Like Turkish coffee and espresso, making Vietnamese coffee involves its own little secrets and rituals. The coffee, called ca phe, is actually brewed in a miniature drip pot that sits on top of your coffee cup. The “cup†is more usually a glass, because Vietnamese coffee is as much a treat for the eyes as it is for the tongue. The Vietnamese coffee pot looks a bit like a top hat. The rim is designed to sit on the rim of the glass. Inside, the coffee pot consists of the chamber and a filter. The filter lid unscrews from the body of the coffee pot so that you can add the coffee and then cover it.
How to Make Vietnamese Ca Phe with a Vietnamese Coffee Pot
Unscrew the filter insert and remove it from the pot.
Spoon about two tablespoons of very finely ground Vietnamese coffee into the pot. If you can’t find Vietnamese coffee, try Luzianne coffee with chicory. In fact, many experts claim that it isn’t Vietnamese coffee without the chicory.
Replace the filter insert and screw it down tightly over the coffee grounds. This serves the same purpose as tamping the filter basket when making espresso. It compresses the coffee into a hard puck and slows the process of the water through the ground coffee, giving it time to extract all the flavor.
Pour about 1/3 of an inch of sweetened condensed milk into the bottom of your coffee glass or cup. Place the Vietnamese coffee pot over the rim of your cup or glass.
Pour one cup of water just off the boil into the pot over the filter top. Cover the pot and wait.
The coffee will take its time. More than almost any other method of making coffee save perhaps Turkish coffee, drinking Vietnamese coffee encourages a leisurely attitude. It is not coffee for the rushed and impatient. It can take ten minutes or more for the water to finish dripping through the coffee grounds into the glass, transformed into thick, rich, velvety coffee. The coffee, being of different density, simply sits on top of the milk, forming three distinct layers – the creamy milk at the bottom, a very thin layer of caramel colored coffee that has dissolved some of the milk, and the thick coffee on the top.
Remove the coffee top hat from the glass and set it on a saucer or plate beside you. Stir up the coffee and milk with a spoon and enjoy.
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How to Make Vietnamese Iced Coffee
Ever have a Vietnamese iced coffee at the local Pho restaurant. Well this simple recipes will have you having Vietnamese iced coffee every day!
Instructions
Things You'll Need:
* Cafe du Monde coffee (available at World Market stores)
* Vietnamese single-cup stainless steel strainer (from asian grocer or World Market)
* condensed milk
* water
Instructions
Step 1
Unscrew filter from the strainer.
Step 2
Place a heaping tablespoon of Cafe du Monde coffee granules into the strainer.
Step 3
Re-screw lid all the way down but not too tightly otherwise it'll take an hour for the water to run through. You'll have to do it a couple times before you get the hang of it, but basically the water should drain within 3-4 minutes for a good brew.
Step 4
Place about 2 tablespoons of condensed milk into a cup and place strainer over cup.
Step 5
Pour 1/2 cup of boiling water into the strainer.
Step 6
Cover to keep the heat in.
Step 7
When complete, stir the coffee around to mix well with the milk.
Step 8
Fill a glass with ice and pour coffee into the glass.
Step 9
At this point you can do one of three things: 1) pour more water into the glass or 2) wait for the ice to melt a little or 3) strain a little more coffee to add to the glass
Step 10
Enjoy!
