'Kāfēi' is a loanword from English 'coffee', written with two phonetic characters that together represent the foreign pronunciation. Neither 咖 nor 啡 carries independent meaning in this context — they function purely as sound symbols, not semantic components. This is common for transliterated words in Chinese, especially for food and drink items introduced from abroad.

The word is used identically to its English counterpart: it refers to the brewed beverage made from roasted coffee beans, or sometimes to the beans themselves. It appears frequently in daily life — in cafés, at home, in office settings — and is often modified by measure words like '杯' (bēi, 'cup') or '杯咖啡' (a cup of coffee). While traditionally associated with Western culture, kāfēi is now fully integrated into modern Chinese urban life and everyday vocabulary.