Vietnamese coffee is becoming more and more popular.
Maybe you’re heard of it but don’t know where to get it or maybe you want to make it yourself.
This short article will cover the fastest, quickest, and easiest way for you to get Vietnamese coffee.
How To Start
Like most coffee drinks, you have two choices if you want to drink it.
Either buy it readymade or make it yourself. Let’s start with the easiest way.
Buying Coffee from a Local Café or Restaurant
The easiest and quickest way to try Vietnamese coffee is to buy it from a Vietnamese café or restaurant.Pho restaurants are fairly common and easy to find in most major cities. It’s a staple item and most restaurants will carry Vietnamese coffee.
There are 2 things you’ll need to decide when you make the order:
- Do you want your coffee black or with condensed milk?
- Do you want hot or iced coffee?
How do you take your coffee?
Decide if you want to have it black or with condensed milk.
For an authentic experience we recommend getting it with condensed milk. It’s one of the major distinct ingredients of Vietnamese coffee.
The condensed milk adds a sweet richness to Vietnamese Coffee deliciously distinct.
With or Without Ice?
Vietnamese Iced Coffee is the most popular way to have it.
For first time drinkers we recommend having iced coffee but have it hot if you prefer hot coffee.
Once You're Served
You’ll be served a cup with a coffee dripper on top. The dripper is called a phin. Just let the coffee drip into the cup.
The brew is ready when the dripping has stopped or has slowed down significantly.
You can also lift the lid of the phin and if you see coffee ground, it’s ready. If you see water just let sit a bit longer.
If you ordered the coffee with the condensed milk, mix it together. If you ordered the iced coffee, pour the coffee over the ice and enjoy.
Vietnamese Café
If you’ve already tried the traditional style of Vietnamese coffee, you can visit a specialty café for more varieties and styles.
Popular varieties that we recommend are the coconut coffee and the egg coffee.
Making Vietnamese Coffee At Home
Brewing Vietnamese coffee is very easy.
You’ll need the following:
- Ground Vietnamese coffee beans
- A brewing tool
- Condensed milk (Optional)
- Ice (Optional)
Vietnamese Coffee Beans
Vietnamese coffee is brewed with Robusta beans as opposed to the Arabica bean. Robusta beans have a higher caffeine content and have an earthier and nuttier flavour profile to its western counterpart.
Vietnamese coffee beans can be purchased stores and online.
In Stores
You can find Vietnamese coffee beans in some Asian grocery stores.
If you can’t locate a Vietnamese grocery store, you may have better luck with Chinese grocery stores.
Online Purchases
There are more options if you choose to buy Vietnamese coffee beans online.
Saigon Drip offers 100% Robusta beans sourced from Vietnam and provides an authentic Vietnamese coffee taste.
Brewing Tool
There are multiple ways to brew Vietnamese coffee.
We recommend using a phin because it’s easy to use and clean. Also, the phin is designed to hold the right amount of water for each serving.
However, you can also use a pour over tool or a French press.
Condensed Milk(Optional)
Condensed milk can be found in most major grocery stores.
The Longevity Brand condensed milk is most commonly used and our recommendation. It can be found in most Asian grocery stores.
With or Without Ice?
It’s pretty self explanatory. Simply serve it hot or over ice.
If you’re making iced coffee, we recommend using a lot of ice so the coffee becomes cold immediately.
Conclusion
Buying Vietnamese coffee isn’t that much different from buying any coffee.
You can visit a local Vietnamese restaurant or cafe for convenience or brew it at home for more control over the ingredients and to save some money.
Whichever route you choose, we hope you’ll enjoy a cup of coffee real soon.