch from the stalls. Afternoon: closing, the sock rinsed and hung up to dry. A ribbon along the line is widest in the breakfast rush. Makan Notes · 001 · Time 6 AM to closing Dari subuh hingga tutup Getting ready Bersiap Open Dibuka Closing up Tutup 6:00 AM Shutters up Pintu besi dibuka The kettles boil and the first kopi goes through the sock. 6:30 The regulars Pelanggan tetap Same table, same order. Nobody needs to say it. 7:00 Toast on, eggs in Roti dibakar, telur direndam Kaya toast on the grill, eggs into hot water. 7:30 The breakfast rush Waktu sibuk sarapan Orders called across the shop. Ikat tepi bags fill the hook. 9:30 It calms down Kembali tenang A kopi peng for the late ones, and the newspaper. 12:00 PM Lunch from the stalls Makan tengah hari Noodles and rice from the stalls, and more teh tarik. Afternoon Closing Tutup kedai The sock is rinsed and hung up to dry for tomorrow. The ribbon: how busy the shop is, drawn by eye, not measured. Hours differ from shop to shop. Many close after lunch. Waktu buka berbeza dari kedai ke kedai.

The straw bug

A rule every regular knows: every ikat tepi bag leaves the counter with a straw. We wrote the rule into a tiny model and let a checker try every path. It found a way to break it in four steps: in the rush, the string is tied before the straw goes in.

The straw bug: a playful model of the breakfast rush The rule: every ikat tepi bag leaves the counter with a straw. The checker finds the shortest way to break it in four steps: an empty bag, kopi poured in, the breakfast rush starts, the string is tied before a straw goes in, and the bag is handed over without a straw. Makan Notes · 001 · The bug The straw bug kopi poured in a straw goes in the string is tied [in a rush] the string is tied handed over handed over the breakfast rush An empty bag Plastik kosong Kopi in the bag Kopi dalam plastik Straw in Straw dimasukkan Tied, no straw Diikat, tiada straw Tied, with a straw Diikat, ada straw Handed over, no straw Diserahkan, tiada straw Handed over, with a straw Diserahkan, ada straw Breaks the rule A playful model, not a report on any real shop. The red path is the shortest one the checker found.
How these charts are made

Each chart starts as a small model in TLA+, a language for saying how something works one step at a time. TLC, the TLA+ model checker, takes every step from every state the model can reach and checks the rules in each one.

  • The orders: TLC reached 45 states and 68 steps. All four rules hold: kopi O has no milk, kopi C has evaporated milk, kosong has no sugar, and plain kopi has condensed milk.
  • The straw bug: TLC reached 12 states. The rule “every bag gets a straw” breaks, and the red path is the shortest way there.

These are playful models of how a kopitiam can go, not reports on any real shop.

Remember the one you had.

Ingat yang pernah anda minum.

Every kopitiam pulls its teh tarik a little differently. In remakan you rate the dish, not just the place, so the kopi C peng kosong you loved gets its own stars, and you can find it again.

See how remakan works

The pen-and-pencil statechart style follows statechart-art by Kevin T. Ngo, and the three views (Flow, Place, Time) follow Field Notes by April Zhu. The drawings and code here are our own, made in Malaysia.