Do I have to use sweetened condensed milk when brewing Vietnamese coffee?

Sweetened condensed milk is ideal for brewing Vietnamese coffee because it helps balance out the strong Robusta taste, which tends to be bitter thus, making your coffee sweet and delicious.

Can you make Vietnamese coffee with a French press?

You can make your Vietnamese coffee using a French press. Just make sure the coffee grind is medium-coarse. Place 2 tablespoons of the coffee and ¾ hot water into the French press and allow to steep. Strain the coffee and add to sweetened condensed milk in a cup. After stirring, pour your Vietnamese coffee into a glass with ice cubes.

What makes Vietnamese coffee taste so distinctive and delicious?

Vietnamese coffee uses Robusta coffee beans that are bitter than Arabica beans. However, flavors and other additives, like cacao and vanilla, are added to the coffee beans during the roasting process. They help balance out the taste, making the coffee sweet. Besides, the coffee uses sweetened condensed milk, which also boosts the coffee’s flavor and taste.

What type/brand of coffee is the best for making Vietnamese iced coffee? How fine should it be ground?

The two leading brands for Vietnamese coffee are highlands and Trung Nguyen. Personally, I love Trung Nguyen. It is affordable, low in acid, and gives you a smooth drinking experience. The ideal grind size for Vietnamese coffee is a medium-fine or medium-course grind.

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How To Make Vietnamese Coffee Without a Filter

November 7, 2021 by admin

Traditionally, you prepare Vietnamese coffee using a metal filter known as Phin. If you have the filter at home, it’s fantastic. But if not, don’t despair. I will teach you how to make Vietnamese coffee without a filter.

Combine hot water and coffee grounds in a French press. Allow it to steep for 4 minutes, and then strain your coffee. Add a spoon of sweetened condensed milk to a cup, and pour your coffee inside the cup. Stir to combine, and then put your resulting coffee into a glass with ice cubes.

Origin Of Vietnamese Coffee

The introduction of coffee in Vietnam was in the year 1857 by a French Catholic priest. It came as a single Coffea Arabica tree. Thereafter, Vietnamese people adopted the beverage with regional variations.

During that time, fresh milk was scarce in Vietnam. That’s because dairy farming was starting and couldn’t supply enough fresh milk. Therefore, Vietnamese and French people started using sweetened condensed milk together with dark roasted coffee beans. And that’s how they prepared their coffee.

Currently, there are so many coffee farms in Vietnam. And that makes it the second-largest coffee producer in the world, just after Brazil. Even so, most of the coffee beans in Vietnam are Robusta variety.

The roast for Vietnamese coffee is a dark roast or a French roast. The roasting process involves adding flavors to the coffee beans to balance the taste. That’s because Robusta beans are often bitter. Some flavors include cacao, mocha, vanilla, and butter.

Basically, you prepare Vietnamese coffee using a metal filter known as Phin. You then take the brewed coffee and pour it into a glass with ice cubes. But before the drip filter process, you place 2-3 teaspoons of sweetened condensed milk in the cup. Then, you allow your coffee to drip inside the cup with the condensed milk.

Vietnamese coffee has yielded several variations. The most popular is Vietnamese egg coffee. You make it using brewed Vietnamese coffee, chicken egg yolk, and sweetened condensed milk. The taste and texture of Vietnamese egg coffee is similar to eggnog and tiramisu.

How To Make Your Vietnamese Coffee Without a Filter

It’s okay if you don’t have the traditional Phin filter. You can still make your bold and sweet Vietnamese coffee using a French press. Besides, the steps are pretty simple and take about 5minutes to prepare your coffee.

What You Will Need

The French press
Coffee grounds (medium-coarse)
Filtered water
Sweetened condensed milk
Ice

Steps

Follow these five simple steps to make a tasty cup of Vietnamese coffee without a filter at home:

Step 1: Take Hot Water And Coffee Ground And Combine Them In The French Press

The French press performs similar tasks to the traditional Vietnamese coffee brewer. It enables the coffee to steep in hot water. Just ensure the coffee beans grind is medium-coarse. If you decide to use finely ground coffee, it will get through the filter, making the resulting coffee cloudy.

Also, if you are boiling water with an electric kettle, ensure you maintain a temperature of 200^oF. Water that is too hot may tamper with the taste of your Vietnamese coffee. And again, too cold water will make your coffee taste weak.

For a better tasting Vietnamese coffee, use filtered water and add two tablespoons of ground coffee with a ¾ cup of hot water.

Step 2: Steep Your Mixture For 4 Minutes And Push Down Plunger To Strain

Steeping enables you to extract the bold flavors, caffeine, aromas, antioxidants, and nutrients from the coffee grounds.

Step 3: Scoop Sweetened Condensed Milk And Place Inside a Cup

As you know, Vietnamese coffee uses sweetened condensed milk instead of regular fresh milk. It helps balance out the intense Robusta flavors.

Step 4: Pour Your Coffee From The French Press Into The Cup

Take the cup containing sweetened condensed milk and pour in your brewed coffee. Use a spoon to stir until the two evenly combine. At this point, If you prefer hot Vietnamese coffee, you are free to drink it. With the iced one, proceed to the next step.

Step 5: Add Ice

Take your glass and fill it with ice cubes. Thereafter, pour inside your Vietnamese coffee. Your Vietnamese iced coffee is now ready to drink.

Notes

The procedure for making hot and iced Vietnamese coffee drink is the same. You only add ice cubes to make the coffee drink iced.
When using the French press, ensure the coffee beans grind size is medium-course.
Any dark coffee roast such as the French roast works perfectly. However, the most popular coffee for Vietnamese coffee is Café du Monde.
The more you continue to add ice to your coffee, the more it gets watered down.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Final Thoughts

Since you now know how to make Vietnamese coffee without a filter, I hope you try the recipe above at home. You will still get a bold and sweet cup of Vietnamese coffee, just as you could have used the traditional filter. However, if you are looking for optimal results, I advise you consider buying the Vietnamese Phin filter.