How To Make Vietnamese Coffee At Home (Cà Phê Sữa Đá)

Hello!

Ahhhh coffee. What a wonderful way to start the day.

Have you ever tried Vietnamese iced coffee before? If you haven’t then you should! It’s amazing!

The coffee I’m referring to is called cà phê sữa đá. This literally translates to coffee with milk and ice.

Being married to Huy means I have had my fair share of Vietnamese coffee both in Vietnam in the US. When we visit Vietnam I love to go out for morning coffee with dad at our favorite coffee chain, Trung Nguyen.

I’m actually not a coffee drinker myself because in the US I find the coffee to be too bitter, and I’m also very sensitive to caffeine. That doesn’t stop me when we go to Vietnam though!

If you haven’t been able to go to Vietnam to try the coffee that’s okay. Today I’m going to teach you how you can enjoy Vietnamese style iced coffee in the comfort of your own home, as well as the SECRET to getting to to come out PERFECT!

Related video: The SECRET to making Vietnamese Coffee

What You’ll Need

In order to make this delightful drink you will need three things.

1. A Vietnamese coffee “machine”, also known as a coffee phin
2. Good quality coffee (my recommendation)
3. Sweetened condensed milk

How To Make Vietnamese Coffee In 10 Easy Steps 

1. Boil your water. You can use an electric water kettle to make life easier.
2. Fill your phin with coffee grounds. I usually will do two rounded teaspoons of coffee grounds to ensure that the taste will be strong enough. Don’t be stingy here.
3. Level the coffee grounds. You can do this by giving the phin a little shake.
4. Put the filter on top of the coffee grounds. You should also set the coffee phin on top of your cup.
5. Add ~2 tablespoons of water to the phin. THIS is the CRUCIAL STEP that you don’t want to miss. If you simply pour all of the water into the phin at once, the coffee will not brew properly!
6. After the water has disappeared, press the filter down with a spoon. By doing this your are making the coffee grounds more compact so that the water will have enough time to properly brew the coffee as gravity brings it through the grounds.
7. Add water to fill the phin. If you did step 6 well then the water SHOULD NOT drip right away. It may take up to a minute before it starts to “brew”.
8. When coffee begins to drip, make sure it’s dripping at ~1 drop per second. If it’s too fast then press the filter down with the spoon a little more to help the coffee grounds become more compact.
9. Put the lid on the phin and let the coffee finish brewing. Keep an eye on it to make sure the water isn’t dripping too fast. If it is then press the filter down harder to slow it down.
10. Mix & Enjoy! Mix freshly brewed coffee with sweetened condensed milk and ice. The coffee should be strong but sweet. If you prefer black coffee simply omit the condensed milk!

I hope that this post is easy to follow and brings you success in creating the most delicious Vietnamese coffee at home. Please let a comment if you have any questions or issues when trying this out and I’ll be sure to reply and help you out!

Watch me make my coffee at home here: The SECRET to making Vietnamese Coffee

Read next: Instant Pot Vietnamese Pho Recipe

xo

Mother of Fawn