How I Make Vietnamese Coffee
my cà phê brewing methods, ingredient tips, a chart (!) plus iconic recipes
Hello there!
If pho noodle soup, banh mi sandwiches, and goi cuon rice paper rolls are Vietnamese gateway foods, then cà phê sữa đặc is the gateway drink. In response to last week’s post on pepper and coffee farming in Vietnam, Evvy commented: “How do you make coffee, Andrea?”
I’ve considered many methods over the years, most of which may ruin my so-called reputation as a Viet food person. Today, I’m sharing what I do and what I’ve observed about Vietnamese coffee practices.
“So that is how you make your coffee,” my Vietnamese friend said when he saw me use a metal pour over filter. He preferred the traditional phin filter, which is emblematic of Vietnam’s cà phê (coffee) culture.
I had a moment of imposter syndrome but then admitted to him: I don’t have time to wait for the slow drip of Vietnamese metal phin filter coffee. Those filters are unreliable. They weren’t a must-have in our home when I was growing up. My mom used a stovetop espresso maker for years before switching to a machine.
In 2002 when I returned to Vietnam for the first time, I thought that I’d see phin filters all over the country. When I ordered coffee at an arty coffee house in Hanoi, the staff simply poured it out of a large metal pot. There was no romantic phin filter and the coffee was fine. I rarely saw the metal set up on that visit. Ditto for subsequent trips to the Motherland.
Flash forward to 2024. In Buon Ma Thuot, the coffee capital of Vietnam, a server asked if I wanted phin or machine-made coffee. I chose cà phê máy (machine coffee) and he smiled, perhaps as a sign of relief (less work for him) or approval (hey, I’m not a stodgy purist Viet expat). He happily used the espresso machine.
At the Trung Nguyen coffee resort restaurant, we weren’t even asked to choose a brewing method. Rory’s cà phê sữa đặc (coffee and condensed milk) and my cà phê đen (black coffee) arrived quickly and unceremoniously.
There are quirky notions about Viet coffee, such as you must brew cà phê in a proper phin filter, try stocking coffee (cà-phê vợt) brewed in net-like fabric filter and charcoal-fueled heat, or seek real weasel coffee (coffee farmer Dũng Võ Ngọc said the animals are often forced fed). While those ideas serve to frame the Vietnamese coffee experience as unique and exotic, they are not part of many people’s daily coffee reality.
It’s caffeinated hype. There are options and you can choose the best one for you.
So, what do you need to make a good cup of Vietnamese coffee? Not much but some context and lotsa tips! Below are the following:
A condensed history of coffee in Vietnam
Brewing tips (method pros and cons, coffee buying tips, condensed milk brand suggestions)
My Viet coffee formula cheat sheet!
Recipes for classic Vietnamese coffee drinks
