We have this Phin Filter seating at our cardboard for years and finally, we decided to get it out for use. Vietnamese coffee is an intensely strong and sweet coffee, that’s sure to dissolve your morning daze and perk you up for the day. Its dark roast coffee and potent condensed milk make this a unique coffee. After trying it, it became one of my favourite coffee.

How to make Vietnamese Coffee?

The Vietnamese coffee was rich, flavorful, sweet and perfect on a cool day, but the method for brewing and serving the coffee is what really impressed us. The coffee was brought out with a layer of condensed milk at the bottom of a small, clear thick glass, with a stainless steel Phin Vietnamese filter sitting on top.

The coffee was already dripping into the glass and mixing in with the condensed milk. When our coffees were done dripping, we stirred them to combine the coffee and condensed milk. You can enjoy them hot or fill the glass full of ice.

Vietnamese coffee filter aka Phin Filter

The Vietnamese coffee filter gives a stronger brew than that of an American drip machine and different than that of a French press, which has a lot of factors, but the metal coffee filter used to brew these is a large part of it.

The “phin” (pronounced like feen), is typically made of three or four parts. Lid; it helps keep the coffee from losing heat or evaporating too much while brewing. The body; container for water and coffee. Filter disk; a simple disk with a handle on top for removal that sits on top of the coffee grounds. This means the main way you control the speed and strength of brew is reduced to water temperature, water volume, coffee volume (and grind size if grinding your own Lastly, the rim or lip – simply the rim around the filter so you can rest it on a glass while brewing.

DO NOT shake the filters or compress the coffee, or the coffee grounds will drop into the holes of the coffee filter and plug up the holes! The result will be that the coffee takes forever to drip, or the grounds may clog the filter entirely. Place the metal filter gently on top of the coffee.

What Vietnamese Coffee we use?

Vietnamese coffee is traditionally made with dark roast coffee and often times mixed with chicory root. Common brands used for this are Trung Nguyen and Cafe Du Monde. We uses Trung Nguyen, glad that we are able to get some at Red Mart. The Vietnamese beans are usually the robusta variety (as opposed to the more common arabica).

Enjoy your Vietnamese hot coffee! To make a Vietnamese iced coffee, pour your coffee over a glassful of ice once it has been brewed and stirred. If you love coffee and have only tried weak, watered-down coffee served over ice, you’re in for a big revelation.

Vietnam coffee

Ingredients

2 tablespoons dark-roast ground coffee (preferably Trung Nguyen Premium Blend or Café Du Monde Coffee with Chicory)

2 tablespoons (scant) sweetened condensed milk

Methods

There are two ways to make Vietnamese coffee. The simplest method is to steep coffee grounds in a heatproof container with 2/3 cup boiling water for 4 minutes. Pour through a coffee filter into a heatproof glass.

Or use a metal filter, which we recommend. Bring 1 cup water to a boil. Remove top screen from filter, add coffee, then screw on top screen. Place filter over a heatproof 12-oz. glass or measuring cup.

Pour a splash of the hot water into filter; this will allow the coffee grounds to bloom. When coffee begins to drip through, add enough water to reach top of filter. Place lid on filter and let coffee drip for 4 minutes. If coffee stops dripping sooner, gently loosen screw to relieve pressure.

Stir in condensed milk until blended. Add ice, stir, and serve.