Vietnamese iced coffee
Cà phê sữa đá: strong coffee dripped through a phin onto sweetened condensed milk, stirred, and poured over ice.
Vietnam · Phin · Iced · Strong
- Coffee
- 20 g
- Water
- 100 ml
- Ratio
- 1 : 5
- Temperature
- About 95 °C
- Time
- 7 min
- Caffeine
- About 100 mg
About 95 °C, just off the boil.
Dark roast, medium-coarse grind- Ice 120 ml
- Phin coffee 60 ml
- Condensed milk 23 ml
Ingredients
- 20 gGround coffeemedium-coarse; a dark roast
- 30 gSweetened condensed milk
- 100 mlWaterjust off the boil
- 120 gIce
Method
Spoon the condensed milk into a heatproof glass and set the phin on top.
Add 20 g of coffee to the phin, shake it level, and set the press on top without pushing it down hard.
Pour about 20 ml of water to wet the coffee, and wait 30 seconds.
Wait0:30Fill the chamber with the rest of the water, about 80 ml, put the lid on, and let it drip. It should take 4 to 5 minutes.
Drip4:30Stir the coffee into the condensed milk and pour it over a glass full of ice.
Tips
- If the phin drips through in under 3 minutes, grind finer or set the press a little firmer; if it stops, loosen it.
- For cà phê sữa nóng, the hot version, stand the glass in a bowl of hot water while it drips and leave out the ice.
- Traditional Vietnamese coffee is robusta, with about twice the caffeine of arabica; with arabica beans the cup is softer.
About this drink
Cà phê sữa đá, iced coffee with milk, is the everyday coffee of Vietnam. Strong coffee drips slowly through a small aluminium phin filter onto sweetened condensed milk, is stirred, and is poured over ice. Condensed milk became the norm because fresh milk was scarce, and the result is intense, sweet, and chocolatey, traditionally made with dark-roasted robusta.
