If you’ve had Vietnamese coffee, you’ll know that it’s extremely strong and sweet, with a great smoky taste. It’s exploded in popularity worldwide, and now you’ll find modern versions of Vietnamese coffee, including creamy and fusion versions like this coconut ube Vietnamese coffee!

You can easily brew Vietnamese coffee at home using a phin, and then combine flavors to make a delicious and unique drink. Ube and coconut are classic flavors that work incredibly well with Vietnamese coffee.

Here’s how to make a coconut ube Vietnamese coffee at home!

What is Ube?

Ube, also known as purple yam, is a sweet root vegetable that’s brown on the outside and stunning purple on the inside. Its texture is similar to sweet potato, but the flavor is a delicious mix of nutty, sweet, and vanilla, with a subtle coconut-like aroma.

Once cooked, ube can be enjoyed just like sweet potato—peel the skin off and dig into the creamy, vibrant interior. But be careful; its vibrant color can easily stain your teeth, tongue, and even fabrics, so handle it carefully! The bold purple hue also makes ube an excellent natural coloring agent, perfect for adding a pop of color to any dessert or drink.

Ube is widely grown throughout Southeast Asia, but it’s most famous in the Philippines, where you’ll find ube featured in all kinds of treats. It’s a yam I grew up eating, and it’s always a nostalgic flavor for me!

What is Vietnamese Coffee?

Vietnamese iced coffee is a strong, drip-brewed coffee mixed with sweetened condensed milk and poured over a bed of crushed ice. It’s one of the most beloved drinks in Vietnam, and you’ll find it in nearly every cafe, restaurant, and corner store.

Coffee in Vietnam is more than just a drink—it’s a part of the culture, a beverage that brings people together at any time of day. Vietnamese coffee has a distinct flavor that’s bold and a little smoky, thanks to its dark-roasted robusta beans, which are known for their rich, oily texture and high caffeine content.

While you can drink it black, the real magic happens when you mix it with condensed milk. The addition of the creamy, sugary milk turns the coffee into something irresistibly sweet and velvety, making it incredibly addictive.

What Makes Vietnamese Coffee Different?

Vietnamese coffee stands out for its intense, rich flavor, and that’s largely thanks to the way it’s brewed and the beans it uses. Made with a phin, a traditional metal drip filter, Vietnamese coffee brews slowly, giving it a concentrated and bold taste.

The secret lies in the robusta beans, which are darker, more intense, and naturally more bitter than the smoother, milder arabica beans. Robusta beans also pack in more caffeine and give the coffee a thicker, more velvety texture. Vietnam’s tropical climate makes it ideal for growing robusta, and the country produces about 90% of the world’s robusta coffee beans. Naturally, robusta is the go-to bean, and it’s what gives Vietnamese coffee its distinctive, strong aroma and flavor.

To balance the robusta’s intensity, Vietnamese coffee is typically paired with sweetened condensed milk, creating a coffee that’s dark and smoky yet beautifully sweet. The result is a rich, bold drink that perfectly marries the deep bitterness of coffee with the creamy sweetness of condensed milk.

How to Make Vietnamese Coffee

As mentioned, you brew Vietnamese coffee using a phin filter, which you can get from any Asian grocery store for less than $5.

First, you add one or two tbsp of ground coffee into the filter, then add a little hot water to bloom the coffee.

Once warm, fill the phin with hot water, cover it, let the coffee brew, and slowly drip into a cup. The coffee will drip at a rate of about a drop per second or two seconds, and the entire phin will brew in about 5-7 minutes, depending on how fine your grind is.

Once all the coffee brews, you dissolve a tbsp of condensed milk into the hot coffee and watch it turn from black to medium brown. The true Vietnamese way is to pour the sweetened coffee over crushed ice and then serve.

Do Ube and Coconut Go Together?

Ube and coconut are a match made in dessert heaven, especially in Southeast Asian sweets like the Filipino classics halo-halo, ube halaya, and ube panna cotta. Together, these flavors create a beautifully balanced taste, where the earthiness of ube pairs perfectly with coconut’s rich, creamy texture. Ube’s nutty notes blend seamlessly with coconut’s natural sweetness and tropical undertones, highlighting the best of both.

Ube also has a hint of vanilla that adds depth and smoothness to any dessert, making it an ideal partner for bolder flavors like coconut. This vanilla-like essence gently rounds out coconut’s richness, creating a harmonious mix of indulgent and refreshing flavors.

Where to Get Ube

Ube comes in many forms, including extract, jam, powder, or whole yam, which you can all find in any Filipino or Asian grocery store (except when the yam is out of season).

For ube extract, I’ve used the Butterfly brand before, and they have many Asian flavors like pandan, almond, etc.

You can get ube powder at the grocery store, usually the Giron Foods brand, but the particles are much bigger than a powder. There are more options for ube powder online, which are much finer.

You’ll also find some ube jams or halayas in the jam or spread section, and there are usually a couple of options.

How to Make Ube Coconut Vietnamese Coffee?

Here’s what you’ll need to make a coconut ube Vietnamese coffee at home:

• Ube extract
• Canned coconut milk
• Robusta coffee beans or grounds
• Condensed milk
• Ice

Ube Coconut Vietnamese Coffee Recipe

1. Brew Vietnamese coffee. Add robusta coffee grounds in a phin and add a little hot water to bloom the coffee for 30 seconds. Then fill the phin with hot water, cover, and let the coffee brew into a cup until all the water drips out. Dissolve condensed milk into the hot coffee.
2. Make ube coconut milk. Dissolve ube extract, condensed milk, and coconut milk in a cup until well combined. You may need to add a little hot water to make it easy.
3. Assemble drink. Add ice, sweetened coffee, and coconut milk into a separate cup, then top with the ube coconut milk.
4. Mix and enjoy!

Other Variations of Vietnamese Coffee

Not a fan of coconut or ube but want to spice up your Vietnamese coffee recipe? Here’s some inspiration for your next Vietnamese coffee:

• Classic Vietnamese iced coffee
• Vietnamese salted coffee
• Cream top Vietnamese coffee
• Pandan Vietnamese coffee
• Vietnamese egg coffee
• Vietnamese coffee iced latte
• Blended Vietnamese coconut coffee

Tips

Here are some tips for making a creamy coconut ube Vietnamese coffee at home!

• If your coffee is dripping too fast from your phin, use a smaller coffee grind size. And on the flip side, use a slightly larger coffee grind size if your coffee is dripping too slowly!
• Use a very small amount of ube extract if you’re not sure how much to use. Ube extract is incredibly strong, and a little goes a long way.
• You can always use regular sugar if you don’t have condensed milk. However, you won’t get the same creamy milk flavor that condensed milk gives.