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

How Does Vietnamese Drip Coffee Taste? Flavor Characteristics and How to Make It

Drip Coffee Extraction

The basic principle of drip brewing is to wet ground coffee with hot water, then let the water flow through once and drip out as coffee. Usually, if filter paper is used, it also filters out the coffee's colloids, so the resulting cup is clear and clean.

Drip Extraction Devices and Methods

• Cold drip
• Pour-over / drip coffee maker
• Electric coffee maker / drip machine

Flavor Profile

Coffee extracted this way has a clean, bright color with no off-flavors and a relatively refreshing taste, but the body is comparatively weak. It suits people who drink pure black coffee.

High-Pressure Extraction

High-pressure brewing is what we commonly call espresso extraction. An espresso machine generates high-pressure hot water and uses the penetrating power of that pressure to pull a thick cup of coffee.

High-Pressure Extraction Devices

• Moka pot
• Espresso machine

Flavor Profile

Mixing espresso with milk creates the familiar latte, and fresh milk can be foamed for latte art. This family of Italian coffee variations produces cappuccino, caramel macchiato, and many other drinks.

Immersion Extraction

Immersion brewing is similar to drip coffee but adds a soaking step during the process. As you would expect, the flavor comes out richer than drip coffee.

Immersion Extraction Devices

• Siphon coffee maker
• Belgian coffee maker
• French press

Flavor Profile

Generally richer than drip coffee, though this still depends on the specific device used.

The Vietnamese Drip Pot

Coffee brewed in an aluminum Vietnamese pot tastes sweeter, similar to an aluminum moka pot, but the downside is that it isn't sturdy and deforms easily.

Stainless steel pots are very sturdy, but the coffee brewed in them lacks the sweet fragrance of aluminum.

The stainless steel version comes in old and new models, and the main difference is whether the press plate can be fixed. In the newer design, a threaded iron rod protrudes in the middle of the pot; you place the press plate on it and turn it a few times to lock it in place.

I personally quite like using the new-style Vietnamese pot for specialty beans. Like a French press, it preserves the full body of the coffee completely, though it shares the same drawback: some grounds end up in the cup.

Compared with a French press, though, a Vietnamese pot can use filter paper. If you don't like grounds, simply buy the round filter papers with a hole in the middle used for siphon coffee. 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.

Vietnamese pots have long extraction times, so it's best not to grind too fine. For a Feima grinder, a setting of 3-4 is recommended, similar in coarseness to commercially sold Vietnamese coffee powder. Grinding too fine easily leads to over-extraction and bitterness.

The reason people find new-style Vietnamese pots difficult is mainly the press plate. You need to make sure it isn't locked too tightly. Generally you turn it until you feel it lightly pressing the grounds, then reverse it a few turns to create a little space between the plate and the coffee, leaving room for the grounds to expand during brewing.

This is arguably the key to whether the brewed coffee tastes good. There are generally two ways to fail:

1. If the loosened distance is too small, the grounds expand during brewing and fill the whole space, blocking the filter holes, which prolongs extraction or stops the coffee from dripping into the cup at all, making it bitter.
2. If the loosened distance is too large, the drip is too fast, extraction is insufficient, and the coffee is weak and lacks body.

Honestly, this is difficult and takes experience to master; loosening 2-5 turns is possible, and you can't see the expansion as it happens. But get it right and the flavor is truly exceptional.

If you're interested and new to Vietnamese pots, I'd suggest starting with an old model to practice. The old model simply places the press plate directly on the grounds without fixing it, so when the grounds expand after water is added, they naturally push the plate up. That makes the first failure mode above impossible and is easier to control.

Waiting for it to slowly finish dripping is a genuinely leisurely way to brew. For impatient people like me, though, I still prefer pour-over.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

If the moka pot is your method of choice, blends are the simplest place to start. FrontStreet's Classic Blend is designed for espresso and the moka pot, and its biggest strength is outstanding crema; even a beginner on a modest home machine can pull a dense, fine-textured shot, thanks to the traditional Mamba recipe and a full, warm body that suits everyone from newcomers to veterans.

For those watching cost without giving up quality, FrontStreet's Black Cocoa Blend is 100% Arabica with plenty of crema, a full body, and a friendly price. The Autumn Chestnut Blend takes a different route, a balanced 100% Arabica blend of Honduran Cattura and Papua New Guinea Typica, with a warm, roasted-chestnut nuttiness, caramel and brown-sugar sweetness, a soft middle, and a clean finish of nut, cocoa, and a hint of spice.

Single origins work beautifully in a moka pot too. FrontStreet's PWN Indonesia Golden Mandheling is deeply roasted with very low acidity, a thick, lingering body, and plenty of herb and dark chocolate aromas with a faint earthy note, ideal for those who like bold, low-acid coffee. FrontStreet's Brazil Queen Estate is similarly low in acid and very balanced, with pronounced nut and cocoa aromas and a clear caramel sweetness, smooth and mellow whether hand-brewed, pulled as espresso, or made in a moka pot.