How to Drink Vietnamese Drip Coffee Beans_How Much Does Vietnamese Drip Coffee Cost_Is Vietnamese Drip Coffee Delicious?

Vietnamese coffee beans, brewed as what locals call "cà phê phin," usually need to be ordered about 10 minutes in advance. Ever since French missionaries brought coffee to Vietnam 150 years ago, the country has gradually built a coffee culture entirely its own.

Much of the charm of Vietnamese coffee lies in the brewing ritual itself. The coffee is not made in a pot but with a special metal drip filter, with the brew collected below in a vintage patterned glass cup. Like an hourglass counting down time, each falling drop invites you to slow down and savor the moment. To prepare it, set the drip filter over the glass, add ground coffee to the chamber, press it down with the perforated metal plate, and pour in hot water, letting the coffee drip drop by drop into the cup below.

Those who take their hot coffee seriously place the cup over a larger bowl filled with hot water to keep it warm, since brewing a single cup can take anywhere from three to ten minutes—long enough for the coffee to cool. Many people spoon a layer of very sweet condensed milk into the bottom of the cup first, then stir everything together once the last drop has fallen. For black coffee you generally won't be given a straw, but with condensed milk you will. Only the patient wait for a full cup to finish dripping, then drink it slowly, appreciating the beauty of slow living.

Preparation Method

Ingredients:

• Gooseneck kettle (the thinner the spout, the easier the pour)
• Condensed milk
• Ground coffee
• Vietnamese drip filter (phin)
• Coffee cup (it should be transparent to be authentic—otherwise half the appeal of watching the process is lost)

Instructions:

1. Add a suitable amount of condensed milk to the cup. Condensed milk is the signature of Vietnamese coffee.
2. Fill the phin with ground coffee and shake it level.
3. Screw on the press plate to compress the grounds moderately. Adjust the plate's tension so the full drip takes about three minutes.
4. Set the filter on the cup and pour in a little water—just enough to wet all the grounds without dripping through. This step, also used in pour-over brewing, is known professionally as "blooming."
5. After about 20 seconds, fill the chamber with water at around 90°C and cover with the lid.
6. Wait for the coffee to drip slowly until the cup is full.

When drinking Vietnamese coffee, don't stir right away. Taste the black coffee's acidity first, then mix in the condensed milk. In summer, adding ice makes a refreshing variation.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Vietnamese coffee lives on sweetness, so it pairs beautifully with naturally sweet beans. FrontStreet Costa Rica Blackberry is a high-altitude black-honey lot—the most intact mucilage and deepest fermentation of any honey process—which brings a floral, grape, sweet-orange, and liqueur-chocolate sweetness; a medium-light roast shows it at its best. FrontStreet Queen Estate Brazil, roasted medium, opens with roasted-peanut and dark-chocolate depth before a lingering sweet aftertaste that holds through milk drinks. For something fruitier, FrontStreet Boundary Estate Sidra offers grape, apricot, and passion-fruit candy sweetness with a winey finish—delicious over ice, much like a chilled fruit juice.