This drink is a modern twist on traditional Vietnamese iced coffee or cà phê sữa đá, which is strong and sweet. We add a cream top to the drink to make it extra creamy and delicious and use Vietnamese coffee in a latte!

This cream-top iced latte blends Vietnamese coffee and Western iced lattes, popular in hip Vietnamese cafes. It’s indulgent and easy to make at home as a treat.

Here’s how to make a modern cream-top Vietnamese coffee at home!

What is Vietnamese Coffee?

Vietnamese coffee usually refers to Vietnamese iced coffee, a strongly brewed coffee mixed with condensed milk served over crushed ice. It’s a sweet, strong, and refreshing drink that you can find all over Vietnam.

However, Vietnam also has coffee beans, which are robusta coffee beans with a distinct flavor profile.

Sometimes, people will also say Vietnamese coffee refers to the brewing method, which uses a phin, a traditional Vietnamese coffee filter that uses gravity to brew coffee.

Vietnamese iced coffee, or cà phê sữa đá, is made with Vietnamese coffee beans using a phin mixed with condensed milk for a sweet and bold flavor.

What is Condensed Milk?

Condensed milk is sweetened milk that has been boiled to remove more than half the water to make a canned, sticky, sweet sauce.

In the 1800s, a French confection chef made condensed milk in his factory (without sugar), which people did not like. Then, it was brought to America, and a farmer helped industrialize the product, adding sugar to extend its shelf life.

It became popular as a food ration, and eventually, people discovered the product’s versatility, and it skyrocketed in popularity.

Now, you can use it in desserts and drinks, which you’ll find globally.

What Does Vietnamese Coffee Taste Like?

Vietnamese coffee has a distinct chicory, nutty, and chocolate flavor! It’s bold and bitter, so people add condensed milk to make the coffee more enjoyable to drink.

It’s known to be strong in taste and has a rich, oily texture from the robusta beans, which are more robust (haha, get it) than arabica beans.

Depending on what you add to the coffee, it can take on different flavors. For example, cà phê trứng, or Vietnamese egg coffee, has a sweet egg foam on top of brewed Vietnamese coffee, which gives it a custard flavor.

How Much Caffeine is In Vietnamese Coffee

Vietnamese coffee has around 100-150 mg per serving, but factors like brewing and coffee amount affect caffeine.

This is because Vietnamese coffee uses robusta coffee beans, which have 1.4-2x more caffeine than arabica coffee beans.

Fun Fact: Arabica coffee is more expensive and popular than robusta beans because it’s smoother, sweeter, and more flavorful. But that’s up to personal taste!

Because it has so much caffeine, Vietnamese coffee is known for being extremely energizing and intensely strong in taste. A little cup goes a long way!

What Makes Vietnamese Coffee Different

Apart from its strong nutty taste, the brewing method makes Vietnamese coffee different from other coffees.

A phin filter uses gravity to brew coffee using a small gravity press, a small piece of metal that pushes down on the coffee grounds. When you add hot water on top, it passes through the coffee slowly, brewing a concentrated cup of coffee.

You also use a high ratio of coffee grounds to water with a phin, so there’s more flavor in each brewed drop!

As a result, a phin will make around a half cup of incredibly strong coffee, which is perfect for mixing with condensed milk for creaminess and sweetness.

How to Make Vietnamese Coffee

You need Vietnamese coffee grounds, ideally, robusta beans, hot water, a phin, and condensed milk to make Vietnamese coffee.

First, boil water in your kettle. A kettle with a pour spout is easier to use but not necessary. Add your phin on top of a heatproof cup, add 1-2 tbsp of ground coffee to your phin, and ensure the grounds are even and flat in the filter.

Add the gravity press on top of the grounds, pressing down lightly. Add about an ounce of hot water and wait 30-45 seconds to bloom the coffee.

Pour hot water to fill the phin until it is full, then cover it using the lid. The coffee should drip down slowly and finish in, at minimum, about 5 minutes.

Once it’s finished, dissolve a spoonful of condensed milk into your coffee. You can also add the condensed milk into the cup before you brew so it dissolves automatically. Pour it over crushed ice and enjoy!

Where to Find Vietnamese Coffee

You can buy (the drink) Vietnamese coffee at any Vietnamese restaurant, fast food place, bakery, or deli. Every Vietnamese shop sells Vietnamese coffee! In the States, Lee’s Sandwiches, a Vietnamese deli chain, is synonymous with Vietnamese coffee.

Now, you can also find it in trendy cafes or boba tea shops, but the best ones are at Vietnamese shops or owned cafes.

You can get Vietnamese coffee grounds at any Asian grocery store, and the most popular brands are Trung Nguyen or Cafe du Monde. However, Cafe du Monde is extremely popular with Vietnamese-Americans while Trung Nguyen is popular all over.

Does Vietnam Produce Coffee?

Yes! Vietnam is the world’s second-largest coffee-producing region, and 90% of its production is for robusta coffee.

Vietnam has a tropical climate, which is hot and humid year-round, which are perfect conditions for growing coffee.

While Vietnam produces a large portion of the world’s coffee, only a few Vietnamese-owned coffee brands advertise high-quality Vietnamese-grown coffee.

In recent years, brands like Nguyen Coffee Supply, Copper Cow Coffee, and Portland Ca Phe have emerged and introduced specialty Vietnamese coffee to the Western market, and I am sure there are more to come.

What is a Cream Top?

A cream top is just half-whipped heavy cream to top beverages. Usually, it is sweetened and unflavored, which is perfect for adding creaminess and sweetness to coffee, matcha, or tea.

You can make it with any heavy cream you’d like and add different flavors or syrups. Just note that when you whip your cream, make sure not to overwhip it, or else you’ll end up with whipped cream (which is delicious).

Otherwise, make sure that your cream is thick but pourable.

Tips

Here are some tips on making a great cream-top Vietnamese coffee at home:

• If your coffee is dripping too fast, adjust your coffee grind size! The finer the coffee grounds, the slower it drips. If your coffee drips too fast, your coffee grounds are too large, and vice versa! If your coffee takes too long to drip, use a coarser grind.
• You can always use regular sugar if you don’t have condensed milk. However, it won’t have that signature creamy sweetness you get with condensed milk.