How Does Vietnamese Drip Coffee Taste and What Are Its Flavor Characteristics? How to Make Vietnamese Drip Coffee

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Drip Coffee Extraction:

The basic principle of drip coffee brewing is to wet ground coffee with hot water, then let the water flow through once to drip out the coffee. Typically, if using filter paper, it will also filter out the colloids in the coffee, so the filtered coffee will be clear and clean.

Drip Coffee Extraction Machines or Methods:

• Cold Drip
• Pour-over / Drip Coffee Maker
• Electric Coffee Maker / Drip Coffee Machine

Flavor Profile:

Coffee extracted in this way has a clean, bright color without off-flavors, a relatively refreshing taste, but the body (thickness) will be relatively weak, suitable for people who drink pure black coffee.

High-Pressure Extraction:

High-pressure brewing is commonly known as espresso extraction, using an espresso machine to generate high-pressure hot water, utilizing the penetrating power of high pressure to extract a cup of thick coffee liquid.

High-Pressure Extraction Machines:

• Moka Pot
• Espresso Machine

Flavor Profile:

Mixing espresso with milk creates the familiar latte. You can also foam fresh milk for latte art. This series of Italian coffee variations creates cappuccino, caramel macchiato, and other coffee drinks.

Immersion Extraction:

Immersion coffee brewing is similar to drip coffee, but with an additional step of soaking the coffee grounds during the process. Therefore, it's understandable that the coffee's flavor will be richer than drip coffee.

Immersion Extraction Machines:

• Siphon Coffee Maker
• Belgian Coffee Maker
• French Press

Flavor Profile:

Generally speaking, it will be richer than drip coffee, but this still depends on the actual coffee machine used.

Vietnamese Drip Coffee Pot:

Coffee brewed with an aluminum Vietnamese pot will taste sweeter (similar to aluminum moka pots), but the disadvantage is that it's not sturdy and easily deformed.

Stainless steel pots are very sturdy, but the coffee brewed will lack that sweet fragrance compared to aluminum ones.

Stainless steel version. The difference between new and old models is mainly whether the press plate can be fixed. As you can see with this one, there's a threaded iron rod protruding in the middle of the pot. Just place the press plate on the right side and turn it a few times to lock it in place.

I personally quite like using new-style Vietnamese pots for specialty beans. Like French press, the full body of the coffee can be completely preserved, but the disadvantage is the same - there will be some coffee grounds in the coffee.

However, compared to French press, Vietnamese pots can use filter paper. If you don't like grounds, just buy the round filter paper with holes in the middle used for siphon coffee. But filter paper will make the coffee thinner, and personally I think if you're going to do that, you might as well drink pour-over coffee.

Vietnamese pots have long extraction times, so it's recommended not to grind the coffee too fine. For the Feima grinder, a setting of 3-4 is recommended (commercially sold Vietnamese coffee powder has a similar coarseness). Grinding too fine will easily lead to over-extraction, making the coffee bitter.

The reason people find new-style Vietnamese pots difficult to use is mainly the press plate. You need to ensure the press plate isn't locked too tightly. Generally, you turn it until you feel it lightly pressing the coffee grounds (in colloquial terms, when it feels a bit tight), then reverse it a few turns to create space between the press plate and coffee grounds, allowing room for the coffee grounds to expand during brewing.

This can be said to be the key to whether the brewed coffee tastes good. There are generally two types of failures:

1. If the loosened distance is too small, the coffee grounds expand during brewing and fill the entire space, blocking the filter holes, prolonging extraction time or preventing coffee from dripping into the cup, making the coffee bitter.
2. If the loosened distance is too much, the drip speed is too fast, extraction is insufficient, the coffee is too weak, and lacks a rich mouthfeel.

Honestly, this is quite difficult and requires experience to master (loosening 2-5 turns is possible), and you can't see the expansion situation. But if you get it right, the flavor is truly exceptional.

If you're interested and new to Vietnamese pots, I personally suggest getting an old model to practice with first. The old model just places the press plate directly on the coffee grounds without fixing it, so when the coffee grounds expand after adding water, they naturally push the press plate up. Therefore, the first failure situation above won't happen, making it easier to control.

Waiting for it to slowly finish dripping is truly a leisurely brewing device. For impatient people like me, I still prefer pour-over coffee...

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Related recommendations: Can Italian blend beans be used for drip coffee? What are the differences between coffee beans for American coffee and Italian coffee?

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