Kopi Girl

We see a wide shot of a row of buildings, which colours are muted except for a humble coffee shop in the centre. A man walks by drinking a frappe.

Next shot we see a table with unpaid bills scattered across. A man's hand pushes them away to reveal a drawing done by his daughter. We cut to reveal the owner of the coffee shop, Meng looking worried. He hears footsteps and looks up and immediately changes his demeanour. He waves to the person standing outside and proceeds to make some coffee. We see it is Meng's daughter, Mei who has come home from school and has a troubled look on her face. Mei walks into the coffee shop towards the calendar and marks today's date, revealing that they have 6 days left before they get evicted. Mei walks to a table in the coffee shop and takes out her homework. She gets distracted by people drinking frappes while walking by the shop and draws them where you see her homework filled with doodles. Mei gets startled by Meng who came to the table with her drink and covers her book. Meng is happy to see his daughter but he looks outside and gets upset. Meng starts to walk slowly to the back of the coffee shop. Mei wonders what was wrong and takes a look outside and sees a new café called with a huge queue opposite from their coffee shop.

Mei decides to check out the commotion and walks across the street. She looks in the window of the café and sees a robotic barista making frappes. Mei looks deeper into the cafe and sees a customer throwing his drink away in a trash bin full of similar plastic cups. Mei gets determined to make something better. She heads back into the coffee shop and pulls out a box underneath the coffee station and takes out an ice shaver.

A montage of her making a new drink for the coffee shop begins. She has a first taste of her creation but it did not taste right. Meanwhile, Meng sees her at the coffee station and finds it amusing and walks up to her and pats her head. Mei gets annoyed and throws empty milk tins in a box and re-writes the recipe. She tries again and we see a second montage of her shaving ice, making coffee and adding milk. She has her second taste but it still did not taste right and she throws more empty milk tins in the box and re-writes the recipe. She tries for a third time shaving ice, making coffee and adding milk and feels like she almost got it but something was missing. Mei starts gathering ingredients to make a syrup but ended up burning the sugar. She throws more empty milk tins in the box and slumps down at the table. She looks up at the calendar and they have 4 more days left until they get evicted. Mei becomes discourages and accidentally knocks one of her many papers off the table.

A drawing of her new drink idea lands on the floor and we see a shadow loom over the paper and picks it up. We see Meng taking a look at it and looks over at Mei then at the messy coffee station. Mei suddenly hears someone shaving ice and looks up to see her dad working the ice shaver. They both share a look with each other and they get started making the new drink together. We see a ladle scooping perfect slushed coffee into an empty milk tin and a smooth drizzle of syrup on top. Mei draws something onto the milk tin and asks her dad to try it. Meng takes the drink and looks at the drawing the Mei did of him. He smiles and tries the drink and is surprised. Without saying a word he walks away from Mei, leaving her confused. Mei then sees Meng putting up her drawing on the wall and gets excited and they both share a smile with each other.

We cut to the next shot of Mei drawing on a milk tin for a customer's drink. The customer walks off, revealing the calendar. It is now the next year. Mei sighs in relief and Meng walks up to her and pets her on the head. They both look in the coffee shop filled with customers and they both share a hug. We cut to the final shot of the row of buildings revealing a long line of customers for the coffee shop. THE END.