Times of war can bring about much ingenuity and give birth to a large variety of innovations due to a shortage of resources. Vietnamese egg coffee was born from such a story.
Egg coffee was First created in Hanoi in 1946 and was created by Nguyen Van Giang. Whilst working in the Sofitel Legend Metropole Hotel as a bartender. He whisked in egg yolk as a substitute to milk, given there was a shortage caused by the First Indochina War.
Giang’s recipe became so popular that he opened Café Giang, where his son still serves it to this day.
Regarding how it’s made, an expresso shot is added to the cup first, followed by a couple of egg yolks that have been thoroughly whisked with condensed milk and various other ingredients to add flavour (these are generally a trade secret depending on the establishment). This will form two layers given their respective differing density.
After tasting the top and bottom layer, mix the two to taste a balance of contrasting coffee bitterness and what can only be described as a liquified sweet meringue consistency. Sweet and sour, a winning combination.
There are several varieties of this egg beverage, another being egg hot chocolate, pictured below.
Egg coffee can be found all over Vietnam, as well as various cosmopolitan cities around the world.
If you would like to see a video of my experiences trying this wonderful concoction, please click below:
