Vietnamese Coffee
Pexels

Vietnamese Coffee

Vietnam
Vietnam

Vietnamese coffee, known as "Cà Phê," is the most popular of many coffees that come from Vietnam. This coffee has a strong caffeine kick which, and with added sweetened condensed milk it creates a flavor that pops out from the rest of the coffee flock.

 

Contents

 

Coffee Beans and Caffeine Content of Vietnamese Coffee

As a rule of thumb, classic Vietnamese coffee uses exclusively the robusta coffee beans. They provide the Vietnamese coffee a bitter taste (that's why we put sweetened condensed milk in it) but these beans also provide us with a bigger caffeine kick than most of the other coffees in the world. Some reports say Vietnamese coffee is known to be the strongest coffee brew in the world.

 

There are three factors that contribute to the high caffeine content of Vietnamese coffee:

  1. High Coffee-to-Water Ratio: Traditional Vietnamese coffee is brewed using a Phin filter and using a 1:2 coffee-to-water ratio. For comparison, this is almost four times more than the French press method.
  2. Dark Roast Robusta Beans: Robusta beans have more caffeine content than arabica beans. Also, good to know is that dark-roasted beans hold up well to longer brewing methods such as this one.
  3. Slow Extraction While Brewing: Vietnamese coffee grounds are much finer than standard filter coffee (comparable to Espresso or even Turkish coffee), which increases the surface area.

 

A cup 4–6 oz (120–180 ml) of Vietnamese coffee contains from 60 to 140 mg of caffeine, depending on the factors used and the brewing method.

 

Origin and History of Vietnamese Coffee

Historically, Vietnam had a late introduction to coffee compared to many other countries, but has provided us with more coffee brewing methods than most. The history of Vietnamese coffee dates back to the 19th century during the French colonial period in Indochina. The French brought coffee plants to Vietnam, and with its great weather and fertile soil, it became a perfect place to grow coffee. Today, Vietnam is one of the exporters of coffee beans in the world.

Vietnamese people used to use fresh milk in their coffee, but because of milk shortages, they were forced to switch to sweetened condensed milk. This combo remained until today as a staple of Vietnamese coffee.

 

Ingredients

  1. 3 tbsp ground coffee
  2. 1-3 tbsp sweetened condensed milk
  3. 6-8 oz (120ml-220ml) hot water

 

How to Make Vietnamese Coffee

  1. Prepare the Phin filter: Add 3 tbsp of Vietnamese coffee to a Phin filter. Don’t shake it or push it down at this point. That is done in step 3.
  2. Bloom the Coffee: Pour 2 tbsp of hot water over the coffee grounds and wait 10 seconds. This will supposedly bring out the flavor of the coffee.
  3. Compress the Coffee: Push the filter gently to compress the coffee.
  4. Pour the condensed milk into the glass: Pour 1-3 tbsp of condensed milk at the bottom of the glass.
  5. Add the Rest of the Water: Slowly pour the rest of the hot water into a Phin filter and let it drip into a glass having already condensed milk in it.
  6. Stir the Coffee: Using a teaspoon, stir the coffee and milk well once it’s finished dripping.

 

Watch this video for a step-by-step guide on how to make Vietnamese Coffee:

 

Vietnamese Coffee Facts and Trivia

  • Second-Largest Coffee Producer: Vietnam is the second-largest exporter of robusta beans in the world.
  • Phin Filter: The Phin filter is required to make a classic Vietnamese coffee.