A few weeks ago, I went on a vacation trip to Hanoi, Vietnam. I didn't have a grand itinerary since I was traveling alone, all I wanted to do was to spend the whole week enjoying all the kinds of coffee they have. Vietnam is popular for coffee, there traditional way of making coffee differs completely with how a typical espresso machine.
You can try a traditional vietnamese coffee in different ways. The coffee is extracted using a drip coffee maker called Phin, and it is served as:
- Cà Phê Sữa Đá or Iced coffee with condensed milk
- Cà phê đá or Iced black coffee
- Cà phê dừa or Coconut coffee
- Cà phê Trứng or Egg coffee
- Sữa Chua Cà Phê or Yoghurt coffee
- Sinh Tố Cà Phê Chuối Bơ or Coffee blended with banana & avocado
Almost all coffee shops offer this set of coffee drinks, I have yet to try yoghurt coffee and coffee blended, hopefully when I visit the place again. One of the highlights of my trip is the class I booked at Cafe Minh. They host an egg coffee making class for tourists (like me) who wants to learn about the rich history of egg coffee and get a taste of this delicious coffee drink. It was such a nice experience because the first egg coffee I've tried was the one that I made during the class. I love drinking coffee, but, making my own coffee has always made me happy. And let me share the experience of making an egg coffee. ☺️
Cafe Minh is located in the area of Old Quarter, while waiting for my class, I sat in the balcony of cafe to admire the bustling streets. The class costs $10 only, which includes all the materials and ingredients that will be used during the class. It would have been fun to meet fellow coffee lovers in the class, but I have also enjoyed that I was the only one who signed up during that time. My teacher, Louisa, instantly became my friend as we talk about why Hanoi came up with the egg coffee, how to make a traditional vietnamese coffeee, and more.
all you need are three ingredients
The locals enjoy their coffee with milk, they love the creamy texture and sweet tasty flavor of milk. However, during the war, shortage of milk became a huge problem for them. Nguyen Van Giang, who was working in a bakery, thought of the idea of substituting milk with a whisked [yellow part of the] egg. So to make an egg coffee, we only used coffee, egg, and honey. Other ingredients like the chocolate syrup is used for making designs just like a latte art, a few drops of vodka can also be used to remove the odor from the raw egg (although, we didn't put any at that time), and sugar is used for making the vietnamese drip coffee.
the traditional vietnamese coffee
Louisa asked me about my preference of coffee, whether I liked it strong or not. I'm a heavy-coffee drinker and I prefer a strong and rich aroma, so she recommended to take 3-4 teaspoons of the coffee grounds. Before placing the cup part of the Phin on the drip tray, we added a teaspoon of brown sugar to make a layer of filter when the coffee starts to drip. The also poured hot water on the drip tray to soak the cofffee grounds inside the cup. One of the things I've learned during the class is that we just have to put enough pressure on the coffee grounds during the extraction, inside the cup, we placed a thin disk before adding hot water. The extraction takes about four minutes so we just set it aside and moved on with preparing the egg.
way easier than latte art
Really? Raw egg yolks in my coffee?? Haha. Sometimes, I still can't believe that I did enjoy and love the taste of egg coffee given that thought. But when I think of the chemical process that the yolk goes through, I get a little sense of comfort that it's cooked a little. We have two cups of coffee, so we used four brown eggs to make the creamy froth. We separated the yolk from the white part and added only a little of the white [for the texture to become like the icing used in cakes]. The whisking took about five minutes, an indicator would be when the liquid-y egg yolks become foamy and light in color.
Louisa taught me the step-by-step of drawing this design on top of the foam. We first made three circles and two zigzag lines on the side. Here comes the magic trick! Compared to latte art, we used a toothpick to make the little details of the flower and leaves. For the flower, you start on the outer towards the inside of the circles. We made four petals for the petals with that step. For the leaf, we simply traced the toothpick from one end to another and then voilà, I've made my first egg coffee! ☺️
When I was making the coffee, my dream to have my own coffee shop was once again so alive. It's a dream that I'll always keep close to my heart. It would be so nice if I can bring the taste of vietnamese coffee back home, the variety is just so good! I left Cafe Minh with such a joyful heart, I'll surely comeback to this place. There are just so many things to learn about coffee making! 🌞
