Uni Undergrad & Part-Time Barista Opens Retro Kopi Joint In Parents’ Semi-D, Corn Soy Milk Kopi & Mantou Sliders On Menu

Cute retro vibe

The setup is simple yet quaint: camping chairs and wooden seats accommodate up to 12 customers around five low tables. Zun Hui brews coffee in a stainless steel kopi pot behind two wood-and-glass shelves that house French loaves and other bread. Vintage "Kopi Kia" and "46 Chu Lin Road" signs hang on the wall, amid other retro memorabilia – an old telephone, faded posters and mahjong tiles. 

Food served on retro-looking plates and kopitiam cups – with even one drink in an empty milk tin – complete the Nanyang aesthetic (traditional kopi joints from this region) that Zun Hui has curated. It's somewhat reminiscent of home-based local kopi joint Kneadkopi in Hillcrest, but Kopi Kia serves some unique drinks and dishes (more on that later).

SIM undergrad works part-time as barista in a cafe

Zun Hui, a second-year Business Administration undergrad from Singapore Institute of Management, is not a total F&B noob. She works part-time as a barista at speciality coffee bar Singapore Coffee in Raffles Shopping Arcade. 

“I can live without rice, but not bread,” she laughs. “Since young, I’ve always dreamed of owning a café. When I saw home-based cafés popping up, I was shocked it was even possible to run one from home!”

“I wanted to bring traditional kopitiam vibes to Hillview”

Kopi Kia serves both traditional and fusion offerings. There’s kaya butter or butter sugar toast on kopitiam-style brown bread or French loaf (these are store-bought). 

Mod mantou sliders and other unusual creations

Then there’s French Loaf with “homemade fish sauce”, what Zun Hui calls her homemade stew of sardines. She also serves her version of sliders, deep-fried mantou sandwiched with pork sausage (“the pricier kind”), lettuce, and homemade spicy mayo.

The latest menu addition is "The Trio" ($5.90 a la carte; $8.30 set) – a combination of kaya, butter and crushed peanuts on yellow buns.

Unique corn soy milk kopi, from $5

However, it's her innovative coffee creations that truly set Kopi Kia apart. Besides a traditional kopi menu ranging from $1.70 to $2.50, Zun Hui offers concoctions like iced Corn Soy Milk with Kopi or Chocolate Horlicks ($5/$5.50). What’s corn soy milk? Her own recipe, featuring a mix of fresh corn and sweetened canned corn kernels with plain soy milk. It's all blitzed in a blender to form a pale yellow, creamy concoction that’s slightly sweet, faintly ‘corny’ and meant to replace condensed or evaporated milk in her speciality drinks. "Everyone is selling matcha, but I wanted to offer something different. So I thought of corn!" she recalls. "It was a lot of trial and error to get the right texture and taste."

Customers can customise their corn levels at 40 or 60 percent – meaning how much corn milk they want with their kopi/chocolate. 

Her corn kopi has become an unexpected hit. “People really like it and say it’s a very special combination. A lot of them ask me how I even thought of this, they’re surprised it works so well!” she says. “Usually their first reaction is, ‘Wow, I didn’t know corn and kopi would work well together. One customer even commented that it tastes like ice cream,” she shares.

Taught herself how to brew local kopi

The coffee beans Zun Hui uses are a custom blend, while her tea leaves are imported from Sri Lanka. “Actually, no one taught me how to make traditional kopi, I just went to different local coffee shops and observed how they did it,” she shares. “I feel like traditional kopi is harder to handle compared to ang moh style coffee, as you have to estimate the amount of milk used, the water temperature, and how to soak the coffee grounds.”

Her "Hor Kar Sai" (Tiger Bite Lion Coffee, pictured above) for $4.50 is a local riff on mocha that blends kopi with Milo, served in an evaporated milk tin complete with an old-school chocolate wafer roll, though this photogenic offering might be discontinued soon.

Open only on weekends as she juggles tutoring and barista work

“I love going to traditional coffee shops to relax, but I felt like there wasn’t one near Hillview. It’s a quiet area with no old-school kopitiam nearby,” she says. “I wanted to create a cosy space where people can unwind, enjoy local coffee, and maybe even relive some memories.”

Kopi Kia operates only on weekends: on Saturdays from 8am to 11am and 3pm to 6.30pm, and Sundays from 8am to 12.30pm. Besides running Kopi Kia, Zun Hui juggles school, tutoring primary school students, as well as her part-time barista job at a cafe.“That’s why Kopi Kia’s hours are a bit odd,” she laughs. “In between opening hours, I’m rushing out to give tuition.” 

Is it feasible to juggle so much? “I do get tired and stressed, it can be overwhelming. But I tell myself, work hard now and you’ll be fine later,” she shares. Rather than focus on just one thing, Zun Hui believes in maximising her time. “I take on different jobs because I don’t want to waste time. I want to learn more and meet more people.”

For now, she has no plans to give anything up, even if it means very long days.

One-women show, with a little help from sis

Zun Hui runs nearly everything at Kopi Kia herself, from prepping food and plating to pulling shots of coffee. Her older sister helps occasionally with cashier duties, but Zun Hui doesn’t rely on her family too much.

"My family is quite supportive, but I don't want to trouble them. After all, this is what I want to do, not them. They're not obliged to help me, so I don't reach out for much assistance." 

Yet surprisingly, the waiting time at Kopi Kia isn’t long. “So far, no customer has ever complained,” she says. “Even when it gets very crowded, I feel like it should be okay. I try my best to keep up.”

“My parents are quite supportive [of this venture], which I was shocked about,” she shares. ”They are very private people, so I never thought they would agree to my ‘crazy’ idea, but they did. I even told them that a customer gave feedback that it was a bit hot outside without a fan, and they installed two fans after that."

"I spent a few thousand on the set-up alone, which looks very simple but added up to be quite a lot," she notes.

"See you again" – the fuel that keeps her going

Though there were times she felt like giving up, returning customers have kept her going. “When someone says ‘see you again,’ that phrase touches me. It means I did something right.” She notes on her social media account that some customers have told her “your yuan yang  [coffee-and-tea mix] nicer than Yakun’s and Toast Box’s”. 

The name Kopi Kia came to her during class in uni. “When thinking of a name for my biz, I couldn’t remember what ‘girl’ is in dialect, I only knew ‘kia’, which means boy [ed: it actually means kid]. I was going to name it Ah Bi Kopi because that’s my nickname at home, but it sounded too funny,” she jokes.

Tiktok vlogs & growing traction

Zun Hui started documenting her journey on TikTok for memory’s sake, but the videos unexpectedly boosted her following. “The first two weeks were really slow, but now more people are finding out about Kopi Kia. Some are even coming back regularly.” 

Her customer base is a mix of Hillview residents and curious TikTok followers. Her humble home cafe has even changed her relationship with her neighbours. “Hillview has always been a very quiet neighbourhood – no ‘hi or bye’ kind of vibe. Now, I get 'good mornings' and small talk. It feels so nice, I know so much more about my neighbours now.”

Home cafe drew once-reticent neighbours closer together

She recalls one rainy day when she invited a customer, who turned out to be her neighbour, into her home to watch Netflix. “We ended up talking about our families and exchanging numbers. I never expected this kind of support.”

She beams, “Not only did they become my friend, but also one of my biggest supporters.”

As for what’s next, Zun Hui has tentative dreams for the future. “My plan for Kopi Kia is to maybe do event-based pop-ups. But of course, if possible, I’d want to have a shop of my own.”

“[But for now], if someone starts their day with [a cup of] my yuan yang and walks away a bit happier, that’s already enough for me,” she muses.

Kopi Kia is located at 46 Chu Lin Rd. Open on weekends, Sat 8am - 11am; 3pm - 6.30pm and Sun 8am - 1pm. More info via Instagram & Tiktok. 

Photos: Kopi Kia

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