How Egg and Salt make Vietnamese Coffee super tasty

my 🐣 ☕️ egg coffee + 🧂 ☕️ salt coffee how to!

Hello everyone!

For those of you gearing up to make the microwave-friendly sticky rice, shiitake and chestnut dressing, Lululz took the recipe for a practice run (a smart idea!) and said it was wonderful, BUT, I had a mistakenly left out a small but important detail. Lululz figured it out and flagged me. The recipe is now updated and correct, in both text and PDF versions. Get your dressing game on!

Now, you may need some extra coffee for the holidays ahead . . .

Vietnam’s penchant for coffee and condensed milk dates back to the French colonial era but people love to play with the two ingredients to craft new caffeinated beverages. I got thinking about what eggs and salt can do for Viet coffee after Evvy contributed this comment to the Viet coffee making dispatch:

I have fond memories from way back when my grandmother made coffee. They used a percolator, which was a common household appliance at the time. Drip coffee makers had yet to be invented and Keurig wasn't a word that anyone knew. I don't remember Starbucks or others being around. Maybe they were. In short, one made their own coffee. Theirs was delicious. They put salt, eggshells and what not into a grid from a can. I've never been able to replicate it and so wish I had asked them for their recipe. It seems to me that coffee making has become a bigger than life endeavor with custom roasters, grinding machines of all sorts, and secret sources!

Evvy’s grandmother did some serious tinkering to come up with that! We drink coffee daily and each of us has our own personal ritual and formula. Once in a while, we try something different, maybe on the weekend for brunch, an afternoon pick-me-up, or post dinner lift.

So today, let’s focus on New Wave Vietnamese coffee drinks. I’m thinking they’d be unexpected fun additions to holiday menus

You may think — “Andrea, it’s just about an inky, strong cup of coffee (cà phê) and how you complement and soften it with sweetness and richness with sweetened condensed milk (sữa đặc). They’re BFF, classic, and iconic. Why rock the boat, sister!”

Sure, purists gravitate toward cà phê sữa đặc but coffee shops in Vietnam are always looking for ways to stand out, to distinguish themselves, to hustle and be a better coffee maker than their competitors. We are hyper entrepreneurial.

Of note are egg coffee and salt coffee, which have enjoyed local and regional popularity but in the past several years, really gained traction throughout Vietnam. As Vietnam becomes a player in the craft coffee scene with efforts like that of coffee farmer Dũng Võ Ngọc in the central highlands, you’ll hear more about quality beans and hip ways to use them beyond making a cup of cà phê sữa đặc or iced coffee and condensed milk.

Egg coffee, as done in my home, is good enough for dessert.

What are egg coffee and salt coffee?

The names are awkward. Cà phê trứng (egg coffee, above) contains eggs and cà phê muối (salt coffee) sports a salty edge. The first is sinful tasting, the second looks sinful but is refreshing, a bit evocative of salty caramel.

Salt coffee, recreated by me and soon you!

I tasted both coffee drinks in Vietnam and assure you that they’re worth investigating. But you don’t have to visit the motherland to drink them, though in this dispatch, you’ll get some of the vibes of Vietnam’s moody coffee scene. You also don’t have to go to Little Saigon, where you may or may not find egg or salt coffee because what’s trending in Vietnam hasn’t pervaded expat Viet enclaves.

You can make these unusually good coffee drinks at home, with recipes that I developed based on what I tasted in Vietnam. Expect the following below:

• Where, when, and how did egg coffee and salt coffee come about

• Detailed recipes for both drinks in text and PDF

• Equipment and ingredient tips

Keep reading, my friends. I got well caffeinated this week to bring you this info that bridges transpacific coffee pleasures.