Ca Phe Sua Da

Ca Phe Sua Da (Vietnamese Iced Coffee)

The classic Vietnamese street-style iced coffee: hot robusta drips slowly through a phin filter onto sweetened condensed milk, then is stirred and poured over ice for a bold, sweet, bracing drink.

Prep

5 min

Cook

10 min

Total

15 min

Serves

1

Difficulty

Easy

Recipe ingredients

• •20 g (¾ oz (about 3 Tbsp)) dark-roast ground robusta coffee, medium-fine grind, traditional Vietnamese style; finely ground espresso works in a pinch
• •30 ml (2 Tbsp) sweetened condensed milk, Vietnamese brands like Ông Thọ are traditional; any full-fat sweetened condensed milk works
• •180 ml (¾ cup) hot water, just off the boil, around 95 °C / 205 °F
• •150 g (1 cup) ice cubes

Steps

1. 1 Add the sweetened condensed milk to the bottom of a heatproof glass or mug.
2. 2 Place the phin filter chamber over the glass. Insert the drip plate and rinse it briefly with a little hot water to warm the filter (discard the rinse water).
3. 3 Add the ground coffee to the filter, gently shake to level the bed, and press the gravity press (or the back of a spoon) very lightly to compact — do not tamp hard.
4. 4 Pour about 20–30 ml (roughly 2 Tbsp) of the hot water over the grounds to bloom them. Wait 20–30 seconds so the coffee bed swells and saturates.
5. 5 Fit the lid/top piece of the phin and slowly pour the remaining hot water over the lid. Let it drip through undisturbed — this should take about 4–6 minutes. If the drip stalls, lift the phin briefly to break the seal and replace it.
6. 6 Once the drip slows to a near-stop and most of the water has filtered through, remove the phin and set aside.
7. 7 Stir the hot coffee and condensed milk together until fully combined and the color is a uniform caramel-brown.
8. 8 Fill a tall serving glass with ice cubes. Pour the hot coffee mixture over the ice, stir once more, and serve immediately while still very cold and aromatic.