Vietnamese Coffee : Impress your friends by preparing the exotic cà phê sữa đá !

The spread of different types of coffee in our country is, with no doubt, more wide than ever. In recent years, more and more strange, exotic coffees have made their appearance in Greece. One of these drinks is the sweet, aromatic Vietnamese coffee, or ca fê sữa đá, as is known in its homeland

• What's the difference of Vietnamese Coffee ? 

The difference of Vietnamese coffee is about its preparation process and not about its special or exotic ingredients. It is a slowly extracted filter coffee, which is added to a base of condensed sweetened milk. The slow extraction gives the coffee a special aroma, and the combination of the strong taste of the coffee with the creamy sweetness of the milk produces a beverage of a distinct character.

•  How easy is it to prepare a Vietnamese Coffe at home ?

To prepare a cup of Vietnamese Coffee, many claim that it is necessary to have the special metallic Vietnamese coffee filters, or even special coffee brands from the Far East. As Vietnam is far away and not all of us have Vietnamese restaurants in our neighborhoods, we can prepare Vietnamese Coffee in our kitchen, simply replacing everything we cannot find with something simpler - the difference in taste will be trivial.

What do we need : 

• Sweetend, condensed milk
• Boiled Water
• 2-3 tablespoons of finely ground filter coffee
• A paper coffee filter

 Preparation Process :

• Place the sweetend milk at the bottom of a transparent glass (it should be at room temperature).
• Place the coffee filter at the top of the glass. Make sure it is steady enough ; extraction will take place directly into the glass, and the pouring water should not make the filter fall, as it would destroy the whole process. 
• Place the coffee inside the filter, without compressing it. It must be quite fluffy in order to ease the extraction.
• Bring water to boil, and the carefully add 3-4 tablespoons of the boiled water to the filter, waiting for it to be absorbed - this step is required to get the extraction done right. After the water is absorbed, slowly add the remaining water.
• If everything has been followed faithfully, the extraction will take place in 4 or 5 minutes. After the process is complete, remove the filter. 
• We can stir our coffee, ending in a latte - like beverage, or le the milk slowly mix with the coffee with every sip we drink.
• If you are in the mood for iced vietnamese coffee, stir immediately and pour the coffee in a glass full of grated ice.
   

• The quantity of the milk used depends on our taste. The suggested quantity is one table spoon per cup, while two tables spoons will produce a really sweet coffee. Using three table spoons ore more will end to a coffee that will be more a dessert than a a beverage.
• Due to the presence of the sweetened milk, vietnamese coffee is very sweet. It's better to use a dark roast blend, or a blend with strong robusta presence - after all, Vietnam is the biggest producer of robusta coffee in the worild.
• It's not necessary to use an exotic, far eastern coffee brand, as long as our filter coffee is finely ground.
• For better extraction, it is prepared to fix our filter some centimeters higher than the glass - use your imagination to make the best fixing system.
• There is an even simple way to prepare vietnamese coffee : just add some filter coffee to the mik base. The taste will be different but most importantly, all the special ceremonial preparation of the coffee will be lost.
• Some say that by adding a raw egg yolk, coffee's texure and taste is improved. If you are not 100% sure about the freshness and the quality of the egg used, it is better to avoid this step - consuming raw eggs can be very dangerous.