coffee money

A euphemism that refers to the amount of money typically enough to buy a cup of coffee. The bribe or gratuity fee sense is a calque of Malay duit kopi.

• "Singapore is free of corruption as any place on earth. (Even small-scale bribery attempts lead to immediate arrest.) Ironically, this has surfaced as a disadvantage for Singaporeans conducting business in other countries - where contacts aren’t always considered binding, bureaucratic inefficiency can make a mockery of time tables, infrastructures can be unreliable, “quality” may be seen as a relative term and “tea money” (known as “coffee money” during Singapore’s British colonial days) is a prerequisite to getting anything done."
• "Obviously he was trying to wear out your patience in the hope that you will hand over some undercounter coffee money to him instead of paying for the official tax/fine which does not benefit him at all."
• "If you have ever paid or are thinking of paying ‘Coffee Money’ when stopped for traffic or other offences, don’t ever do this again."

• tea money