The first time I had a Vietnamese coffee made and served the traditional way was in, of all places, Colorado Springs. We were visiting friends who suggested what turned out to be a great Vietnamese restaurant that served big, flavorful bowls of pho and Vietnamese grilled pork chops with rice noodles (we make a similar Vietnamese noodle salad with seared pork chops). The food was great, but on a whim, I ordered a cup of Vietnamese hot coffee (cà phê sữa nóng), and I was hooked!
The Vietnamese coffee was rich, flavorful, sweet and perfect on a cool day, but the method for brewing and serving the coffee is what really impressed me. The coffee was brought out with a layer of condensed milk at the bottom of a small, clear thick glass, with a stainless steel Phin Vietnamese filter sitting on top.
The coffee was already dripping into the glass and mixing in with the condensed milk. My friend, Philip ordered a Vietnamese iced coffee (cà phê sua dá), so he had the same setup along with another glass filled with ice. When our coffees were done dripping, we stirred them up to combine the coffee and condensed milk, and mine was ready to enjoy. Philip poured his coffee into the glass full of ice and voila!
As coffee addicts even before this experience, we had to go to the one Asian market in town to buy some of those Vietnamese style stainless steel coffee filters (Phin filters) so we could make our own Vietnamese coffee recipe.
We also got our hands on some of the Vietnamese coffee that the restaurant used. The condensed milk is the Longevity brand–Philip said he has been using the same brand for years! As for the Trung Nguyen brand of ground Vietnamese coffee, it has a deep rich flavor with just a tiny hint of hazelnut flavor.
Here’s what you’ll need:
- 3 tablespoons Vietnamese ground coffee (we used Trung Nguyen brand)
- 1-3 tablespoons sweetened condensed milk, depending on your preference (we used Longevity brand)
- 6-8 ounces water that is close to boiling point, depending on your desired coffee strength
We used the Trung Nguyen brand of ground coffee for this Vietnamese coffee recipe, but you can use any good French roast coffee, too.
Our Vietnamese Phin coffee filters are the 6-ounce size, but they come in different sizes depending upon your brewing needs. Alternatively, you can use a French coffee press or your favorite drip coffee method.
Update: We received a suggestion from one of our readers to rinse the phin filter and the cup with/in hot boiling water so the coffee will bloom and drop better. It cleans and pre-heats the filter and it works!
Measure 3 tablespoons of ground coffee, and distribute it evenly into the filter.
DO NOT shake the filters or compress the coffee, or the coffee grounds will drop into the holes of the coffee filter and plug up the holes! The result will be that the coffee takes forever to drip, or the grounds may clog the filter entirely. Place the metal filter gently on top of the coffee.
Pour 1-3 tablespoons of condensed milk into your coffee mug or heatproof glass.
Measure out 6 ounces of near boiling water. Use 8 ounces if you don’t like your coffee with such a strong kick in the pants.
Pour two tablespoons of hot water into the filter and wait for 5 seconds to “bloom” the coffee. The bloom is the part of the coffee brewing process when the water releases CO2 from the coffee, and the grounds expand.
Next, press on the filter gently to compress the bloomed coffee. This helps slow down the drip rate when you use all of your water, and also makes for a more flavorful coffee.
With these steps, you’ll be able to achieve the optimum brewing time. That said, now slowly pour the rest of the water into the filter, and the coffee will begin dripping into your cup or glass.
Wait about 5 minutes for the coffee to finish drip brewing!
Remove the filter, and stir to mix in the condensed milk. The amount of condensed milk you use is a very personal decision but here are my personal recommendations:
- 1 tablespoon sweetened condensed milk for a regular coffee
- 2 tablespoons of sweetened condensed milk for a sweet coffee
- 3 tablespoons of sweetened condensed milk; your coffee will taste closer to a caramel coffee hard candy, and sometimes there ain’t nothin’ wrong with that!
Enjoy your Vietnamese hot coffee (cà phê sữa nóng)! To make a Vietnamese iced coffee (cà phê sua dá), pour your coffee over a glassful of ice once it has been brewed and stirred.
How to Make Vietnamese Coffee
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons Vietnamese ground coffee (we used Trung Nguyen brand)
- 1-3 tablespoons sweetened condensed milk (depending on your preference; we used Longevity brand)
- 6-8 ounces water that is close to boiling point (depending on your desired coffee strength)
Instructions
- We used the Trung Nguyen brand of ground coffee for this Vietnamese coffee recipe, but you can use any good French roast coffee, too.
- Our Phin Vietnamese coffee filters are the 6-ounce size, but they come in different sizes depending upon your brewing needs. Alternatively, you can use a French coffee press or your favorite drip coffee method.
- Measure 3 tablespoons of ground coffee, and distribute it evenly into the filter.
- DO NOT shake the filters or compress the coffee, or the coffee grounds will drop into the holes of the coffee filter and plug up the holes! The result will be that the coffee takes forever to drip, or the grounds may clog the filter entirely. Place the metal filter gently on top of the coffee.
- Pour your desired amount of condensed milk into a mug or heatproof glass.
- Measure out 6 ounces of near boiling water. Use 8 ounces if you don’t like your coffee with such a strong kick in the pants.
- With the filter placed over the glass, pour two tablespoons of hot water into the filter and wait for 5 seconds to "bloom" the coffee. The bloom is the part of the coffee brewing process when the water releases CO2 from the coffee, and the grounds expand.
- Next, press on the filter gently to compress the bloomed coffee. This helps slow down the drip rate when you use all of your water, and also makes for a more flavorful coffee.
- With these steps, you’ll be able to achieve the optimum brewing time. That said, now slowly pour the rest of the water into the filter, and the coffee will begin dripping into your cup or glass.
- Wait about 5 minutes for the coffee to finish drip brewing!
- Remove the filter, and stir to mix in the condensed milk.
Nutrition
Lucy says
Can I double the recipe if I wanted to make two servings in the drip filter?
Bill says
Hi Lucy, yes you can, but only if you are using the larger drip filter. The filters we use in this post are single serving only and putting more coffee in them may jam up the holes. They will probably not work as well.
Thy says
Hey Bill! I’ve been following your recipes for a while. As a native Vietnamese and a coffeeholic, I would say that this recipe is exactly what I do to make cà phê sữa đá. But one more I add to the steps before distributing the coffee ground to the filter is to wash/put the phin filter and the cup with/in hot boiling water so the coffee will bloom and drop better 🤗
Bill says
Hi Thy, thanks so much for that suggestion! It makes perfect sense too! I will add this to the post, and I’m going to make an iced coffee right now :)
Tiffany says
Hello! I would love to try this recipe. I’m a little confused on how to use the Vietnamese phin coffee filters. Could you please post a video with the steps? Thank you.
Bill says
Hi Tiffany, I have been wanting to do a video but my To-Do list is huge. If you have those filters, just give them a try, re-read my post and you’ll get it. Now alternatively, you can simple use the pour-over method for coffee instead of these filters. What I do when we camp or when we go RV’ing is use a coffee filter/pour-over filter for coffee, and I use the same method for Vietnamese coffee as well.
Rachel Lim says
Where we can buy e coffee powder? N how much?
Thank you,
Rachel
Bill says
Hi Rachel, I have not come across any coffee powder – only Vietnamese ground coffee.