How Many Calories in Air Mata Kucing?

Air Mata Kucing is a classic Chinese herbal cooling drink made by boiling dried longan, monk fruit (luo han guo), and rock sugar together, then serving it iced.

180kcal / 1 glass (hawker/kopitiam, iced)

A standard glass of Air Mata Kucing at your typical hawker stall or kopitiam clocks in at around 180 calories for a 300ml iced serving. Almost all of that comes from rock sugar: 40g dissolved into the drink alone contributes 154 calories. The dried longan bits you eat at the bottom add another 17. The monk fruit and winter melon that give it that herbal edge? Basically zero. So yeah, it tastes light and refreshing but calorie-wise it drinks more like a soft drink than plain water.

Nutrition facts

Per 1 glass (hawker/kopitiam, iced) (300g)	Amount	Per 100g
Calories	180 kcal	60 kcal
Protein	1 g	0 g
Carbs	44 g	15 g
Fat	0 g	0 g

Where the calories come from

Rock sugar (dissolved in drink)40g

154 kcal

Dried longan pulp (eaten)18g

17 kcal

Winter melon (dissolved solids)30g

4 kcal

Monk fruit (luo han guo, negligible)2g

5 kcal

The real talk

Air Mata Kucing, which literally means "cat's eye tears" (named after the dried longan, not actual cats, relax), is a traditional Chinese cooling drink you find all over Malaysia. It is boiled from dried longan, monk fruit, sometimes winter melon strips, and a very generous hand with the rock sugar. The hawker version runs at about 180 calories per glass, and the honest truth is that is a ballpark estimate because hard nutritional data for this drink is basically nonexistent. Nobody has lab-tested the Petaling Street auntie's recipe. That said, the math is simple: rock sugar is still sugar, at roughly 4 calories per gram, and most stalls are not shy with it.

What actually swings the number is how heavy the sugar hand is. The home-cooked version using just 25g of rock sugar across a 1500ml pot works out to about 80 calories per glass, less than half the hawker version. The monk-fruit-only version drops to around 50 calories but good luck finding that at a stall. Bottled versions like Yeos or F&N sit around 120 calories because commercial production controls the sugar level. The ice dilutes the drink somewhat at the hawker stall but does not change the calorie count in any meaningful way since the sugar is already dissolved in the base liquid.

Air Mata Kucing variants, ranked by calories

Variant	Calories	Notes
Home-cooked (less sugar)	80 kcal	Made with 25g rock sugar per 1500ml, 6 servings; much lighter than hawker version
Hawker stall, iced (standard)	180 kcal	Petaling Street style, heavily sweetened with rock sugar; ice dilutes somewhat
Bottled / packaged (can or packet)	120 kcal	Commercial versions like Yeos or F&N; sweetness controlled but still sugary
No rock sugar (monk fruit only)	50 kcal	Sweetened only by monk fruit and natural longan sugars; rare at hawker stalls

How to eat it lighter

Ask for less sugar (kurang manis) if the stall lets you customise. Some will, some won't.
Make it at home. Use 20 to 25g of rock sugar per 1500ml of water instead of the 80 to 100g a typical hawker batch uses. Your glass drops from 180 to around 80 calories.
Go for the bottled version (Yeos, F&N) on the go. Around 120 calories and the sweetness is at least consistent.
Drink it slow and eat the longan bits at the bottom. That way you feel like you got something out of the glass instead of just chugging sugar water.
Compare it to your other drink options at the stall. At 180 calories it is actually worse than a can of Coke (139 calories for 330ml), which is a bit of a reality check for something that feels so light and herbal.

Common questions

How many calories in Air Mata Kucing?

A standard hawker or kopitiam glass (about 300ml, iced) has around 180 calories. The vast majority comes from dissolved rock sugar, not the longan or monk fruit. Home-cooked versions can be as low as 80 calories if you go easy on the sugar.

What exactly is Air Mata Kucing?

It is a traditional Chinese herbal cooling drink made by simmering dried longan (the fruit), monk fruit (luo han guo), sometimes winter melon, and rock sugar in water, then serving it chilled or iced. The name means cat's eye tears in Malay, a reference to the small dried longan fruit. You find it at Chinese herbal drink stalls, kopitiam, and pasar malam all over Malaysia.

Is Air Mata Kucing a healthy drink?

It is not a bad choice compared to a teh tarik or sirap bandung, but it is not plain water either. The monk fruit has some antioxidant properties and the drink has zero fat, but 44g of carbs from sugar in one glass is real. If you are watching your calories, the home-cooked low-sugar version or a monk-fruit-only version is genuinely decent. The hawker stall version, though, is basically sweetened herbal water.

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Calorie and macro figures are estimates for a typical hawker or kopitiam serving. Actual numbers vary by stall, recipe and portion size. Use them as a guide, not gospel.

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