Gold Kili Traditional Kopi-O Coffee Review

Today I decided to man up and try a straight up black coffee aka the dreaded Kopi-O. 

Gold Kili Traditional Kopi-O Coffee

It's not even a soluble powder! Old skool lah!

Tell me that ain't road tar

While waiting for the brew to steep... I was curious about the instructions and whether it'd be the same as typical soluble instant coffees. Andddd.... well it's kinda the same. Amount of water is similar but they don't state what temperature should be used.

Also the instructions are very universal. Pictures only!

Taste Review

Aroma - 7/10

It's got a good decent strength coffee aroma that is the signature, unmistakable, pure unadulterated smell of a good kopi (aka local coffee if you only speak white people's language). Medicinal & turpeny. This brew is obviously very different from other instant blends that contain milk.

Taste - 8/10

Sweet at first followed by a medium acidity and bitterness which lingers. I was kinda surprised by the sweetness then I realised this is a 2-in-1. Surprise surprise! There was sugar in the pouch. That sweetness really helped ease me in before the other flavors hit. The combination of bitter and sour notes after the sweet is quite characteristic of some local brews. This mimics that well. 

Cost - 10/10

I got mine at $2.55 for 20 sachets. That's $0.1275 per sachet which is 10x cheaper than heading down to the kopitiam! If your kopitiam serves shitty kopi, then this is for you! And yeah I have tasted some really really shitty coffee in kopitiams. Not all are good you know.

Tasting Notes

This stuff usually smells like liquid tar, tastes like liquid tar and I always suspected it to be liquid tar. It's a drink for masochists or old people whose taste buds are long dead. But I gotta say, this Gold Kili's blend is pretty ok. I could drink this.

TLDR version
A gentle introduction to the world of kopi-o, land of the brave and masochistic.