There are a few ways to make Vietnamese iced coffee (cà phê đá): the traditional way (with the filter) and the fast way (instant coffee).
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Cà phê means coffee. Đá means ice or rock. When used with drink, đá means ice. Cà phê đá means iced coffee. You may see many places serve coffee with condensed milk. That is not called “cà phê đá.” It is called “cà phê sữa đá,” which literally means “iced coffee with milk” and the milk here is condensed milk (sữa đặc).
Table of Contents
- Street coffee in Vietnam
- How to make Vietnamese iced coffee
- Another way to make Vietnamese iced coffee
- Vocabulary quiz
Street coffee in Vietnam
Vietnamese coffee is popular in Vietnam. Back in the day, you could find cheap Vietnamese coffee served at many street vendors on the sidewalks. You would find people sitting at these small tables on the streets, waiting for their filtered coffee while reading newspaper or chatting.
Nowadays, you can still find cheap Vietnamese coffee at some street vendors, but there are more and more coffee shops with nicely decorated interiors, air conditioning, free internet, and attractive loyalty memberships popping up so you won’t see that many street vendors selling coffee anymore.
The price of a cup of Vietnamese coffee on the street in Vietnam varies depending on locations. But just so you have an idea of how the prices are in Vietnam, at the time of this post (2022), you could find a cup of Vietnamese coffee at the street vendors for around $0.50 USD or about $1.50 USD at nicer places. In coffee shops, coffee can cost around $2.00 to $2.50 USD. Price could be more or less than what are listed here depending on locations and types of business.
How to make Vietnamese iced coffee
The traditional way to make Vietnamese iced coffee is to use a coffee filter. In Vietnamese, it is called cà phê phin.
You will need
- Vietnamese coffee grounds
- 1 coffee filter
- Ice
- Sugar (optional)
The two most popular and largest Vietnamese coffee brands in Vietnam are Trung Nguyên and Highlands.
Trung Nguyên is so famous that it even has its own coffee village called Làng cà phê Trung Nguyên, where coffee lovers and tourists can come to learn more and try their coffee.
The most popular coffee filter that you can find on the streets look like this one:
How to make Vietnamese iced coffee using filter
- Put 1 to 2 tbsp of Vietnamese coffee grounds in the coffee filter.
- Put the coffee filter on a cup and fill the coffee filter with hot water. The amount of hot water depends on how concentrated you want your coffee to be. If you want your coffee to be more diluted, add more water.
- Wait for all of the water in the filter to drip down on the cup then remove the coffee filter. Your coffee will then be ready. Add sugar as needed.
- Add ice to turn your coffee into iced coffee and serve cold.
How to use a coffee filter
To use the coffee filter mentioned above:
- First, put coffee grounds in the coffee filter.
- Then press down the coffee grounds using the coffee filter press that comes in the set.
- Pour water hot or warm water in the coffee filter.
- Cover the filter with the filter lid and wait until all the water to drip down the filter into the cup or until you have the amount of coffee you want in the cup.
- Remove the coffee filter lid and put it on the table face up.
- Remove the coffee filter and place it on the lid so the lid can catch any leftover drips.
Another way to make Vietnamese iced coffee
When you just don’t have the time to wait for the coffee from the filter, a faster way to enjoy Vietnamese iced coffee is to use instant coffee.
Instead of waiting for the coffee to drip down, you can use Vietnamese instant coffee to make coffee then pour it in a cup filled with ice. You can use any Vietnamese instant coffee brand but I mention the one below because Trung Nguyên is one of the largest and most established coffee brands in Vietnam with great reputation, and their products can easily be found on Amazon. You may find more brands at a local Asian supermarket.
