What Is Vietnamese Coffee

Vietnamese coffee is a dark-roasted coffee brewed slowly through a metal phin filter and served with sweetened condensed milk. It is one of the most distinctive coffee traditions in the world: intensely strong, deeply sweet, and thick enough to feel like a meal.

Vietnam is the second-largest coffee producer on earth, trailing only Brazil. The country grows primarily robusta, a species that is bolder, more bitter, and higher in caffeine than the arabica that dominates specialty coffee. The entire Vietnamese coffee tradition is built around robusta's strengths rather than treating them as flaws.

The Phin

The phin is a small metal drip filter that sits on top of a glass. Coarsely ground coffee goes into the chamber, hot water is added, and the water drips through slowly, taking 4 to 6 minutes to produce a small amount of extremely concentrated coffee. The phin is portable, inexpensive, and requires no electricity. It is also meditative. You sit. You watch the drip. You wait.

Hot and Iced

Cà phê sữa nóng is the hot version. Cà phê sữa đá is the iced version: the same coffee and condensed milk poured over a tall glass of ice. It is possibly the most refreshing coffee preparation in existence. The combination of dark, bitter, high-caffeine robusta with sweet, thick condensed milk should not work on paper. In the glass, it is extraordinary.

Find a Vietnamese cafe near you and ask if they serve it with a phin filter. If they do, you are in the right place.

Keep reading: How the World Drinks Coffee, What Is Third Wave Coffee, Pour Over vs. Espresso vs. Cold Brew.