Research note 045 — 2026-09-04
Butter Roasting and Nanyang Kopi — a Roast That Wraps Around Bitterness
Vietnamese butter roasting, Nanyang kopi from Malaysia and Singapore, and white coffee from Ipoh, Malaysia. The gesture of adding fat and a little sweetness to robusta beans while roasting them survives, in similar form, in separate places — from Saigon's Cholon district to Malaya's coffee shops to the Dutch East Indies' migrant destinations. What the sources describe is not a way of erasing bitterness, but a record of a process that slips fat, sugar, and salt into the middle of roasting and changes how the aftertaste itself gets put into words.
What this page establishes
- That cà phê vợt shops in Saigon's Cholon district add butter, salt, and a small amount of alcohol during wood-fire roasting can be confirmed from the accounts of multiple shops, but how much this actually changes astringency or bitterness has not been measured sensorially.
- Singapore's Intangible Cultural Heritage inventory records a traditional blend of 8 parts beans to a combined 2 parts sugar and margarine, roasted at 180 degrees Celsius for 25 minutes, but this is the typical example as recorded, and does not reveal variation in blend from shop to shop.
- Malaysia's Ipoh white coffee is described as slow-roasted with only palm-oil margarine added, without sugar or wheat flour, and multiple sources explain that its roasting ingredients differ from ordinary black kopi, but there is not yet a sensory measurement comparing the difference in taste.
- There is a statement that Indonesia's kopitiam culture began in West Kalimantan in the early 1930s, but the source itself notes that this is based on the explanation of a local coffee specialty shop, not a specialized study of migration history.
Saigon's cà phê vợt and wood-fire butter roasting
In the Cholon district of Saigon (present-day Ho Chi Minh City), southern Vietnam, coffee brew is made through a technique called butter roasting.
Scope: Vietnam, Cholon district, Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City)
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ingredient-coffee-brew —is_processed_by→ process-vietnamese-butter-roastingThis roasting method has been carried on as part of "cà phê vợt" café culture, in which coffee is filtered through a cloth strainer (vợt). The names of long-established shops such as Ba Lù, Vợt Cafe, and Cheo Leo Cafe are recorded as the bearers of this culture.
Scope: Saigon's Cholon district
Note: The articles do not clearly state when or which Chinese dialect group brought this practice (the Ba Lù shop mentions only a history of "about 70 years"). This is not treated as a settled origin story (the question is separated out to leads as a research question).
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process-vietnamese-butter-roasting —has_cultural_role_of→ "A roasting method carried on as part of "cà phê vợt" culture — filtering coffee through a cloth strainer (vợt) — passed down in the Chinese community of Saigon (present-day Ho Chi Minh City)'s Cholon district. Long-established shops such as Ba Lù, Vợt Cafe, and Cheo Leo Cafe are known for it."The roasting itself is done over a wood fire, with butter, salt, and a small amount of alcohol added while the beans are stirred. The Ba Lù shop, whose founding it describes as about 70 years ago, explains that adding these ingredients softens the beans' "vị chát." This is a Vietnamese word for astringency or roughness, however, and is a different word from "vị đắng," which refers to bitterness. Nor is this a description accompanied by sensory measurement.
Scope: A long-established cà phê vợt shop in Saigon's Cholon district (Ba Lù, founded about 70 years ago)
Note: The original term is "vị chát," not "vị đắng" (bitterness). This is not a claim about a reduction in bitterness itself; it is included as the shop's own account concerning astringency and roughness (it is not reworded as bitterness).
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process-vietnamese-butter-roasting —has_composition→ "Butter, salt, and a small amount of alcohol are added while roasting over a wood fire. The Ba Lù shop explains that adding these ingredients softens the beans' "vị chát" (astringency, roughness)."Nanyang kopi's blend and how bitterness is described
In the Chinese-heritage café culture of Malaysia and Singapore, a drink called Nanyang coffee is made through a different roasting technique.
Scope: Chinese-heritage café culture of Southeast Asia, including Malaysia and Singapore
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ingredient-kopi —is_processed_by→ process-nanyang-kopi-roastingKopi is described as "Hainanese-style kopi (coffee)" and positioned as a type of coffee.
Note: Connects to the existing entry ingredient-coffee-brew.
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ingredient-kopi —is_a_type_of→ ingredient-coffee-brewThe Intangible Cultural Heritage inventory of Singapore's National Heritage Board (NHB) records the specific traditional blend for this Nanyang kopi roasting. Salt is added partway through the process, and sugar at the end.
Scope: Singapore's traditional kopi roasting method (NHB Roots Intangible Cultural Heritage record)
Note: This is the blend recorded in a government Intangible Cultural Heritage inventory; individual shops do not necessarily use the identical blend.
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process-nanyang-kopi-roasting —has_composition→ "A traditional blend recorded in the Intangible Cultural Heritage inventory of Singapore's National Heritage Board (NHB): 8 parts beans to a combined 2 parts sugar and margarine, roasted for 25 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius. Salt is added partway through the process, and sugar is added at the end to give a caramelised finish."How do the records put this final sugar and mid-process salt into words? NHB Roots writes that it "removes the bitter aftertaste," and the record from the Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre writes that it "rounds out the bitterness." Neither writes that it eliminates bitterness.
Scope: Singapore's traditional kopi roasting method
Note: Both English-language sources explicitly use the word 'bitter'/'bitterness' (unlike the Vietnamese vị chát case, this may be treated as a reference to bitterness itself). However, this is not an effect confirmed by sensory measurement; it is an account from roasters and record-keepers.
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process-nanyang-kopi-roasting —has_perceived_bitterness_suppressed_by→ "The mid-process addition of salt and the extra sugar added at the end, both part of the traditional blend. NHB Roots describes this as "remove the bitter aftertaste," while the record from the Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre describes it as "round out the bitterness.""Apart from roasting, the serving stage has its own distinct process. Kopi powder is strained through a muslin bag and poured back and forth between 2 enamel jugs with long spouts. This motion is explained as a way of aerating and cooling the drink, and the records treat it as a process distinct from the roasting method itself.
Scope: Singapore's traditional kopi and teh serving technique (NHB Roots)
Note: Before research began, this fat-roasting method was assumed to be called a "kopi tarik–style process," but the NHB Roots material describes roasting (with margarine and sugar) and the pour-back serving technique as separate processes. The same source does not use the word "tarik" itself, so this page does not record a name for the serving technique.
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ingredient-kopi —is_prepared_by→ "Kopi (or teh) powder is strained through a muslin bag, stirred with a stick or a pair of long chopsticks, and then poured back and forth between 2 large enamel jugs with long spouts. The source explains this motion as a way of aerating and cooling the brew. This serving and mixing process is separate from the roasting method itself."Hainanese migrants as the bearers of this craft
The group named as the bearers of this roasting technique is Hainanese migrants. The record from the Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre states that Hainanese roasters began giving robusta beans — inexpensive at the time and significantly more bitter — a caramelised character by frying them with margarine and sugar.
Scope: The account handed down among Singapore's Hainanese coffee roasters
Note: The source is a general-audience article from the Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre, and its footnote references a separate NHB Roots article. It is not itself an academic study of migration history.
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ingredient-kopi —has_historical_origin→ "The record from the Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre states that Hainanese roasters began giving robusta beans — inexpensive at the time and described as significantly more bitter — a caramelised character by frying them with margarine and sugar (a period after the Second World War is suggested)."Hainanese (Nanyang diaspora) are recorded in connection with kopi culture after their migration to Malaya, Singapore, and the Dutch East Indies.
Scope: 19th-20th centuries, following migration to Malaya, Singapore, and the Dutch East Indies
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culture-hainanese-nanyang —is_associated_with→ ingredient-kopiIpoh white coffee — adding only margarine
Ipoh white coffee, whose sources place its origin in Ipoh, Malaysia, takes a different blend from Nanyang kopi. Only palm-oil margarine is added, and the beans are slow-roasted to a medium degree without sugar. It is customarily served with sweetened condensed milk.
Scope: White coffee, whose origin the sources place in Ipoh, Malaysia
Note: Confirmed in the wording of multiple sources: "White coffee is produced with only margarine and without any sugar, resulting in a less dark roast" and "They developed a slow-roasting technique using palm oil margarine instead of sugar or wheat used in dark roasts."
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ingredient-ipoh-white-coffee —is_prepared_with→ "Only palm-oil margarine is added (without the sugar or wheat flour used in an ordinary dark roast), and the beans are slow-roasted to a medium degree. It is customarily served with sweetened condensed milk."The beginning of this technique is recorded as the founding history of "Sin Yoon Loong," a shop in Ipoh's old town. Hainanese migrants Wong Poh Chew and his younger brother Wong Poh Ting opened the shop, and the idea of adding sweetened condensed milk is recorded as the younger brother Wong Poh Ting's contribution.
Scope: Ipoh, Malaysia — the founding history of Sin Yoon Loong
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ingredient-ipoh-white-coffee —has_historical_origin→ "The sources record that Hainanese migrants Wong Poh Chew and his younger brother Wong Poh Ting opened "Sin Yoon Loong" in Ipoh's old town and established the slow-roasting technique using palm-oil margarine. The addition of sweetened condensed milk is credited to the Hainanese chef Wong Poh Ting."The difference between Nanyang kopi and white coffee corresponds to this difference in blend. Against black kopi, which is roasted with both margarine and sugar added, white coffee — with only margarine added — comes out with a lighter roast and a paler colour.
Scope: The distinction drawn within Malaysia and Singapore's kopi culture
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ingredient-ipoh-white-coffee —differs_from→ ingredient-kopiToward Indonesia's kopitiam
The kopitiam business form has also spread to Indonesia. There is a record stating that it began in Singkawang, West Kalimantan, and later spread across Sumatra and to the Riau Islands, and a local coffee specialty shop's account explains that margarine or butter is added to dark-roasted robusta beans during the roasting process. This account contains no mention of the relationship to bitterness itself.
Scope: Indonesia (West Kalimantan, Sumatra)
Note: Both are accounts from Indonesian news and commercial media, not academic studies of migration or food-culture history. No statement explicitly addressing the relationship to bitterness could be confirmed in these sources (they go only as far as the phrase "very strong flavor").
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ingredient-kopi —is_consumed_in→ "In Indonesia, the sources state that kopitiam culture began in the early 1930s in Singkawang, West Kalimantan (near Pontianak), and later spread to various parts of Sumatra (Bangka Belitung, Pekanbaru, Bandar Lampung, Medan) and the Riau Islands. A local coffee specialty shop's account explains that the pioneers added margarine or butter to dark-roasted robusta beans during the roasting process."What is not known
- The records lined up here are shop accounts, heritage-inventory descriptions, and news articles, not something that has confirmed a change in bitterness through sensory measurement.
- The Vietnamese word "vị chát" refers to astringency or roughness and is a different word from "vị đắng," which refers to bitterness. What the shops explain as softened by the butter, salt, and alcohol added during roasting is the former, and an effect on bitterness itself cannot be confirmed within the sources consulted.
- The records consulted do not name the migrant group that carried Saigon's cà phê vợt culture. The period in which Hainanese roasters established kopi roasting likewise goes no further than the suggestion of "after the Second World War."
- How the roasting that adds margarine or butter in Indonesian kopitiam relates to bitterness is not written in the accounts consulted.
Frequently asked
Why add butter or margarine to coffee roasting?
In the accounts of long-established cà phê vợt shops in Saigon's Cholon district, the shops explain that adding butter, salt, and a small amount of alcohol while roasting over a wood fire softens the beans' astringency and roughness. Singapore's Intangible Cultural Heritage inventory likewise describes the sugar added at the end of the traditional blend (8 parts beans to a combined 2 parts sugar and margarine) as removing the bitter aftertaste. However, these are all accounts from shops or record-keepers, not records that measured, with a sensory panel or similar, whether bitterness or astringency actually decreased. There is also a line, such as Malaysia's Ipoh white coffee, that adds only margarine without sugar, and the roles of fat and sweetness are not necessarily described in the same terms from region to region.
What's the difference between kopi and white coffee?
Kopi is roasted with both margarine and sugar added, usually made with robusta beans, and is described as coming out with a deeply coloured roast. White coffee, whose sources record its beginning in Ipoh, is by contrast slow-roasted with only palm-oil margarine added, without sugar or wheat flour, to a medium degree, and is for this reason explained as paler in colour and lighter in roast than ordinary black kopi. The idea of adding sweetened condensed milk is recorded in the sources as the contribution of a particular Hainanese chef, but this is an account conveying the shop's origin, not a measurement comparing the strength of bitterness.
Related entries:coffee brew / Nanyang coffee / Ipoh white coffee / Nanyang kopi roasting / Vietnamese butter roasting (rang bơ) / Hainanese (Nanyang diaspora)
Related research note: Bitterness, Astringency, Pungency
Source ledger: Source list
How to cite this page
Aoki, M. (NIGAMI LAB) (2026). Butter Roasting and Nanyang Kopi. https://nigamilab.com/en/notes/butter-roast-and-kopi/
Each claim card has a stable anchor (#clm-…). The dataset is CC BY 4.0; see the data page. Dataset DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.22739101