In my last post, I wrote a bit of an introduction to the coffee culture in Vietnam. In this post, we will make some Vietnamese coffee. It is very tasty and it is so cheap to make at home compared to paying for one at the coffee shop. This type of coffee is very common in the old Indochina countries which are now Vietnam, Cambodia, and Lao.
All you need is:
- Vietnamese coffee filter
- Coffee, medium to fine grind or this type of coffee from Vietnam
- Condensed Milk. Any brand will work. I am usually using 365 Value Organic Condensed Milk from Whole Food Market. If you can go to a Vietnamese market, you might able to find this long time Vietnamese brand, Sua Ong Tho
First, fill half of the filter with fresh ground coffee or pre-ground coffee of our choice, put the press part on top of the coffee, do not press it tightly. Add boiling water then wait until the water went goes down then add more boiling water. It will take time for the coffee to absorb water and release the oil and its aroma, very much like pour over method. Depend on how strong you like the coffee to be, you can stop adding water for the third time or continue. Note: if the coffee and boiling water created a lot of small bubbles and released strong good coffee smell, it means your coffee ground is good and new.
You either can add condensed milk before the coffee or after the coffee was done. It depends on how strong is the coffee and how sweet you like it to be, adjust the amount of condensed milk to your taste. Mix them up then you have a Vietnamese milk coffee, it is good both warm or over ice.
And now if you want to want to change it up, we will make a Spanish Latte which is coffee + condensed milk + frothed milk
Warm up some milk in the oven for 30 seconds and froth it with a milk frother then add on top of the Vietnamese milk coffee. My favorite brand is Hario and I’ve been using my Hario milk frother for 5 years. It is such a well-made frother, battery last for up to a year compared to another brand.
I hope you will enjoy the coffee instruction that I shared. Feel free to ask any question you may concern. Thank you for reading!