The cult favorite Vietnamese iced coffee is strong, sweet, creamy, and packed with energy. It hits you with a robust flavor followed by a creamy sweetness from the condensed milk. It’s wildly addicting and easy to make at home!

You only need two ingredients to make Vietnamese iced coffee, and a special Vietnamese coffee maker called a phin. It takes 10 minutes to make, and you’ll be set for the rest of the day. It’s one of my favorite coffee drinks, but I can’t have it every day.

Here’s how to make a delicious Vietnamese iced coffee at home!

What is Vietnamese Iced Coffee?

Vietnamese iced coffee is a strongly brewed drip coffee mixed with condensed milk poured over crushed ice. It’s one of the most popular drinks in Vietnam, and you’ll find it in literally every restaurant, cafe, and store.

It’s so popular that it’s an important part of Vietnamese culture, where coffee is a beverage that brings people together no matter the time.

Vietnamese coffee is known for its intense flavor, which is roasted and slightly burnt. It’s a dark-roasted robusta coffee known for its oily texture and high caffeine content.

While you can drink it straight, many people prefer having Vietnamese coffee with condensed milk, which adds an incredible creaminess and sweetness. It’s what makes Vietnamese coffee so addicting.

What Makes Vietnamese Coffee Different?

As mentioned, Vietnamese coffee uses robusta beans, which are darker, stronger, and bitterer in flavor than arabica beans. It also has more caffeine and a thicker mouthfeel, producing a more viscous texture.

Vietnamese coffee uses robusta instead of arabica beans because Vietnam specializes in growing robusta coffee and produces 90% of the world’s robusta coffee bean supply thanks to its tropical climate.

The result is an intensely dark and sweet coffee that has the extremes of bitter and sweet in it. However, Vietnamese coffee has a special brewing method that sets it apart from other types of coffee.

What is a Vietnamese Coffee Maker?

You use a coffee filter called a phin to brew Vietnamese coffee. Without it, can you really say you made Vietnamese coffee?

The phin is a Vietnamese coffee maker about the size of a small cylinder jar made of metal. It has four parts: the filter plate, brewing chamber, gravity press, and lid.

You add the coffee into the phin, and then the metal gravity press helps brew the coffee slowly, so you end up with a drip coffee with concentrated flavor and caffeine. The water passes through the coffee slowly, extracting all the flavor and goodness that ends up in your cup!

Vietnamese Coffee Caffeine

How much caffeine does Vietnamese coffee have, you ask?

Because of the robusta beans, a serving of Vietnamese coffee can have about 100 mg of caffeine, double that of a regular coffee like a latte.

Additionally, the phin filter allows the coffee grounds to brew for longer, so you’re extracting not only more flavor but also more caffeine as well.

So, if you plan to drink Vietnamese iced coffee, know how much caffeine you consume! It’s not for people with caffeine sensitivities unless you can find a decaf option. Also, it’s quite high in sugar because it needs a lot to balance the bitter taste.

How to Make Vietnamese Iced Coffee

Here’s everything you need to know to make Vietnamese Iced Coffee at home.

What You Need

To make Vietnamese iced coffee at home, you’ll need:

• A phin
• A kettle with a spout
• Vietnamese preground coffee beans
• Condensed milk
• Hot water
• Crushed ice

Vietnamese Iced Coffee Recipe

1. First, find a heatproof glass that your phin can fit on. A glass one is ideal for watching the coffee drip and seeing if it’s dripping too slowly or too fast.
2. Remove the phin lid and inner metal filter, and add 1-2 tbsp of your coffee grounds. Then, add the metal filter back in and gently tamp the coffee grounds. You don’t need to press hard at all, just enough to secure the filter inside the phin.
3. Add 1 oz of hot water to the phin in a circular motion to wet the coffee bed and allow it to bloom for 30 to 45 seconds. This lets the gas escape from the beans and give you a better flavor.
4. Fill the phin to the top with hot water and add the lid. Let the coffee brew and drip for 5-7 minutes or until no more water is in the phin. Your coffee should drip slowly, about a drop every 2-3 seconds.
5. Remove the phin, dissolve 1 tbsp of condensed milk, and pour it over crushed ice. Now, you can enjoy your iced coffee!

Having trouble brewing Vietnamese coffee? See my tips at the end of this blog!

Best Vietnamese Coffee Brands

While you can use any coffee grounds you want, getting a bag of Vietnamese coffee grounds will help achieve the traditional flavor of Vietnamese coffee.

Two cult favorites are the Cafe du Monde and Trung Nguyen coffee grounds. The first is a Vietnamese American staple with chicory to give it that earthy, nutty taste. It is made with arabica beans, but it became popular with Vietnamese immigrants because the chicory mimics the taste of robusta beans, reminding them of home.

The second is more authentically Vietnamese, as Trung Nguyen uses robusta beans.

However, you’ll get the best flavor using fresh robusta beans and grinding them yourself to make your Vietnamese coffee. Some Vietnamese coffee brands selling Vietnamese robusta beans include:

• Nguyen Coffee Supply
• Nam Coffee
• Saigon Drip
• Portland Ca Phe
• Copper Cow Coffee

Tips

Here are some tips on making Vietnamese iced coffee at home!

• Crushed ice is crucial for Vietnamese coffee! It’s not required, but it helps cool the coffee much faster and helps balance out the coffee flavor (which is intense).
• If your coffee drips too slowly, your coffee grounds are too fine. Adjust the coffee grounds to be slightly larger, or buy larger ones.
• If your coffee drips too fast, your coffee grounds are too large. Grind your coffee slightly smaller, or buy finer coffee grounds.
• Add half a tablespoon of condensed milk if the coffee is not sweet enough. You can always add sugar, but you can’t take it away.