Vietnam Practicalities - Coffee 越南㗎啡


Vietnam is the second biggest coffee producer in the world.  Local people love filtered coffee dripping on condensed milk.  It is stronger than the normal coffee.  If you don’t like sweet, just don’t stir to dissolve the condensed milk at the bottom.  Iced Vietnamese coffee is excellent.



Café dots Hanoi here and there. If you are on the coffee street (Nguyen Huu Huan) in Hanoi, you will find a café every few steps.  Most of them serve local coffee.  Signs of egg coffee appear every few seconds.

Cafe Giang


Egg coffee ("cà phê trúng" ) was found in Hanoi.  It is a creamy soft, meringue-like egg white foam perching on dense Vietnamese coffee. It is said that Nguyen Van Giang invented the recipe while working as a bartender at the Sofitel Legend Metropole Hotel in 1946. At the time, there was a shortage of fresh milk in the country so whisked egg yolk was used as a substitute. All foreign and local guests in the hotel liked it. So, he decided to start selling egg coffee and create his own brand, Café Giang. The Café is now run by his son. The daughter opened her café (Café Dinh) in the 90s. The coffee is more artistic.


Egg Coffee from Cafe Dinh

To visit Cafe Dinh, one has to climb one floor through a shabby lobby and staircase. The Cafe is a bit dark but nostalgic. There are many black and white photos of the owner and family members. Guests were enjoying their morning coffee when we entered. The place was not noisy. The coffee was good, especially the presentation of egg coffee.  It is like art.



Thanks Rose for recommending coconut coffee. We tried it at Xofa Café on the last day of our trip.  Love it! We picked the cold version. Coconut was refreshing.  It mingled with the coffee very well. Xofa’s environment is very nostalgic.  It aligns very much to the café’s vision of creating a cozy place to connect souls.




Xofa Cafe also offers desserts and food. I read good comments about them. We picked chocolate lava cake and mille-crepe. Both were delicious. The latter one is similar to the Lady M's best selling crepes. 



Here shows the prices of different coffee:

Local coffee - VND18,000
Egg coffee - VND20,000
Weasel coffee - VND25,000
Ice Coconut coffee - VND68,000 +10%

Modern cafés prosper and attract the younger generation.  We had a chance to visit 43 Factory in Da Nang.  It serves best quality coffee from different parts of the world.  We tried iced coconut coffee and Ethiopian coffee. The iced coconut coffee is very refreshing. Coconut cream and coffee were served separately.  One pours the coffee over the cream. The finish of the Ethiopian lasted for long. The interior decoration is simple and airy.  Moments there were nice.



I like best the iced coconut coffee at Xofa Cafe in Hanoi.  At home, I tried to create my own version.






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